Things They carried Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Things They carried - Essay Example Each soldier has personal items that reminded him of life at home. This shows that the war was brutal and death was imminent. The author recounts how he was called to service. He explains how he tried to elope to Canada due to personal conviction that the war was not justified. However, fear of criticism and alienation made him adhere to the call. According to him the war was wasteful and he considers himself a coward for engaging in a war that was not justified, in his own sense. In the war, the deaths of comrades keep reminding survivors of the imminent danger. However, the soldiers are psyched up by their obligation to the country. They try to keep their dead friends alive in their minds by engaging in stories about them. The narrator uses fictional characters to represent real aspects of the war. The main characters are used to perpetrate the themes that the author wants to express. The characters include; Tim O’Brien, Mitchell Sanders, Kiowa, Bob â€Å"Rat† Kiley, Norman Bowker, Henry Dobbins, Curt , Bobby Jorgenson, Lemoned Lavender, Jimmy Cross,   Lee Strunk, Dave Jensen, Azar,. The named characters were members of the Alpha Company. He takes on a narrative format to express various themes that were pertinent in the war. It shows the suffering and hard decisions that soldiers had to make. The soldiers suffer physical and emotional burdens while at war. The theme is manifested symbolically through the heavy loads that they carry. They are perturbed by the status of their family, love relationships, fear and responsibility. For example, Dobbins carries his girlfriend pantyhose, an indication for longing of love. Jimmy carries a map which is a show of responsibility, just to name a few. Death claimed most of his of colleagues and was damaging to the emotions of the soldiers. Truth is another theme that is manifest in the novel. Though the