The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien is a powerful novel that portrays the Vietnam War perfectly in the readers mind. O’Brien does a fantastic job of making the reader feel everything that happens in the novel, and exhibiting how gruesome and terrifying war really is. Another thing O’Brien does is use symbolism to depict a different meaning to what is happening to the soldiers during battle. Symbolism is ubiquitous throughout the novel and the way O’Brien uses it is phenomenal.
An important symbol O’Brien uses in the novel is the dancing girl. It represents the meaningless of the war. The girl’s village is burned to the ground and her family is dead; yet she is dancing senselessly. This represents the constant reminder that there is no moral …show more content…
The reader is introduced to the sewage after Kiowa dies, and Norman Bowker drives around the lake over and over. Kiowa is the most moral character in the novel, and he drowns in the sewage of war. The lake represents the sewage field, and him driving around the lake represents him not wanting to talk about Kiowa. “He could not talk about it and never would. The evening was smooth and warm. If it had been possible, which it wasn't, he would have explained how his friend Kiowa slipped away that night beneath the dark swampy field. He was folded in with the war; he was part of the waste.” (147). Later, in The Field, O'Brien discusses the blame for Kiowa's death in the sewage field. "The truth, Norman Bowker would've said, is I let the guy go." (147). The soldiers all feel guilty in one way or another. Jimmy Cross and Norman Bowker both reflect that the blame is universal. The ignoble death of American decency in war is everybody's fault, in one way or another (which still doesn't mean we should dismiss the idea of personal responsibility). The next time the field appears, is when O’Brien goes back to Vietnam for Kiowa, and brings his daughter with him. By writing war stories, O’Brien is taking the reader back to the sewage field to pay tribute to his dead comrades. He takes the reader along for the ride to show us what happened. The trip is about honoring the dead and remembering the moral sacrifices that we made in
An important symbol O’Brien uses in the novel is the dancing girl. It represents the meaningless of the war. The girl’s village is burned to the ground and her family is dead; yet she is dancing senselessly. This represents the constant reminder that there is no moral …show more content…
The reader is introduced to the sewage after Kiowa dies, and Norman Bowker drives around the lake over and over. Kiowa is the most moral character in the novel, and he drowns in the sewage of war. The lake represents the sewage field, and him driving around the lake represents him not wanting to talk about Kiowa. “He could not talk about it and never would. The evening was smooth and warm. If it had been possible, which it wasn't, he would have explained how his friend Kiowa slipped away that night beneath the dark swampy field. He was folded in with the war; he was part of the waste.” (147). Later, in The Field, O'Brien discusses the blame for Kiowa's death in the sewage field. "The truth, Norman Bowker would've said, is I let the guy go." (147). The soldiers all feel guilty in one way or another. Jimmy Cross and Norman Bowker both reflect that the blame is universal. The ignoble death of American decency in war is everybody's fault, in one way or another (which still doesn't mean we should dismiss the idea of personal responsibility). The next time the field appears, is when O’Brien goes back to Vietnam for Kiowa, and brings his daughter with him. By writing war stories, O’Brien is taking the reader back to the sewage field to pay tribute to his dead comrades. He takes the reader along for the ride to show us what happened. The trip is about honoring the dead and remembering the moral sacrifices that we made in