The Things They Carried-=+_+=-Finished
More of the same themes are brought up as we finished the book. The most referenced theme would have to be the effects of war. One chapter is of O’Brien being shot twice, another of how Rat Kiley begins going crazy, and the last of O’Brien’s memories of his childhood sweet heart.
The part that best shows the terrible effects of war is the chapter “Night Life,” in which Rat Kiley begins to go insane. Their platoon receives an alert warning and is forced to move through the night. Rat Kiley began to go crazy, first completely silent, then constantly talking. He’d scratch at his bug bites, rip off the scabs, and scratch the open wounds. A thing as simple as switching from daytime to night time drove this man crazy because of the aprehension caused by this war.
War is also able to bring back painful memories of death. His childhood sweetheart, Linda, came flooding back through O’Brien’s mind. After his first death experience with an enemy he is reminded of a terrible reminder in his childhood. In a way, this event with Linda foreshadowed O’Brien’s participation of the war, even though ironically this event wasn’t even introduced to readers until the last chapter. Overall, this book was one of the best and most interesting books I’ve ever read and I look forward to reading more Tim O’Brien books in the future.
