Things they carry Essay

4/11/17

Bun Tsukamoto

C block English

The things they carry is a book written by Tim OBrien who

experienced the Vietnam war. The whole book was about his experience in

the Vietnam war and his life after the war. The Vietnam war was a huge war

that had started in 1955 and lasted until 1975, which is roughly about 20

years long. Furthermore, exact 58,220 people had died in the Vietnam war.

The author, Tim OBrien was drafted into the army and sent to Vietnam,

where he served from 1968 to 1970. Since he actually experienced the war,

his characters tell the war through their personal stories, which makes

readers feel the war close to them compares to just reading a history

textbook.

Firstly, In the field was a part of his books chapter that Tim OBrien

is actually in the war. In the chapter, he and his group tried to rescue Kiowa

but they failed it. Jimmy Cross, who was a leader of the group, feels regret

about the fact he lost Kiowa. In the chapter he had a conversation with a

man and he stated, I guess not. But I felt sort of guilty almost, like if Id kept

my mouth shut none of it wouldve ever happened. Like it was my fault.

(Cross 168) Readers can see his regret and also the war gave big damage on
peoples mental. Furthermore, in the first place, Jimmy Cross had never

desired to go to the war. He was drafted into the army because he had

signed up for Mount Sebastian Officer Training Crop without much thought.

Similar to how he was, majority of people did not want to go in the Vietnam

War.

Secondly, The Good Form is a chapter where he made home and

spending time with his daughter. In this chapter, his daughter asks him a

question that brought him an eternal conflict that she mentioned, Daddy,

tell the truth, Kathleen can say, did you ever kill anybody? And I can say,

honestly, Of course not. Or I can say, honestly, Yes. (Obrien 172) This

quote shows that he had never actually pointed his gun at somebody but he

still feels guilty that he could not save his friend. This eternal conflict tells

readers that the war mentally caused big damage as well as physically.

Lastly, The Field Trip is story that he comes back to the battle field

with his daughter and flash backs some of his memory. In the chapter, he

took his daughter to the battle field because he wants his daughter to see

the field and feel the war. However, Kathleen was bored on the trip because

she was too young to understand the war and she saw an empty field. On

the other hand, OBrien flash backs the war and sees war on that empty

field. OBrien remembers many things such as the death of his friend. This

chapter tells readers a message about the war that children do not know
about the war. So keep them away from it because war always result in many

death and sad memories.

In conclusion, he tells his personal story and his emotion towards the

war. Also, it is obvious that he is suffered from the fact that he could not do

anything in the war for his friend. His suffering collect readers attention to

the book because it is a very strong emotion. Overall, it is easy to

understand the Vietnam war with this book comparing to reading a history

textbook because personal experiences can share strong and closer feeling

with readers.