Character Analysis of the Things They Carried by Tim OBrien - Essay Example

Character Analysis in the Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien Tim O’Brien authored “The Things They Carried” publication in 1990. The collection address a wide range of social issues but it revolves around war stories about the Vietnam War. Tim O’Brien analyzes the life of the Alpha Company in the Vietnam War. Most of the stories in the collection use the first person narration to analyze the war and his life after the war. The narrator explores the effects of the Vietnam War. The author identifies and explains the deaths of various soldiers in the war. In doing so, he uses various motifs and symbols to address specific themes addressed in the short stories like masculinity, cowardice, and courage. The characters in the collection play different roles. The main characters reflect O'Brien's point of view on various issues. This paper analyzes these characters, explains how they reflect O'Brien's point of view, and draws a conclusion on issues raised by Tim O’Brien. Character Analysis Tim O’Brien is the main character and narrator in the story entitled The Things They Carried. The story revolves around O’Brien’s personal experience in the Vietnam War. His actions relate to the issue of cowardice since he joined the war as a scared young who is afraid that failing to join the war would bring him a lot of shame. However, Tim O’Brien reflects on the issue of courage by agreeing to tell the story about the Vietnam War with an aim of coping with the sad memories of the war. We accept his views and generalization about the war since he took part in the war. By joining and surviving the extreme situations in the Vietnam War, Tim O’Brien actions reflect his view regarding courage. Tim O’Brien is the main guide to the horrific war and a manifestation of how a noble and rational citizen joins the war and becomes a soldier who commits heinous acts. According to Tim O’Brien, soldiers “become hardened and angry, because no one back home understands what they are going through” (155). Although O’Brien uses first narration to tell the story, he sometimes uses third person narration that derives a universal human quality and helps the audience to analyze various perspectives of the Alpha Company. The character demonstrates an act of cowardice by using third person narration to disassociate him from the story and failing to express everything that happened in the Vietnam War. Indeed, although he uses storytelling as a means of coping with the horrors of the war, O’Brien could not explain all realities in the war. The character shows how young soldiers go to war unprepared and with fear that the society will consider him a coward for failing to join the unjust war. At some point, the character depicts his cowardice by seeking to flee to Canada to avoid joining the war. The main character succeeds in defining how the soldiers fought and suffered during the unjust Vietnam War by quoting that "Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to" (O'Brien 21). Kiowa is another main character in this collection. However, the author presents Kiowa as a different face of the Vietnam War by portraying his uniqueness from that of his fellow soldiers. Kiowa demonstrates his compassion, diligence, and honesty during the Vietnam War. In an act of compassion, Kiowa carried moccasins to the war with an aim of enhancing his silent movement that would help his fellow soldiers. Kiowa is a Native American with Christian values, which contradicted the American soldiers in the Vietnam War who were mostly white. Kiowa attitudes and beliefs acted as a reprieve to the unfortunate actions committed and experienced by the American soldiers in the Vietnam War. The author defines one man that O’ Brien killed by noting that “He lay face-up in the center of the trail, a slim, dead, almost dainty young man” (O’Brien 173). However, the death of Kiowa acted as a symbol of the horrific tragedies of the Vietnam War. His gruesome death represents the absence of dignity and mercy in the war as his body submerged in sewage to the dismay of other soldiers. He represents the casualties of the Vietnam War and the sudden and sad manner that death terminates our lives. Jimmy Cross’s is another main character in this story. His actions and attitudes manifest how delegating responsibility to immature people can have tragic effects in the war front. We can see Jimmy Cross joining the Vietnam War for material gains and because of peer pressure as a college student with no war experience. Indeed, he does not have any attachment or commitment to the war as he does not care about the war and lacks the motivation to be a team leader in the war. His immaturity and lack of concern made him to perform his roles in an unsure manner as other soldiers took charge of him in the horrific Vietnam War. However, the death of his fellow soldier, Lavender awakens him to the reality of the war although he still concludes that he loves his distant girlfriend more than he loves his fellow soldiers. This defines his immaturity, ignorance, and lack of commitment in the war zone. However, in an ironical twist, Jimmy Cross manifests his opposite character by presenting himself as a Christ-like-figure. Indeed, Jimmy Cross does not allow others to suffer guilt and confusion by agreeing to suffer on their behalf. Jimmy’s actions represent Christhood as he suffers on behalf of the entire Alpha Company. For example, Jimmy Cross bears the blame and mourning of Lavender’s death on behalf of other soldiers like Kiowa who was so heartless to bear any grief. By mourning Lavender’s death, Jimmy Cross helped other soldiers like Norman Bowker and Kiowa to focus on the war without any sorrow or sense of guilt. This defines an aspect of courage that relates to O'Brien’s views. In another act of courage, Jimmy Cross burnt all the letters from his distant girlfriend with an aim of eliminating her distraction during the war. This was an act of sacrifice as we could see how Jimmy Cross valued the girl to an extent where Lavender died while Jimmy Cross was reading the love letters from the distant girlfriend, Martha. Conclusions on Issues Raised By O’Brien O’Brien raises various issues that relate to courage, cowardice, war, tragedy, and alienation. I feel that he puts enough effort to explain these issues in the collection, The Things They Carried. Indeed, the author succeeds in showing how young soldiers joined the Vietnam War out of peer pressure, for material benefits, and because of fear of becoming a coward in the society. He also shows how some soldiers like O’Brien demonstrated their cowardice by seeking to flee to Canada. Moreover, the author succeeds in raising the issue of alienation by showing how the soldiers suffered alone during the war. O’Brien explains why the soldiers could not tell the true and complete story of the war since nobody would sympathize with them. The alienation led to the death of certain soldiers who committed suicide. Tim O’Brien raised the issue of tragedy by showing the horrific perspective of the Vietnam War. He succeeds by presenting the sudden, brutal, and sad death of various soldiers like Lavender and Kiowa. He also shows how he suffered from the war because of lack of experience. Tim O’Brien equally raises the issue of courage and succeeds in its presentation by showing how the soldiers depicted immense courage in fighting and surviving the war. We can also Jimmy Cross mastering his courage in burning all his love letters from his girlfriend for the sake of the war. Works Cited O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston, MA, United States: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. Print. Read More