SUMMER ESSAY PROMPT 2 - “THE THING THEY CARRIED”
What was once a peaceful Vietnamese rice field had become a death bed for many people. Two teenage boys huddled behind a small bush, holding their breath as the ground surrounding them exploded. They heard a scream from the commotion that lied in front of the leaves that masked them. Desperate, the boys looked at each other for they knew it was a fellow comrade who was in trouble. Grasping their rifles, they charged from behind the bush into the front lines of the war… a war they were forced and drafted into…. a war they which they could not find the meaning for. Such a story was faced by many soldiers during the Vietnam War, as they attempted to understand the destruction that lay amongst them in the small Asian country. Often, they searched for a symbol that would explain what they were doing there. In Tim O’Brien’s book, “The Things They Carried”, the author, …show more content…
After the bombing of the hamlet, the soldiers “searched through the wreckage but there wasn’t much to find.” (O’Brien 135). This meant that the girl’s dance was the only thing that stood out because it did not fit the theme of destruction and war. For example, while dancing in the midst of the wreckage, “she did a graceful movement with her hips… [and] her face had a dreamy look, quiet and composed.” (O’Brien 136), despite the fact her family had died. It was due to this atrocity, that soldiers realized the dance must have some meaning... a meaning they, too, could possibly use to escape the realities of the war. Throughout their discussions, the soldiers attempted but miserably failed, to guess what the reason behind the dance could be. Maybe it was “… some weird ritual… [or that] the girl just liked to dance.” (O’Brien 136). Thus, the men were being deceived for the girl’s dance must have a higher significance for its place in such a meaningful