The Things They Carried Analytical Letter
Dear Morgan,
I don't think we've had much of a chance to talk yet this semester. So, I'll start with saying my name is Daniela and I'm in Sarah's morning class. As you know, in class we've been reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Overall, I've truly enjoyed reading this book, and have found some of the chapters to be truly powerful. In the book, O'Brien talks about his life, and the lives of those around him, while they are at war in Vietnam. With a lot of these stories, he brings up the idea of storytelling, and the effects it has on the soldiers telling them.
Storytelling has been apart of human culture for thousands and thousands of years. It's been a very important aspect of keeping memories and history alive and passed on through hundreds of generations. Many of the soldiers brought up in The Things They Carried have suffered through some form of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and telling stories of the war has always played a role in it. In some cases, telling stories was the soldier's way of coping with PTSD while with others, it only caused them the pain of reliving a bitter memory. Through characters like O'Brien himself, Rat Kiley, and Norman Bowker, we see the purpose and effects of storytelling.
In the chapter "Night Life" we go in depth with a character named Rat Kiley, the medic on the squad. While the platoon is walking around at night in the pitch dark, it leaves a lot of room for a soldier's imagination to run wild. Rat Kiley begins envisioning many gruesome scenarios where he has to pick up the pieces of their dismembered bodies. "It's not right, these pictures in my head. They won't quit." He says in relaying his visions to one of his fellow soldiers. Kiley had hoped that in telling someone, it would relieve some of the pressure and help ease his mind. But, he couldn't find a way to truly explain how he was feeling, and it resulted in him having to shoot himself in the foot so that they had no choice but to call in helicopters to take Rat Kiley away from all of his distress.
A similar situation was shown to us in "Speaking Of Courage" when we follow the soldier Norman Bowker back to his home. He spends a lot of time driving circles around his local lake, pondering all that had happened to him. One particular story of how he almost won a silver star when he tried saving his fellow soldier, Kiowa but wasn't able to get to him on time. Bowker's father had made several attempts to reach out to and understand his stories, but Bowker still felt that he had no one to tell his stories to. Eventually the stress of everything he wanted to say in his stories, but never did built up. Bowker gave up on tying and felt the only way out was to kill himself.
Not all storytelling ended so sadly though. The whole book we've read was O'Brien's way of telling his story. He used writing these stories and telling them to world as a sort of coping mechanism. By telling his stories through writing them, he never had to actually say out loud the things he’d done and witnessed. Being able to explain what happened through his passion for writing could have very well saved him from ending up like Rat Kiley or Norman Bowker.
Expressing feelings and experiences through storytelling can be a very powerful thing, especially when it's done right. Being able to express one’s thought is what was able to make our break many of the soldiers in this book. If there is any take away from this letter, I hope that it’s an understanding of how important telling stories -- especially for those who have been traumatized -- can be.
Sincerely,
Daniela Benson
I don't think we've had much of a chance to talk yet this semester. So, I'll start with saying my name is Daniela and I'm in Sarah's morning class. As you know, in class we've been reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Overall, I've truly enjoyed reading this book, and have found some of the chapters to be truly powerful. In the book, O'Brien talks about his life, and the lives of those around him, while they are at war in Vietnam. With a lot of these stories, he brings up the idea of storytelling, and the effects it has on the soldiers telling them.
Storytelling has been apart of human culture for thousands and thousands of years. It's been a very important aspect of keeping memories and history alive and passed on through hundreds of generations. Many of the soldiers brought up in The Things They Carried have suffered through some form of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and telling stories of the war has always played a role in it. In some cases, telling stories was the soldier's way of coping with PTSD while with others, it only caused them the pain of reliving a bitter memory. Through characters like O'Brien himself, Rat Kiley, and Norman Bowker, we see the purpose and effects of storytelling.
In the chapter "Night Life" we go in depth with a character named Rat Kiley, the medic on the squad. While the platoon is walking around at night in the pitch dark, it leaves a lot of room for a soldier's imagination to run wild. Rat Kiley begins envisioning many gruesome scenarios where he has to pick up the pieces of their dismembered bodies. "It's not right, these pictures in my head. They won't quit." He says in relaying his visions to one of his fellow soldiers. Kiley had hoped that in telling someone, it would relieve some of the pressure and help ease his mind. But, he couldn't find a way to truly explain how he was feeling, and it resulted in him having to shoot himself in the foot so that they had no choice but to call in helicopters to take Rat Kiley away from all of his distress.
A similar situation was shown to us in "Speaking Of Courage" when we follow the soldier Norman Bowker back to his home. He spends a lot of time driving circles around his local lake, pondering all that had happened to him. One particular story of how he almost won a silver star when he tried saving his fellow soldier, Kiowa but wasn't able to get to him on time. Bowker's father had made several attempts to reach out to and understand his stories, but Bowker still felt that he had no one to tell his stories to. Eventually the stress of everything he wanted to say in his stories, but never did built up. Bowker gave up on tying and felt the only way out was to kill himself.
Not all storytelling ended so sadly though. The whole book we've read was O'Brien's way of telling his story. He used writing these stories and telling them to world as a sort of coping mechanism. By telling his stories through writing them, he never had to actually say out loud the things he’d done and witnessed. Being able to explain what happened through his passion for writing could have very well saved him from ending up like Rat Kiley or Norman Bowker.
Expressing feelings and experiences through storytelling can be a very powerful thing, especially when it's done right. Being able to express one’s thought is what was able to make our break many of the soldiers in this book. If there is any take away from this letter, I hope that it’s an understanding of how important telling stories -- especially for those who have been traumatized -- can be.
Sincerely,
Daniela Benson