Themes In The Things They Carried

There is no absolute truth in story telling; everyone will see something you didn't, and everyone will interpret it differently. When Tim O'Brien is describing Curt Lemon's death he says "In any war story, but especially a true one, its difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen." (71) This is true in any story really, people tend to get mixed up when telling a story until it's a mashed up jumble of what happened in reality, what they were feeling, and how they processed it. He continues to say, "What seems to happen becomes its own happening and has to be told that way. The angles of vision are skewed." (71) Technically speaking, every side to a story is true; the 'good guys' story is obviously going to differ from the 'bad guys', but just because they are different doesn't mean one is wrong. After telling the story about the baby buffalo, O'Brien says, "How do you generalize? War is hell, but that's not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead." (80) Everybody interprets and feels differently about every situation that is thrown at them; some will sit through hell with a smile and others will crawl through green fields crying about every little thing. Peoples' definitions of hell are different, so their stories are going to encompass different details.

In order to be a good person, you do not need to have a set religion; you just have to have a set of morals. In "Church" Kiowa and Henry Dobbins are talking about Dobbins' childhood dream of being a minister, "He shook his head. "I just don't have the smarts for it. And there's the religion thing, too. All the years, man, I still hate church." (121) The idea of church is hard for some people, personally, I hate the quotes  from the bible and the creepy songs and dances that people do at church; that is the part that makes it seem fake to me. I believe that religion isn't something that you should have to be taught and memorized, it should be more of a 'do what makes you happy sort of thing'. When asked about his religiousness, Kiowa says "I grew up that way." (122) I don't think that 'growing up that way' should be the way religion works, you should grow up being taught what's right and what is wrong and figure the rest out on your own. Dobbins perspective on this subject is very similar to mine; "All you can do is be nice. Treat them decent, you know?" (123) You shouldn't be forced into every aspect of religion, you should just try to be the best person you can be.

Connections and Differences

Overall, the stories told by the veterans and those in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried are pretty similar with only a few differences that really stand out. The way the soldiers handle their fears were fairly similar, "Among the necessities or near necessities were... chewing gum, candy, and cigarettes..." (O'Brien, 2) Rob Miller talked about how a friend of his sent him a package of cigarettes while in Iraq and he started smoking again, and Kobe Bazelle talked about a close encounter he had with an enemy and how he smoked immediately after. The reality of war and death shocks Kiowa and some of the veterans. When Kiowa was describing Ted Lavender's death he seemed fairly surprised that Ted's death wasn't very theatrical, that it just kind of happened. "...it was like watching a rock fall, or a big sandbag or something- just boom, then down- not like the movies where the dead guy rolls around and does fancy spins..." (O'Brien, 6). This is also how Truman Muir Irwin describes Wise's death, he said it all happened so fast and that he looked over and he was just covered in blood, he also talked about how it still doesn't feel like reality. One difference that stood out to me was what the soldiers choice in reading, "Kiowa always tool along his New Testament..." (O'Brien, 9). In the book, the soldiers carried religious readings but Kobe Bazelle talked about how he subscribed to as many magazines as he could before he left so he wouldn't get bored, he subscribed to things he had never even heard of and got a lot of grief from the people around him, Truman Muir Irwin talked about how he was watching an episode of Friends when an explosion went off, and Rob Miller talked about how they were blasting music into a city when they were moving through a city. The things they talk about are obviously a little more up to date than what is in the book.

The Things I Carry

Brooke Terry
Barnes, 1
The Things They Carried

She carries the usual things; a back pack full of binders and textbooks. She tries to only carry the bare minimum, always seeming to leave something in her car, at her house or at her gym. Like the average teenage girl, she carries her phone, her makeup, her perfume, her brush, and of course her shallow appearance based judgments. She carries the lighthearted gossip she shared with her teammates about a random moment in last night’s episode of Dance Moms. She carries the heavier tension caused by the drama buried deep in the roots of her ‘not-so-ordinary’ family. She carries binders full of half-finished assignments that really should have been done this morning. She carries the guilt of the conscience decision to put gymnastics before school. She doesn’t feel as though she really has a choice in that, the expectations put on her by her coaches, her parents, but mostly herself seem to be far too high for any sane human being to take on, and they’re still growing. She carries her gym bag, full of grips, therabands, powerbars, the half-full bottle of advil, and it’s other half scattered at the bottom of the bag. She carries her heavy body; seemingly dead from the practice she dragged herself to the night before. She carries her fear of being late; something that seems to happen far too often. She carries her love for food, clothes, and reality TV. She carries the typical new student stresses and insecurities, the things everyone else takes so lightly often mean the world to her. She tries fairly hard to seem tough when in reality the smallest things could easily crush her. She puts too much pressure on herself, or at least that’s what she is told. She has inadvertently created a ticking time bomb out of her body and she is ready to explode. She carries an odd paranoia of people, a fear that they are all as fake as some, a fear that they will all make a joke at her expense, a fear that she is not entirely sure of where it came from, but also a fear that she hasn’t been able to shake since third grade.