The Things They Carried Characters Flashcards
(20 cards)
[They] strapped [a puppy] to a Claymore antipersonnel mine and squeezed the firing device.”
That night, after we’d marched away from the smoking village, [they] mocked the girl’s dancing.
Azar
Azar
exploded a puppy using a Claymore antipersonnel mine
mocked a girl’s dancing
THEME: war makes people violent and cold
[They] carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey.
[They] felt something tighten inside [them]. In the letter to Kiowa’s father [they] would apologize point-blank. Just admit to the blunders.
Jimmy Cross
(Lieutenant Cross)
Jimmy Cross
(Lieutenant Cross)
carried letters from Martha
Wrote a letter to Kiowa’s father to apologize for his wrongdoings
THEME: Soldiers carry emotional burdens such as responsibility and a longing for home and familiarity.
[They], who [were] scared, carried tranquilizers until [they were] shot in the head outside the village of Than Khe in mid-April.
[Kiowa] tried not to think about [them], but then he was thinking how fast it was, no drama, down and dead, and how it was hard to feel anything except surprise.
Ted Lavender
Ted Lavender
carried tranquilizers
shot in the head outside the village of Than Khe
Kiowa could not stop thinking about how fast his death was
THEME: Soldiers turn to substances to dull their fears and anger toward war.
Later, I remember, [they] tried to tell me that the man would’ve died anyway. [They] told me that it was a good kill, that I was a soldier and this was a war, that I should shape up and stop staring and ask myself what the dead man would’ve done if things were reversed.
[They] had been a fine soldier and a fine human being, a devout Baptist, and there was no way Lieutenant Cross would allow such a good man to be lost under the slime of a s—- field.
Kiowa
Kiowa
told the narrator that the man would’ve died anyway and that it was simply a war; inevitable
a fine soldier, fine human being, devout baptist, and died in a shit field
THEME: In the heat of the war, it doesn’t matter what a good person you are because war affects everyone the same.
In the morning [they] couldn’t stop laughing. “The man’s crazy,” [they] said. “I stole his f—ing jackknife.”
Later we heard that [they] died somewhere over Chu Lai, which seemed to relieve Dave Jensen of an enormous weight.
Lee Strunk
Lee Strunk
stole Dave Jensen’s precious jackknife and said “I stole his fucking jackknife”
died over in Chu Lai, which relieved Dave Jensen
THEME: Relationships during war are volatile and can change.
Through most of this, [they] had seemed to enjoy the foreignness of it all, the exotic food and animals, and even during those periods of boredom and discomfort [they’d] kept up a good-humored tolerance.
Behind me, in the jeep, [they] sat waiting with a government interpreter, and now and then I could hear the two of them talking in soft voices. They were already fast friends. Neither of them, I think, understood what all this was about, why I’d insisted that we search out this spot.
Kathleen
Kathleen
enjoyed the foreignness and the exotic food and animals whilst on Vietnam land
Neither Kathleen or the interpreter understood why the narrator insisted to go to that particular spot
THEME: It is a privilege to not be in the war because there will be no emotional baggage to carry when on the battlefield again.
Sometimes it is best to be innocent and not know anything.
If I could have one wish, anything, I’d wish for my dad to write me a letter and say it’s okay if I don’t win any medals. That’s all my old man talks about, nothing else. How he can’t wait to see my goddamn medals.
“Speaking of Courage” was written in 1975 at the suggestion of [them] , who three years later hanged himself in the locker room of a YMCA in his hometown in central Iowa.
Norman Bowker
Norman Bowker
wished his dad would write him a letter and say that its okay to not win any medals
“Speaking of Courage” was written in 1975 at the suggestion of him and 3 years later hanged himself in the locker room of a YMCA
THEME: War takes lives even once its over
The high pressures put up on soldiers and veterans can be so unbearable to the point that it could lead to death.
And then the letter gets very sad and serious. [They pour their] heart out. [They say they] loved the guy. [They say] the guy was his best friend in the world. They were like soul mates, [they say], like twins or something, they had a whole lot in common. [They tell] the guy’s sister [they]’ll look her up when the war’s over.
[They] took off his boots and socks, laid out [their] medical kit, doped [them]self up, and put a round through [their] foot.
Rat Kiley
Rat Kiley
pours his entire heart out in a letter to his dead best friend…like twins or soulmates or something…would look up the guy’s sister once was is over
shot himself in the foot
THEME: Loss during the war is unbearable
On Halloween, this real hot spooky night, the dude paints up his body all different colors and puts on this weird mask and hikes over to a ville and goes trick-or-treating almost stark naked, just boots and b—s and an M-16.
The embarrassment must’ve turned a screw in his head. Late that night he crept down to the dental tent. He switched on a flashlight, woke up the young captain, and told him he had a monster toothache. A killer, he said—like a nail in his jaw. The dentist couldn’t find any problem, but [they] kept insisting, so the man finally shrugged and shot in the Novocain and yanked out a perfectly good tooth.
Curt Lemon
Curt Lemon
on Halloween, paints his body different colors and puts on a weird mask and goes trick-or-treating “naked” without gear and an M-16
felt embarrassed and insists that the dentist pulls out a perfectly good tooth
THEME: Trauma makes people act out in ways that they usually wouldn’t
Excessive pride becomes dangerous when it results in rash decisions that is harmful to the body.
For [them], it seemed, Vietnam had the effect of a powerful drug: that mix of unnamed terror and unnamed pleasure that comes as the needle slips in and you know you’re risking something.
Late at night, when the Greenies were out on ambush, the whole rain forest seemed to stare in at them—a watched feeling—and a couple of times they almost saw [them] sliding through the shadows. Not quite, but almost. [They] had crossed to the other side. {They were] part of the land.
Mary Anne Bell
Marry Anne Bell
felt that Vietnam was a powerful drug
Turned to the side that the Viet Conds were on and joined them on their ambushes
THEME: War can make even the most gentle person rough
