Analysis Paper: The Things They Carried
Part One:
The chapter entitled How to Tell a War Story contains a moment from Tim O’Brien’s’ time at war where he recalls when Rat Kiley shoots a baby water buffalo uncontrollably. Rat Kiley has recently lost his best friend Curt Lemon due to their own stupidity. Kiley proves to be in a very delicate state after this, which can explain why he takes his frustration and anger out on this baby buffalo. He doesn’t just shoot the buffalo once to end its’ life. He continually shoots it all over its body until it can no longer move, but still the animal does not die. Kiley is crying through this experience. He most likely didn’t want to kill the animal, but needed a way to get his feelings out over his best …show more content…
In an interview Leto describes the song as being “about a relationship with yourself. It's about confronting your fear and confronting the truth about who you are. It is about confrontation as a crossroads — coming face-to-face with who you really are.” This quote applies to Rat Kiley in which he has no clue who he is anymore or what he is doing. Kiley blames himself for the death of his best friend, Curt Lemon. He no longer has a grasp on who he is, because he lost apart of himself when Lemon died. After Kiley has mutilated the baby buffalo, he is speechless, and goes off to try to pull himself together. He has lost who he really is and can’t handle it anymore so now he must try to find himself. “I tried to be someone else. But nothing seemed to change. I know now, this is who I really am inside” are some lyrics in “The Kill” which can explain Rat Kiley's new behavior. He went from being a goofball who thinks it’s okay to play with grenades, to being a cold blooded man who slaughters an innocent buffalo calf. His personality has taken a turn for the worse. The previous lyrics sum up what is going on with Rat Kiley perfectly. They explain that the loss of his friend, and being in the war are changing him into someone he is not and who he will continue to
Part One:
The chapter entitled How to Tell a War Story contains a moment from Tim O’Brien’s’ time at war where he recalls when Rat Kiley shoots a baby water buffalo uncontrollably. Rat Kiley has recently lost his best friend Curt Lemon due to their own stupidity. Kiley proves to be in a very delicate state after this, which can explain why he takes his frustration and anger out on this baby buffalo. He doesn’t just shoot the buffalo once to end its’ life. He continually shoots it all over its body until it can no longer move, but still the animal does not die. Kiley is crying through this experience. He most likely didn’t want to kill the animal, but needed a way to get his feelings out over his best …show more content…
In an interview Leto describes the song as being “about a relationship with yourself. It's about confronting your fear and confronting the truth about who you are. It is about confrontation as a crossroads — coming face-to-face with who you really are.” This quote applies to Rat Kiley in which he has no clue who he is anymore or what he is doing. Kiley blames himself for the death of his best friend, Curt Lemon. He no longer has a grasp on who he is, because he lost apart of himself when Lemon died. After Kiley has mutilated the baby buffalo, he is speechless, and goes off to try to pull himself together. He has lost who he really is and can’t handle it anymore so now he must try to find himself. “I tried to be someone else. But nothing seemed to change. I know now, this is who I really am inside” are some lyrics in “The Kill” which can explain Rat Kiley's new behavior. He went from being a goofball who thinks it’s okay to play with grenades, to being a cold blooded man who slaughters an innocent buffalo calf. His personality has taken a turn for the worse. The previous lyrics sum up what is going on with Rat Kiley perfectly. They explain that the loss of his friend, and being in the war are changing him into someone he is not and who he will continue to