Death In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

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Death is one thing that some people think majorly on but some people really do not care about it. In “The Things They Carried” Tim Cross talks about death in a certain way that can really confuse you inside your mind, the deaths in this book are relatively more predictable than others. Some of the people this book like Ted Lavender, Kurt Lemons, Norman Bowker, Kiowa as the main deaths in this book. “ The Things They Carried” is full of fascinating short stories about certain times in the war and the times that he felt was important and was able to tell without being embarrassed. As for Ted’s death, Cross felt guilty enough to even talk about his death because, he was suppose to “save/ protect” his soldiers from anything. He feels like he failed as his job being a Lieutenant for the war. Also Lavender, who was scared, was carrying rounds, more than 20 pounds of ammunition, plus the flak jacket and the helmet and rations. He was shot and killed outside of Than Khe. He was dead weight. There wasn’t any signs of twitching or flopping going on. Kiowa, who saw it happen, commented that it looked like a big massive rock fall and just boom then down. Boom. Down. Nothing else. While Norman Bowker was one of Tim’s most guilty feeling death he feels bad for Norman dieing in a horrible way. “Norman Bowker was always quiet” his …show more content…

So I glanced behind me and watched him step from the shade into bright sunlight. When he died it was almost beautiful, the way the sunlight came around him and lifted him up and sucked him high into a tree full of moss and vines and white blossoms. Cross was trying to say that he “saw” Lemon dieing in a beautiful way even though he died by stepping on a landmine. This really connects to the one of the major themes in this book because death is not always grossome or

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