Look at the following definitions of the
word thing from Dictionary.com. Choose five of these definitions and explain
how these things are represented in the first chapter. You must find at least
one quote or example from the text to support your answer. Include the page
number(s) of your reference.
(1.) 2: Anything that is or may become
an object of thought: things of the spirit.
In chapter one of O’Brien’s novel, “the things they carried”
we can see evidence of an object of thought: a thing of spirit in the form of
both Kiowa’s New Testament Bible and Martha’s letters to Lt. Jimmy Cross. It is
evident that the Bible of Kiowa’s is an object of though as it an educational
book, teaching good morals and practices around the world, but is also a
religious symbol of the Christian faith, used for centuries. Thus, it has to be
a “thing” of spirit. Jimmy Cross’s letter from Martha can also be interpreted
as an object of thought as it is stated in the novel that, “after a day’s
march, he would dig his foxhole...unwrap the letters and spend the last hour of
light pretending to read” (page 2) them. This also shows that since he was only
pretending to read them that he must have been thinking of Martha and
remembering her. In addition, it is revealed later in the story that these
letters were driving him through the war and keeping him anchored to home, therefore
they would be an object of spirit.
(2.) 7b: Personal possessions or belongings
We can see an example of personal possessions and belongings
in all members of alpha company. We have Kiowa again, but instead of the Bible,
he carries his grandfathers feathered hatchet, we have Rat Kiley with his
Brandy and M&M’s and also Henry Dobbins with his girlfriend’s pantyhose,
which he ties around his neck as a comforter. All of these objects through the
novel are precious to their owners, and in some cases were carried with them
into the grave. These items also helped the soldiers psychologically through
the war by anchoring them to their previous life, and thus also to the hope of
returning home.
(3.) 4: An action, deed, event, or
performance: to do great things; His death was a horrible thing.
Within this novel, we can also see many events caused by and
relating to the emotional burdens that the soldiers carry. One such event is
presented to us in chapter one where Jimmy Cross “crouched at the bottom of his
foxhole and burned Martha’s letters”(page 10) thus showing us the guilt that he
felt towards himself for the death of Ted Lavender, as he was reading Martha’s
Letters instead of patrolling the area as he should of. Recognising this flaw
in his character, Cross burnt the letters, destroying the distractions that he
had felt. This event also symbolises for us that War had won over Love in his
life, now the war was everything to him.
(4.) 5: Aim, objective: The thing is to reach this line with the ball.
In this novel, predominantly in the first story, we can
easily see evidence of an overall goal within the particular setting of the
story. This aim is revealed to be the challenge to survive the war, in both the
physical hardships and the psychological pain that the soldiers had to endure. Jimmy
Cross, after he loses one of his men, steels himself with the responsibility for
his men and later resolves, “They would get themselves together, and keep it
together” (Page 11) therefore we can clearly see that the only goal that the
soldiers had in this story was to survive and to go home.
(5.) 8: A task, chore: I have many things to do today.
In the first chapter, we can see this idea of a task or
chore in two main areas of the story, the first being that of digging the
foxhole at the end of the day, this is necessary for their camouflage and their
survival and is thus a chore. The second being the task of ferreting out the
Viet Cong’s vast tunnel systems that the soldiers periodically stumble across
occasionally while on patrol and missions. In the first story, we see the
character of Lee Strunk drew the unlucky number 17 and had to “strip off his
gear and crawl headfirst into the tunnel with a flashlight as Cross’s .45 caliber
pistol” (page 5). We can see that as they drew numbers, nobody ever volunteered
to do the duty and thus the soldiers consider it as dangerous, life
threatening, but above all, a chore.
