The Things They Carried Response

The Things They Carried Forum 

The Prompt:

After reviewing a collection of the chapters from The Things They Carried (“On the Rainy River,” “The Man I Killed,” “Ambush”/“Good Form,” “The Lives of the Dead”), complete the following response. Choose one section to complete the following analysis on:

• Identify two quotes from the story that showcase one literary term each. Explain which literary term they represent and what that helps you better understand about the story as a whole. 
• Explain how those literary terms helped you understand the author’s perspective on war.
  • What is the author’s perspective on war? What is a message about war you took away from this story?

Response:

The quote, “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (O’Brien, 38) from the book “The Things They Carried” shows symbolism because the author is talking about how the soldiers are targeting the other country but killing them with no personal motive. So the certain blood being the other country, and the uncertain reason is because they are basically being told to.

This quote from “The Things They Carried” is from the chapter ‘The Man I Killed’ and it states, “His jaw in this throat, his upper lip and teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other eye was a star-shaped hole,” (O’Brien, 118). This quote shows imagery because he has this extremely vivid memory of what the war was like and how he felt when the realization hit him that he had just killed someone else. 

“It was not a matter of live or die… And it will always be that way.” (O’Brien 133) 

This quote shows the literary term understatement because they are almost saying like it's normal to just be numb to the things happening around you and that during war that won't change and will always be that way. This helps you understand better how people during war feel about feeling numb to the major things happening around them, for example dying. This helped me understand the author's perspective on war because he feels and though he has become numb and ignoring of the deaths and violence around him, he sees it as “Not a matter of live or die” because things will always be that way and he has become desensitized to it. 

““Daddy tell the truth, Kathleen can say ‘did you ever kill anyone?’ and I can say honestly, ‘of course not.’ or i can say honestly, ‘yes.’” (O’Brien 180) 

This quote exemplifies paradox because Tim is saying that he could say that he didn't actually kill people. But he could also say yes I did kill people. This helps me better understand more how Tim has created his own way of processing war and the deaths he has witnessed. This helps me understand the author's perspective on war because he is using this paradox to tell us that Tim makes up what he wants to think about himself killing people, telling these stories differently to better help himself understand what he endured during war. 

The author's perspective on war is that it changes your life a lot in different but similar ways. It changes you in the way you see life, but also makes you not take things for granted or lightly. War can have serious effects on how they shape their opinions and thoughts. War can be mind numbing and change someone's mentality or outlook on reality after the trauma they encounter in war. 

The Man I Killed-“His one eye was shut, his other was a star-shaped hole” (O’Brien 124)-Repetition- This line describing what the man he killed looks like is brought up over and over in the story. It plays into a fact of war that horrible stuff like that stays with a person.  He keeps speaking this line over and over again. The Lit term of repetition helps him cope with what he has done.

“ then later he said, “why not talk about it” (Kiowa)(O’Brien 130)-Understatement- This, in my opinion, is a great quote showing understatement. It shows how little Kiowa understands or cares about having to kill people compared to the author. It shows his thoughts on the situation of the war and how little he thinks. He tells the author to talk about it, not understanding how traumatic it is. 

1. “His one eye was shut, his other was a star-shaped hole.” (O’Brien 126) -Repetition

2. “Then, later he said, “why not talk about it?” (O’Brien 130)  -Understatement

These literary terms help me better understand the story by showing the repeated trauma happening over again and the character trying to help out with trauma and PTSD, the mental disorders they're facing.

The literary terms also help me understand the author’s perspective on war because it shows that the author believes that war messes with your mentality. It shows by repeating the trauma, showing the trauma, and the characters all being messed up from it and trying to help another out. 

The message about war that I took away from this story is that was is terrifying and that it gives you serious PTSD and trauma and that in those situations you have no choice between life or death. 

The man I killed 

“His other eye was a star-shaped hole” (O'Brien 124). Imagery 

• Most people probably assume that soldiers don’t think about the people they kill. This quote helps me understand that the soldier is shocked by what he had done. He couldn’t believe the damage that he had actually done to this young man. This helped me understand that it’s not so easy to kill someone and just move on from it so quickly. 

“He hoped the Americans would go away soon, he hoped. He kept hoping and hoping”(O’Brien 125). Repetition 

• The Author repeats “hope” over and over again to emphasize that the soldier doesn’t want to kill anyone. He’s hoping that the Americans will eventually go away so that he never actually has to kill anyone. It also helps me understand that the soldier seems like he’s scared to be at war. It sounds to me like he was drafted to the war against his will. 

These two literary terms helped me understand that killing someone is not something that everybody can take lightly. Sometimes killing someone can really take a toll on human life and lead to problems later on. I think the author’s message is that killing another person should not be something that our society should take as willingly as we do.