The Things They Carried – Chapters Summary – Flashcards with Answers

-Lieutenant Jimmy Cross talk about his lover Martha and how he always carried her letter and pebble with him. - Also introduce you to other solider and what they carried wait them. -One day they were on a mission and Cross was distracted by the thought of Martha one of this solider, Lavender got shot. Cross blame himself and swear to not think of her again.

-O'Brein use the items the solider carried to show their personality without actually telling us what they are like. It also show their emotional burden. - Cross & Martha represent love and war, emotional burden.

-Cross go to visit Tim O' Brien and talk about the war and they talk about what happen between him and Martha. - Jimmy met Martha again at a collage reunion. Martha become Lutheran missionary and later give him another picture of her. -O'Brien tell Cross that he would like to write story about what they talk about.

-O'Brein explain what war isn't all horror they are some few fun time too -His Daughter ask him why don't he write about something other than war. -O'Brien list some of the event that happen: A mine field guide, How Kiowa teach Dave and Rat the rain dance etc.

-O'Brien talk about when he received the draft notice to fight in Vietnam War. -He don't believe in the war and is against it. -He work in a meatpacking plant removing blood clots from pig with water gun. -One day he run away and drive along the Rainy River, a river separating Minnesota and Canada. -He stay with Elroy Berdahl who one day took him finishing and cross into Canadian territory. -He later deiced to go to war because it would be embarrassing not to.

-This chapter show that war can twist someone moral. O'Brien don't want to go to war, but if he don't go he would be breaking the law and bring shame to his family. So the only way to avoid that guilt is to go to war, but by doing so it bring him guilt that he didn't do what he believe in. -Elroy Berdahl brought him fishing to show him that freedom really is that close, he could have ran away if he wanted but he didn't. "I was a coward. I went to the war"

-Dave Jensen & Lee Strunk got into a fight because Jensen think Strunk took his knife. -Jensen break Strunk nose but later he feel bad and borrow a pistol to break his nose to even the score. -Next day Strunk admitted that he did steal the knife. this Chapter show that war casue those on the same side to act violently toward each other.

Jensen & Lee Strunk learn to trust each -other. They agree that if one gets seriously wounded, the other will kill him to put him out of his misery. In October, Strunk's lower leg gets blown off. Strunk repeatedly begs not to be killed. Strunk is taken away but didn't survived.

Kurt Lemon die Rat Kiley kill the baby Buffalo out of sadness

After Curt Lemon death, O'Brien told as tory about how Curt Lemon is scared of the dentist, but one night Lemon demand that the dentist pull out his perfectly good tooth . - probably to show that he got over his fear of the dentist.

-Rat Kiley tell a story about Mary Anne Bell who came to Vietnam by supply helicopter to be with her boyfriend Mark Fossie. -Mary Anne Bell later join the green beret on ambush and completely change. -Rat Kiley make up an ending that Mary Ann have ran off into the wood and become part of the land.

Henry Dobbins wears his girlfriend's pantyhose around his neck as a goodluck charm. With the pantyhose around his neck, Dobbins survives tripping over a land mine, and a week later he survives a firefight. later his gf dumps him, but he still ties the pantyhose around his neck,saying that the magic hasn't been lost. -Superstitions are prevalent in Vietnam.

One day the platoon comes across an abandoned pagoda, during the men's stay there, which lasts more than a week, two monks bring them water and other goods. One day, while the monks clean and oil Dobbins's gun, Dobbins says that though he isn't a religious man and wouldn't enjoy taking part in the sermons, he might like to join the church because he would enjoy interacting with people -Kiowa says that although he carries a Bible everywhere because he was raised to, he wouldn't enjoy being a preacher, but He does enjoys being in a church.

-O'Brein lament and describe the physical appearance of the main he killed and make up a story speculating what he could have been. - His comrade told him that if O'Brein didn't kill him someone else would have

20 years later O'Brein daughter ask him if he ever killed anyone. He lie and said no. - O'Brein re tell the story of the same boy he kill again but this time it was how he kill. -He said it wasn't until he thrown the grenade that he notice that the boy was about to die.

-a Vietnamese girl of fourteen dances through the wreckage of her burn village and died relatives. -The platoon cannot understand why she is dancing. Azar think that the dance is a strange ritual, but Dobbins said that girl probably just likes to dance. -Later that night, Azar mocks the girl's dancing Dobbins threat to throw him in the well for mocking her.

On the 4th of July, Norman Bowker drive around the lake avoiding his old crush Sally Kramer.thinking about how he almost won the sliver star, he want to tell the story to someone but couldn't tell his dad about it.

-Norman Bowker hanged himself. -Bowker then suggested that O'Brien write a story about someone who feels that Vietnam robbed him of his will to live -Bowker blame himself for Kiowa death.

-Kiowa die in the field filled with waste. -Cross blame himself that he have the men camp on a dangerous ground. -one of the solider desperately try to find Kiowa body because Kiowa have the only picture of his ex gf. -Azar joke almost the whole time they were searching. he apologize about they found Kiowa body in the mud. -Cross wrote to Kiowa father saying that Kiowa was a great Solider.

O'Brien talks about the difference between real truth and story truth. He says he wants to explain the structure of his book. He says that he saw a man die on a trail near My Khe, but that he did not kill him. He then says that he made up this story. He says he wants us to feel what he felt and because of that, sometimes story truth is truer than happening truth. He says that what stories can do is make things present. Imagining Kathleen asking him if he's ever killed anyone, O'Brien envisions saying yes and then envisions saying no.

O'Brien says that a few months after finishing the story "In the Field," he returns to the site of Kiowa's death with his daughter Kathleen and an interpreter. He says though the field does look familiar, it is not how he remembers it—everything, he says, is dry. Kathleen complains that the land stinks. She has just turned ten and has received the trip as a birthday gift intended to grant her insight into her father's history. But though she attempts to act tolerant, she is bored. She can't understand the war or why her father fought in it. As she and O'Brien approach the field, Kathleen is amused by the interpreter's display of magic tricks. O'Brien reflects on the way the field, which now looks so different, could have the power to swallow his best friend and part of his life. He goes for a quick swim, surprising and disgusting Kathleen, who threatens to tell her mother. But before he leaves the river, he takes Kiowa's moccasins and leaves them in the spot where he imagines his friend settled into the river. When O'Brien returns, Kathleen asks him if an old man in the field is mad at him. O'Brien says that all the anger is finished.

-O'Brien tell us a story that he was shot twice. The first time Rat Kiley treated him, but when Kiley was wounded and sent to Japan they got a new medic name Bobby Jorgenson. -the 2nd time O'Brien was shot Jorgenson was so scared and couldn't treat him resulting in lasting injury and pain.This lead to O'Brein hate for Jorgensen and he want revenge. -O'Brien & Azar trick Jorgensen by pulling ropes and sandbag to give illusion of enemy - Jorgensen was not scared and walkthrough O'Brien and later he ask O'Brein if they're even now.

-At Quang Ngai the Platoon have to operate at night. Which throw everyone off and they're all scared. - Everyone feel like they are chasing ghost (V.C) -Rat Kiley later shoot himself in the toe and was release from duty.

-O'Brien talk about his first love. 9 years old name Linda who later died from brain tumor. -O'Brien says that in Vietnam, the soldiers devised ways to make the dead seem less dead,they kept them alive with stories. In the stories the dead live. "when I take a high leap into the dark and come down thirty years later, I realize it is as Tim trying to save Timmy's life with a story."