Tim O Brien's The Things They Will Always Carry

The Things They Will Always Carry Soldiers have to deal with many responsibilities in war. They are responsible for their own lives and at times feel responsible for the lives of other soldiers in their platoon. Therefore, when one soldier loses his life, the rest have to deal with the guilt even if it was not their fault. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, O’Brien writes how he and other soldiers dealt with responsibility and guilt in the Vietnam war. Dealing with guilt and responsibility is different for everyone. There are plenty of examples of how different people are affected by something and how they deal with the guilt and responsibility in the book. In war there is so much death and putting the blame on someone is inevitable. Especially when the soldiers feel responsible, blaming themselves, and carrying the burden guilty conscience. Norman Bowker in “Speaking of Courage” was having trouble adjusting to life at home after the war. In this postwar story, Norman is trying to go back to his life before the war. However, all he could think about was the war. Bowker was having difficulties coping with something that happened in Vietnam. Norman needed someone to talk to but everyone either …show more content…
All Tim could do was stare. He could not believe it. He did not want it to be true. O’Brien even made up a whole life story for the man who he killed just to torture himself some more. Tim possibly did this to make himself feel guilty. In the story it keeps repeating the details of how the man looks after being blown up. It also goes on about how Tim is still staring at the body. Kiowa says to Tim “Stop staring” (Page 122). Kiowa tries to comfort Tim and tries to tell him that these kind of things happen. Kiowa finally covers the body with a poncho and tries to get Tim to talk about it but all Tim could think about was the young man with the star shaped