The Things They Carried

1
The Things They Carried

• Tim OBrien

2
The Things They Carried Two Stories

• Okie From Muskogee
• We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee.We don't
  take our trips on LSD
• We don't burn our draft cards down on Main
  StreetCause we like livin' right and bein'
  free.We don't make a party out of lovin'But
  we like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo.We don't
  let our hair grow long and shaggy,Like the
  hippies out in San Francisco do.

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The Things They Carried

• And I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,A
  place where even squares can have a ball.We
  still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,And
  white lightning's still the biggest thrill of
  all.

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The Things They Carried

• Leather boots are still in style for manly
  footwear.Beads and Roman sandals won't be
  seen.And football's still the roughest thing on
  campus,And the kids here still respect the
  college dean.And I'm proud to be an Okie from
  Muskogee,A place where even squares can have a
  ball.We still wave Old Glory down at the
  courthouse.And white lightning's still the
  biggest thrill of all.
• And white lightnings still the biggest thrill
  of all.

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The Things They Carried

• Fortunate Son
• Some folks are born made to wave the flag.Ooh,
  theyre red, white, and blue.And when the band
  plays Hail to the Chief,Ooh, they point the
  cannon at you, lord.It aint me, it aint me I
  aint no senators son, son.It aint me, it
  aint me I aint no fortunate one, no.

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The Things They Carried

• Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,Lord,
  dont they help themselves yall.But when the
  taxman comes to the door,Lord, the house looks
  like a rummage sale, yeah.It aint me, it aint
  me I aint no millionaires son, no, no.It
  aint me, it aint me I aint no fortunate one,
  no.

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The Things They Carried

• Yeah, some folks inherit star-spangled
  eyes,Ooh, they send you down to war, lord,And
  when you ask them, how much should we give? Ooh,
  they only answer more! more! more! It aint me,
  it aint me, I aint no military son, son.It
  aint me, it aint me I aint no fortunate one,
  one.It aint me, it aint me, I aint no
  fortunate one, no, no, no.It aint me, it aint
  me, I aint no fortunate son, no, no, no.

8
Speaking of Courage

• Intricate storytelling structure here Whereas
  OBrien writes in past tense, separating his
  current self from the self that fought in the
  war, Bowker is unable to use storytelling as a
  way to deal with his war trauma.
• Bowker has no one to talk to as a way to leave
  his war experiences behind him.
• Compelling metaphor The sewage field represents
  an unpleasant, meaningless battle that none of
  the soldiers can escape literally Kiowa, and
  symbolically Bowker, whose wading into the lake
  he drives around (and even tastes) signals his
  desire to return to Vietnam to change the events
  that ended Kiowas life.
• (Collela) Bowker represents the paradox between
  the need for emotional truth and the pain many
  feel in expressing it.

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Notes

• Its here where we get to the crux of the
  question, What is patriotism? (page 156).
• This is O'Brien's search for authenticity in
  storytelling Most of his writing comes from the
  simple need to talk, illustrating that his
  writing is his chosen form of relief from mental
  anguish.
• As such, his success in dealing with his mental
  anguish is directly related to his success as a
  storyteller By telling stories, you objectify
  your own experiences. You separate it from
  yourself. You pin down certain truths.
• Bowker has no such avenue for relief.

10
In The Field, Good Form

• No one emerges emotionally intact from the three
  perspectives of In The Field.
• Lt. Cross blames himself for not going against
  orders and setting up camp in a better spot.
• The young, unnamed soldier (presumably Tim)
  blames himself for his carelessness, turning on
  the flashlight to show Kiowa a picture of the
  young soldiers girlfriend.
• When the men discover Kiowas body, they are
  overwhelmed by the sense of bad luck that
  caused his death bad luck that could have
  claimed (and still could claim) any one of them.

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In the Field Good Form

• Consider how this same luck visited the Viet
  Cong soldier OBrien killed in The Man I
  Killed.
• Reality, randomness, luck and war overwhelm all
  of them.
• Good Form OBrien distinguishes, again, the
  difference between story truth and happening
  truth.

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Field Trip

• The scene in the field is the climax of the
  story.
• OBrien finds a sense of closure through the
  physical act of wading into the water and
  depositing Kiowas moccasins.
• Still, he is unable to explain this to his
  daughter, Kathleen, who represents the future.
• OBriens lingering questions about Vietnam 20
  years later Is it a country, a memory, both, or
  neither?

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The Ghost Soldiers Key

• Where (on his body) was OBrien wounded the first
  time he was shot?
• His side
• After being shot a second time, what nearly
  caused his death?
• He almost went into shock.
• This chapter contains an allusion to Minneapolis.
  What or whom does OBrien specifically mention?
• Met Stadium Harmon Killebrew
• What is the first and last name of the guy
  OBrien seeks revenge against?
• Bobby Jorgenson

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The Ghost Soldiers Key

• Dobbins says theres no way Morty Phillips (the
  guy who went swimming) could have died of
  (name the disease).
• Polio
• Whom does OBrien get to help him with his
  revenge plan?
• Azar
• In the series of pranks OBrien planned, which
  was the final one?
• They set up a sandbag on a wire to look like a
  person.
• What did OBriens partner-in-crime physically
  do to OBrien out of disgust?
• Kicked him in the head.
• Other than the embarrassment of his wound and the
  fact that he almost died, what else is OBrien
  bitter about as he recuperates?
• He is no longer part of the brotherhood of the
  men out in the bush.

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The Ghost Soldiers

• This story, and the one that follows (Night
  Life), both deal with how the night affects
  people It is at night that OBrien holds the
  most hatred for, and plots his revenge against,
  Jorgenson.
• It is at night that Vietnam comes alive not the
  country but the war experience.
• Part of OBriens bitterness is in the
  embarrassment of his wound (in the rear end) and
  the fact that he almost died, but more in the
  loss of his life as a combat soldier. He
  especially misses the brotherhood that he is now
  on the outside of, looking in.

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The Ghost Soldiers

• OBrien acts out his need for making war on
  Jorgenson but in the process alienates Sanders,
  while befriending Azar.
• The reader realizes now how much OBrien
  changed He is no longer fighting for an ideal
  but for pure, raw, revenge.
• In the end, OBrien tremblinghugging
  himself, rocking has lost his friends, his
  memories, and his moral superiority. He is
  defeated.

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Night Life

• This story illustrates the fine emotional and
  mental stability line that the soldiers walk.
• The change in routine from day to night maneuvers
  pushes Kiley over that line and deep into
  himself, where he battles visions, terror and
  obsession.
• OBrien goes to great lengths to show the impact
  of the night routine dark so thick that it
  creates an inability to blink.
• When Kiley shoots himself in the foot in order to
  get out of there, its unclear if he does so
  because he has gone crazy or if he does so to
  prevent himself from going crazy.

18
The Lives of the Dead

• This is the story that encapsulates the novels
  purpose writing in order to make sense of life,
  especially in relation to others deaths.
• Linda is OBriens first love and his first
  realization that fiction can overcome death.
• When this beautiful, little child dies, her
  innocence, and OBriens, dies with her.
• Lindas visits to OBriens dreams begin a
  life-long process of addressing difficulty
  through imagination and illusion an ability he
  carried with him to Vietnam.
• By keeping Linda alive as well as his Vietnam
  comrades OBrien is keeping himself alive.

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The Lives of the Dead

• Important quotes from Tim OBrien
• The act of writing is an act of compassion. It
  entails sympathy for human frailties, weaknesses,
  and strengths sympathy for a human condition in
  which we can never be that to which we aspire.
• Novels are made out of a sense of outrage at the
  world, the way the world treats us the way we
  treat ourselves the mistakes we make ourselves.
  Books come out of that sort of thing, that
  tension to make things better.
• The thing about a story is that you dream it as
  you tell it, hoping that others might then dream
  along with you ... There is the illusion of
  aliveness.