The Things They Carried

This section of the book talks a lot about the events revolving around Kiowa’s death, and Norman’s reminiscences about this tragedy with his father. He starts by telling his father about how he was awarded 7 medals in the war and that he could have won a silver medal but for the fact that he was unable to save his friend in the field. The actual event took place in the field that Lt. Cross had given orders to set up camp in. Later though Cross would realize it was a terrible choice, for the field was flooded with mud and waste which became a huge burden to all of his soldiers and in the end be the death of one. One night when things seemed fairly quiet a mortar strike hit their base causing everyone to take cover under the sludge in the field. Norman was near Kiowa when this happened and heard a mortar hit loud and close to himself and heard a scream coming from Kiowa. He quickly ran over to where Kiowa was but could barely see anything but his boots poking out and bubbles where his head would have been. He began attempting to pull Kiowa back out to safety but began being sucked in himself and soon the smell of the sludge began to overtake him and he backed off allowing Kiowa to sink in and perish. He reflected on this moment a lot and thought about how he would have saved his friend and won the silver medal had it not been for the smell of that field. (134)

The section also talks about the man that Tim kills in the book. It tells of how Tim tossed a grenade at the slender man walking down the trail without thinking about what he had done, his body had just reacted. After the event he goes down to the corpse with Kiowa and just stares at it trying to take in what he had just done. He stares at it for a good long time and Kiowa is trying to convince him it wasn’t his fault or problem and he should stop starring and leave this behind him. Tim also reflects about this event when he is talking with his daughter. Both of these events however really reflect on both characters thoughts about the war and about themselves. Both events really shook them up and made them consider what had happened then and after the war. They contemplated whether it was their fault or the war’s fault. Tim used to and still thinks about this a lot but it proved to be too much for Norman whom later in the book hangs himself. (160)

Andy Jones

O’Brien Tim, The Things They Carried, Boston, MA. Broadway Books, 1990. Print