The Things They Carried written by Tim O’Brien is a postmodern novel that details the daily activities of Alpha Company (a platoon of soldiers) throughout the Vietnam War. O’Brien depicts the harsh realities and terrors associated with war and the harsh effects soldiers are faced to deal with on an ongoing basis. Given the time frame and settings of both these chapters at first glance, “The Lives of the Dead” and “In the Field” appear to be critically different, but after further analysis one can easily fathom that they are in fact quite similar. O’Brien emphasizes these similarities by using the theme of death and the effects correlated with it, regardless of the situation. The effects of death are then identified by studying several characters reactions to the death of various platoon members and key people within their lives. By doing this O’Brien is able to connect these chapters seamlessly, and thus strengthen the theme of death throughout his novel.
“The Lives of the Dead” is an unique chapter as it not only captures what it is like to be a soldier in the Vietnam War, but it also focuses on the experiences one faces with death. Furthermore, how it doesn’t matter your age, gender or status death will ultimately play a key role in your life. After Lieutenant Jimmy Cross sent in an air strike on a seemingly deserted area that resulted in the death of one old man, the members of Alpha Company are forced to cope with the death. Once again, the majority of them take it as a joke shaking his hand and one member Dave Jensen even goes as far as to say “How-dee-doo” (O’Brien 214). This represents their overall view on death as the war is in it’s beginning stages.
The main purpose of this chapter is not to identify the various views of death within the platoon, but to instead focus on O’Brien and his overall coping with the death of someone dear to him. The value that O’Brien placed upon the character of Linda is extremely significant as he experienced not only death for the first time, but he also experienced love for the first time. Tim O’Brien is able to capture the true power of storytelling by stating “But this too is true: stories can save us” (O’Brien 213). O’Brien employs storytelling as a way to cope with the death of Linda and also uses this initial death to shape his reaction and how he deals with death throughout The Vietnam War and his life. Throughout this novel Alpha Company has dealt with a great amount of adversity and death, both of these are especially highlighted within the chapter “In the Field”. Not only do the men of Alpha Company have to deal with death in general and on a daily basis, but also they have to deal with the death of one of their own platoon soldiers, Kiowa. During this chapter the men are looking for Kiowa’s body and O’Brien outlines how various characters are attempting to accept the grim reality of their fellow soldier’s death. Many feel the grueling toll of Kiowa’s death and Jimmy Cross ends up feeling an immense amount of guilt. Cross believes he is the primary reason Kiowa is no longer a part of Alpha Company and this reason is made apparent when he says “ he knew for a fact he made a mistake setting up here” (O’Brien 157). Although he is following orders from people in a higher position, the survivor’s guilt Cross is forced to deal with has made him believe Kiowa would still be alive if not for a tactical error that resulted in him following orders and completely disregarding his “field discretion” (O’Brien 157). Cross feels he is directly responsible and should bear the entire blame. This is increasingly evident as throughout the chapter he is outlining the letter he will write to Kiowa’s parents and at the forefront is the fact that it is all his fault their son is dead.
In addition to Cross, O’Brien is able to provide alternate perceptions on the situation through Azar, Norman Bowker, and Henry Dobbins. The tension surrounding the platoon is at an all time high, and this is further reinforced when Azar feels the best way to grieve or accept the death of Kiowa is to make jokes such as “ Like those old cowboy movies. One more redskin bites the dirt” (O’Brien 158). Near the end of the chapter Azar, due to the death of Kiowa experiences extreme character development as he goes from making cruel jokes with no emotional connection to feeling guilty for making the jokes and apologetic for his lack of maturity, especially in such a sensitive time. Due to the raging emotions within the platoon, Azar’s wrongly timed jokes end up serving as a source of conflict. Norman Bowker is bothered greatly by the situation and when Azar begins to make jokes, Bowker stands up for Kiowa and firmly tells Azar to “Zip it shut” (O’Brien 158). The approach Bowker takes is unique compared to Azar and Cross. Bowker states it is “nobody’s fault”, but in fact “everybody’s” (O’Brien 168). This is significant as he does not follow society’s norm by blaming himself or a certain individual, but instead he is able to look at the bigger picture and believes Alpha Company, as a whole is responsible for the death. Finally as Kiowa’s body has been found and they are removing it from the mud Dobbins takes the approach that “ it could be worse” (O’Brien 167). This is a testament of Dobbins good faith and optimism throughout even the worst of times, and he indirectly is stating that the soldiers should take every day as a gift and remind themselves they are lucky to be alive! Overall O’Brien provides an in-depth look at the harsh realities associated with the Vietnam War. In both “ In the Field” and “ The Lives of the Dead” O’Brien is able to identify key deaths and the critical roles they play throughout his postmodern novel The Things They Carried. Each chapter has a direct focus on a key character, “The Lives of the Dead” focuses on O’Brien and how the death of Linda affects him throughout his entire life, and “ In the Field” Cross’ tactical error serves as the catalyst that contributed to the death of Kiowa, which in return caused Cross to feel the full extent of the death on his shoulders. In addition to the focus on Cross and O’Brien, each chapter provides tremendous insight on several characters and how death serves to change their lives forever. Given these parameters it is easy to fathom the fact that O’Brien focuses on the theme of death throughout his novel and allows it to shape not only the story, but also each character as an individual.

Works Cited
O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. Print.

June 8, 1972