The Things They Carried

The second book I finished was called, The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien. The book was written in the setting of Vietnam during the war. The narrator is telling the reader about a group of soldiers who travel the countryside. Each man has his own story, his own past, and his own superstitions. Every man has a lucky charm of some sort. One man had stockings from his girl back home. Another had moccasins. Each of these items were added to the already extensive list of mandatory items in their heavy backpacks. The book was more than just superstition; the men in the story all had such different lives, and the book expressed the message that every man's story is different and that's why we can never judge anyone but ourselves.

A very memorable section of the book for me was when the narrator described the death of Kiowa. He was a Native American who passed away by drowning in a field of mud, or what the soldiers thought was mud. The book had many different accounts of who was responsible for his death. The author confused the reader as to who was responsible to make the reader make their own judgement on who was responsible. This was O'Brien's way of proving that people pass judgement on things they have never witnessed. In high school, and probably any other place in the world, what someone tells us is ALWAYS true. There doesn't need to be proof before we believe statements, and then we pass our judgement without knowing the full story.

The book really touched me because I have done so many of the things that O'Brien accuses society of. We will never know how hard someone has it without actually being them, which is impossible. So who are we to judge one another. Someone may look at me and think, why would a seventeen year old need a pager. Actually, people have thought that. They have also thought I don't pay enough attention to my illnesses. I never talk about them, or manage them in front of people. What those judgmental observers don't know is that I don't have a pager, it's my insulin pump. I do care about my illnesses, I just don't like talking about it because it is a negative subject, and I could have it much worse so why dwell on it. I also manage my illnesses in private. I don't like people seeing me differently, so I don't tell people about my diseases until after they know me well enough to know that I will be upset if they change the way they treat me. I have looked at people around me, people in my school, people I work with, and people I catch a fleeting glance of on the street, and judged them all. I have come conclusions about every one of them without ever asking about their lives. Even if I were to ask, I don't think I would ever have the right to judge because I have not lived what they have lived through. This is a message that I think most people need to learn -- myself included.

O'Brien's book was revolutionary because of its ability to take you behind the scenes of the Vietnam war. The novels lessons are something that I will always remember. I felt connected with the story, not because of the war, but simply because of the way it was written, and the lessons it was trying to teach me. It brought out thoughts that I had never had. To me, a truly great novel is one that can make you look at the world differently, and O'Brien's The Things They Carried has done that for me. It is one book I will always recommend to those who are looking for their next read.