The Things They Carried "The Lives of the Dead"

In the chapter "The Lives of the Dead" O'Brien explains that stories can bring the dead back to life through the act of remembering. 

“They’re all dead. But in a story, which is a kind of dreaming, the dead sometimes smile and sit up and return to the world.”

This quote explains how the dead can be with us if we remember them and keep them in our hearts just like how O'Brian keeps his fallen friends in his heart and writes about them so he can remember his memories with them and keep them alive in his mind for longer. 

The Things They Carried "Night Life" pg 208-212

In the chapter "Night life" Tim explains the things each soldier does to remove the tensions they have that built up on them in the war and the stress that causes them to go crazy and doubt their rolls in the  army.

"the phrase everyone used: the night life. A language trick. It made things seem tolerable. How’s the Nam treating you? . . . . Hey, one big party, just living the night life.”

The Things They Carried "The Ghost Soldiers" pg 180-207

In the chapter "The Ghost Soldiers" Tim talks about how he gets shot twice and Bob Jorgenson botches up the patch job when he got shot in the butt and Tim gets very bitter about it. He then gets transferred to a new facility and soon Jorgenson joins him. 

“They were still my buddies, at least on one level, but once you leave the boonies, the whole comrade business gets turned around. You become a civilian. You forfeit membership in the family, the blood fraternity, and no matter how hard you try, you can’t pretend to be part of it.”

This quote explains how Tim feels like he got kicked out of his military family once he was transferred to a different part of the war. 

The Things They Carry "Field Trip" pg 173-179

In the chapter "Field Trip" O'Brien and his daughter travel to Vietnam and visit the site of Kiowa's death. O'Brien and 10-year-old Kathleen visit the tourist spots, which she enjoys, but it is clear to him that she does not understand the war that had happened 20 years earlier.

"Like coming over here.  Some dumb thing happens a long time ago and you can't ever forget it."

The flashback of Kiowas death haunts Tim slightly so when him and his daughter visit vietnam he gets nervous and has memories pour into him of the time of the war. His daughter is very naive about this and doesn't understand what happened back then. 

The Things They Carried "Good Form" pg 171-172

In the chapter "Good Form" O’Brien talks about the difference between real truth and story truth and explains the structure of his book. 

"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."

The Things They Carried "In the Field" pg 155-172

In the Chapter "In the Field" The platoon arrives at a field and has to sleep the night in the field however after they realize its the towns toilet they don't find their sleeping spot so desirable. One of the soldiers dies in the night and ends up slowly sinking into the feces in the middle of the night despite one of the soldiers trying to pull him out. 

"Like Jimmy Cross, the boy was explaining things to an absent judge.  It wasn't to defend himself.  The boy recognized his own guilt and wanted only to lay out the full causes."

Tim doesn't accept kiowas death so he trys to blame himself and think of every logical reason its his fault.

The Things They Carried "Notes" pg 149-154

In the chapter "Notes" O’Brien says that “Speaking of Courage” was written at the request of Norman Bowker who, three years after the story was written, hanged himself in the YMCA. O’Brien says that in 1975, right before Saigon finally collapsed, he received a seventeen-page, handwritten letter from Bowker saying that he couldn’t find a meaningful use for his life after the war.

 "There was no suicide note, no message of any kind. "Norman was a quiet boy," his mother wrote, "and I don't suppose he wanted to bother anybody."
Now, a decade after his death, I'm hoping that "Speaking of Courage" makes good on Norman Bowker's silence."

The Things They Carried "Speaking of Courage" pg 131-148

In the chapter "Speaking of Courage" Norman Bowker returns to Iowa and reminiscences about his old high school girlfriend who is now married and thinks a lot about his father who wanted nothing more than for Norman to bring home a medal. Bowker then thinks about his failed attempt to get the medal Silver star. 

“He wished he could’ve explained some of this. How he had been braver than he ever thought possible, but how he had not been so brave as he wanted to be. The distinction was important.”

This quote explains why Bowker failed. He didnt have the courage to stay those last few minutes in the field to win the silver star so he has to live with the guilt and disappointment for the rest of his life. 

The Things They Carried "Style" pg 129-130

In the chapter "Style" A girl is found with most of her village has burned to the ground and her family has been burned to death by the American soldiers, a Vietnamese girl of fourteen dances through the wreckage. The men of the platoon cannot understand why she is dancing.

"All right then, dance right."

This quote came from one of the soldiers who saw Azar mocking the little girl who was dancing in the rubble. He got pulled aside and the solider told him that line because he was flailing his arms and kicking the girls dancing. 

The Things They Carried "Ambush" pg 125-128

In the chapter "Ambush" O'Brian's daughter Kathleen asks if he had killed anyone in the war. However he insists he has never killed anyone and later on thought about and decided she was an adult and he may tell her the story later on.

"He was a short, slender young man of about twenty. I was afraid of him—afraid of something—and as he passed me on the trail I threw a grenade that exploded at his feet and killed him"

This Quote explains how O'Brian killed the man and why along with his feelings towards the man before the death. 

The Things They Carried "The Man I Killed" pg 118-124

    In the chapter “The Man I Killed” begins with a list of physical attributes and possible characteristics of the man whom O’Brien killed with a grenade in My Khe. O’Brien describes the wounds that he inflicted.

''He was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man of about twenty. He lay with one leg bent beneath him, his jaw in his throat, his face neither expressive nor inexpressive. One eye was shut. The other was a star-shaped hole.''

    This quote explains the damage O'Brian had inflicted on the man he killed and the physical attributes of the man. This quote proves that any man can kill however not every man can't feel guilt when he does.

The Things They Carried "Church" pg 113-117

In the Chapter "Church" the platoon comes across the pagoda and several soldiers think about joining the church because of the kind caring villagers surrounding the area. Dobbins wanted to join the church and Kiowa carries around a bible and wants to join the church as well.

"Dobbins shrugged his shoulders. 'What's serious? I was a kid. The thing is, I believed in God and all that, but it wasn't the religious part that interested me. Just being nice to people, that's all. Being decent."

This quote explains Dobbins interest in joining the church and his urge to always be nice to people no matter the circumstance. He explains his interest in religion was not god or heaven but love and kindness.

The Things They Carried "Stockings" pg 111-112

    In the chapter "Stockings" they explain why Henry Dobbins wears his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck. Superstitions are prevalent in Vietnam, and the pantyhose are Dobbins’s good luck charm.

"Henry Dobbins, though a good man and a good soldier, is not a smart man, and is sometimes driven by superstition. He carries his girlfriend's pantyhose around his neck, and sometimes sleeps with them against his face. He thinks they are a good luck charm. And they seem to work: he never gets injured. The other men, who used to make fun of him about it, now believe in the power of those pantyhose. Then his girlfriend dumps him. He thinks about it for a while, then ties the pantyhose around his neck once more and says, "No sweat. The magic doesn't go away."

The Things They Carried "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" pg 85-110

    In chapter “The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” Rat Kiley, a soldier with a reputation for telling tall tales claims to have witnessed the transformation of Mary Anne Bell a typical American girl who visits her fiancé, Mark Fossie in Vietnam into a wild jungle beast.

"It wasn't a question of deceit. Just the opposite; he wanted to heat up the truth, to make it burn so hot that you would feel exactly what he felt."

Rat Kiley wasn't known for telling the truth so when he did it came across as a surprise and surprised all the soldiers. This explains why he doesn't always tell the truth as a story teller Rat wants to spice up the truth to make it more interesting.

The Things They Carried "The Dentist" pg 82-84

    In the chapter "The Dentist" O'Brian has troubles getting overs Curt Lemons death and reminds himself about Curt Lemons profound fear of the dentist.

"He seemed a little dazed.  Now and then we could hear him cussing, bawling himself out.  Anyone else would've laughed it off, but for Curt Lemon it was too much.  The embarrassment must've turned a screw in his head."

    This quote is talking about how all the soldiers made fun of Lemon for his fear of the dentist and this bullying led him to force himself to go to the dentist to get a tooth pulled that didn't need to be pulled. 

The Things They Carried " How to Tell a True War Story" pg 64-81

    The chapter " How to Tell a True War Story" is about how O'Brians friend dies and Rat Kiley writes a letter to that soldiers sister explaining that he was a hero. Later on O'Brian criticizes Rat for telling a war story wrong. He says a true war story has no moral while Kiley was making his friends was story have moral.

"That surreal seemingness, which makes the story seem unreal, but which in fact represents the hard and exact truth as it seemed."

    This quotation explains how war and stories have that kind of fictional glare and thought of "this would never happen" But the truth is really staring you right in your face once you take a better look and analyze the meaning. 

The Things They Carried " Friends" pg 62-63

    The chapter " Friends" is about the friendship between Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk's new found friendship in the chapter Strunk lost his leg at the knee to a mortar round. The two vowed if anything happened that would make them end up in a wheelchair they would find a way to end that persons misery. Strunk ended up passing away later on.

    "Strunk frowned at the sky. He passed out again, then woke up and said, "Don't kill me"
"I wont," Jensen said." pg 63

    This excerpt explains how when people say they will kill each other and are willing to die for something they believe is just an inconvenience to life they really don't mean it. If Strunk had really wanted to die he would've asked Jensen to do it right the moment the mortar shot his leg off.

   

The Things They Carried "Enemies" pg 59-61

    The chapter "enemies" is about a fight between two soldiers Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen. At the end Jensen feels the guilt of breaking Strunk's nose and ends up taking a pistol and breaking his own nose. When Strunk finds out everything becomes square between them. 

"Jesnsen couldnt relax. Like fighting two different wars, he said. No safe ground: enemies everywhere. No front or rear."

    This excerpt is about the anger and suspicion and stress build up during the war and in between the fight of these two solidiers. 

26-58 The Things They Carried Reading #2 Chapter (SPIN)

    In the Chapter "Spin" Tim O'Brian addresses how war wasn't always just chaotic and violent. War also had a side of beauty and peacefulness about it.
    "I remember Norman Bowker and Henry Dobbins playing checkers every evening before dark. It was a ritual for them. They Would dig a foxhole and get the board out and play long, silent games as the sky went from pink to purple. The rest of us would sometimes stop by to watch. there was something restful about it, something orderly and reassuring. There were red checkers and black checkers. The playing field was laid out in strict grid, no tunnels or mountains or jungles. You knew where you stood. You knew the score. The pieces were out on the board, the enemy was visible, you could watch the tactics unfolding into larger strategies. There was a winner and a loser. There were rules." Pg 31
    This excerpt from The Things They Carried explains how even during a time of chaos and destruction Norman, Henry and other soldiers can find peace and relaxation in little activities making this experience better than it should have been.

26-58 Reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brian #1

      In the chapter "Love" Tim O'Brian Meets up with his friend Jimmy Cross and they talk about the war and Martha.
      "For the rest of his visit I steered the conversation away from Martha. At the end, though, as we were walking out to his car, I told him that i'd like to write a story about some of this. Jimmy thought it over and then gave me a little smile. "Why not?" he said. "Maybe she'll read it and come begging. There's always hope, right?"
"Right," I said"
       This excerpt on page 28 of The Things They Carried illustrates Jimmy's approval to be written about in Tim's book however later on page 29 Jimmy says "And do me a favor. Don't mention anything about-". I think that this states how everyone has their demons they must hide and Jimmy's demon hes learning to accept however has yet to be so comfortable with it to be made public knowledge.

Chapter one reading 1-25 the things they carried (3 excerpts)

"The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water. Together, these items weighed between 15 and 20 pounds, depending upon a man's habits or rate of metabolism."

pg 2 

Im surprised they have to carry so much just to survive its miraculous that they can carry that around all day every day. These necessities illustrate how each man has something that he clings to for comfort in the worst of times and something he can keep ahold of his humanity too.

"they all carried ghosts"

pg 10

They each carried their own burdens and worries. Each of the characters has a burden from the past holding them back and constantly causing them guilt in the back of their minds.

"They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing- these were intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight."
pg 20

They constantly worried about what would happen. They worried the past would come back to haunt them and cause them to shuffle and panic.