The Things They Carried: Character Analysis

Young soldiers in Vietnam carried many things that comfort them or help them remember something. For example, Henry Dobbins carries his girlfriend’s underwear and Ted Lavender carried tranquilizer shots. Ted Lavender was shot in the head when returning to his platoon after he used the restroom in the woods.

Kiowa wanted to emphasize on how life can be gone in an instant and how life is precious. Lieutenant Cross was distracted during his mission because of the thought of Martha and how she represented guilt. He believed he needed to concentrate in order to survive, so Cross decided to burn Martha’s pictures.

The setting and time went from during the war to life after the war. Cross and O'Brien met and talked about Martha and how she does not love him anymore. Jimmy Cross told O’Brien that he ran into Martha and told her he loved her, but Martha did not love him back. The chapter is entitled “spin” because during the war, O’Brien wrote many stories. His stories were not always violent and had bad endings. He included stories where the soldier had fun joking and playing around. During the draft, O’Brien had to decide whether to escape the draft by going to Canada or go to the war. O’Brien chose to enter the war. If he didn’t, he would face embarrassment from his country and family that would be in his mind forever.

Dave Jensen did not trust Lee Strunk. They fought because of a missing knife that belonged to Jensen. Dave Jensen concluded the conflict with a punch into Strunk’s nose which caused it to break. After Dave Jensen’s and Lee Strunk’s conflict, they made an agreement that if one of them is severely injured, the other one would shoot to end the pain.

Lee Strunk was wounded after stepping on a rigged mortar. Rat Kiley was very depressed after his best friend, Curt Lemon, died. Killing the baby water buffalo was an irrational choice he made to let out his anger. A true war story is hard to be fully true and does not end the way people wanted it. True war stories includes things that you think happened but really did not.

A reconnaissance team was sent out to listen for enemies. The team started to hear weird sounds like music and parties. The silence of the forest caused them to become paranoid of their hearing. The story of Curt Lemons going to the dentist in Vietnam shows that Curt Lemons is a person who wants to prove himself. Lemon was afraid of the dentist, but he decided to get a good tooth pulled out to prove to the other comrades.

Mark Fossie was able to sneakily fly his girlfriend, Mary Anne Bell, to Vietnam. Mary Anne Bell was a innocent girl from the States. After her experiences in Vietnam, she changed dramatically. She liked the jungle and culture. Fossie wanted to send her back to the States, but Mary denied and express her love of Vietnam. One day she disappeared without any evidence. Henry Dobbins and his comrades have objects to help them cope with the war. Dobbins carried his girlfriend’s underwear to keep him safe and comfortable.

The two monks enjoyed their time with Dobbins. They praised and admire Dobbin’s lifestyle and him being quiet and peaceful which is very similar to the monk’s lifestyle.