The Things They Carried

Chapter 20: Analysis Questions

While reading the chapter, focus on the elements of craft commonly found in prose literature,
while also using the following questions to help guide your analysis and annotations. Then
answer each of the following questions in at least 3-4 concise sentences.

DO NOT RESEARCH THESE ONLINE!

CHALLENGE YOUR INTELLECT AND DO THE WORK YOURSELF!

1. Discuss the juxtaposing reactions of Mitch Sanders and Azar when Tim asks for their help
with his revenge scheme. What might O’Brien be communicating through this use of
characterization?

O’Brien might be communicating the differences in moral values through the juxtaposition of
Mitch Sanders and Azar. Mitch Sanders rejects O’Brien’s query to join him in gaining justice
from the wrong committed by Bobby Jorgenson, in comparison to Azar's immediate compliance,
due to Azar's savage nature unlike Sanders' high moral figure. This characterization depicts
O’Brien different takes on means of justice that certain individuals find morally correct
depending upon specific personas.

2. Briefly discuss each of the following motifs in the chapter and identify a main idea/theme that
O’Brien conveys through each one. Support your analysis with a direct quote(s) for each.

A. Ghosts:
The motif of ghosts convey the extreme fear soldiers endure, physically and mentally,
throughout the war. The men referred to “the enemy [as] ghosts” and “to get spooked” by these
ghosts “meant not only to get scared but to get killed” (192). This motif is utilized by O’Brien
since the ghosts are depicted as the enemy, but the actual enemy is never explicitly stated in the
text creating a broad and open ended illustration of their mind being their own enemy, or the
land, or the Vietnamese. Either way, the ghosts convey the incessant fear that the war evokes,
collectively impacting all of the men no matter who they viewed as the enemy .

B. Movies:
The motif of movies illustrate the soldiers' way of escaping from their conditions,
creating a feeling of comfort and normalcy. While waiting to begin the next step of O’Briens
revenge plot Aar and him “went to the movies” to pass the time and watched “​Barbarella​ again”
for the “eighth straight night;” although, O’Brien did believe it was “a lousy movie,” “it kept
Azar occupied” from pushing him to partake in the next sequence of the plan (196). O’Brien
implements this motif to display that although there is a major disconnect between their old lives
and the lives they now lived, the soldiers still were able to find comfort in normalcy, specifically
those similarly exhibiting aspects of their old life.

C. Luck/Superstition:
 The motif of luck/superstition is utilized to exhibit the substantial need for comfort the
men cling to, with the hopes of having a sense of control over their own destiny. The soldiers
touch on “the way luck worked and didn’t work and how it was impossible to calculate” in terms
of Morty Phillips, and although the men make this remark most still hold deep connections to
what they considered and did not consider lucky (187). Although fate is impossible to
manipulate, O’Brien displays the way the soldiers find comfort in believing they can due to the
overwhelming sense of the unknown, in relation to their situations.

3. Make a case for whether Tim is justified in his anger and resentment of Jorgenson. Then,
analyze O’Brien’s shift in character at this point in the novel and the point he is making about the
realities of war (this will be the main theme of the chapter!).

Tim O’Brien was not justified in his anger towards Jorgenson because he refrained from taking
Jorgenson's feelings into account, although they almost directly reflected his own. With
exemplification upon the fact that O’Brien’s own actions were directly derived upon fear, he
displays immense hypocrisy. He neglects this due to the fact that, although he was saved, he is
no longer one with the platoon and feels like an outcast; furthermore, his morals drastically
change out of pure frustration, even though he would never even know if the situation could have
been avoided.

4. Choose your own adventure! Identify a theme, element of craft, or Global Issue other than
what has already been discussed and thoroughly explore O’Brien’s intentions. Please support
your analysis with a direct quote.

Throughout this chapter, O’Brien illustrates how those who seek revenge might not do so out of
a purely cruel nature but to give them a sense of ease, since their own situation cannot be
changed. The physical pain O’Brien endures from the bullet wound leads him to “head down to
the wire and stare out at the darkness, out where the war was, and think up ways to make Bobby
Jergonson feel exactly what [he] felt” (184). He uses this as an emotional release so that he is no
longer the only one who had to endure the immense trauma of feeling his life flash before his
own eyes.