Short Story Project Two

I decided to do this project on a chapter of Tim O’Brien’s The Things
They Carried. This book was made from the author’s memories of his time served in the Vietnam War. In this chapter Tim kills a man in battle. Tim and his squad had come upon him in the jungle, fully armed, and ready to attack. The only reason this man died instead of Tim, was the vigilance of his entire squad. The only Reason Tim had killed him instead of one of his squad mates, was because Tim happened to pull his trigger first.

Tim has a lot of trouble coming to terms with what had happened. He sits
in silence, ignoring everything and everyone, except the carcass that lies mere yards away from him. Because of his refusal to talk, or even listen to what his squad mates have to say about what happened, his imagination starts to make things worse as it would with anyone in a similar position. He starts to make up scenarios about what this man was like, and where he was from.

I think that when people do something that is so rare for them and as unchangeable as killing someone, even when it is in self-defense, their own minds try to make them believe that it was wrong. Even though this person was trying to kill Tim, he felt guilt for killing him. Life is the most important thing to a person, whether they realize it or not. Once you’ve lost you life, there isn’t much more you can lose. I think when you aren’t prepared; the thought of having taken the life of another, for the reason that they wanted to take yours can be very overwhelming. Not only are you dealing with the thought of having taken a life, but you are also trying to come to terms with the fact that you almost lost your own life.

I think that the author was trying to prepare future soldiers for the
psychological trials that come with the battlefield. I think that he wanted them to know that they need to be able to keep moving after instances like this, and put it behind them. I think that he wanted them to know that they must let what is done be done, and not let it affect what they will do next.

I think that he wanted people to see what can happen when you are in a
situation like this and aren’t prepared. I think he wanted them to know that when you don’t move on, you have to carry the weight of not only your own near-death experience, but also the death of someone else. Everyone knows that life isn’t easy. I think that the author knows that it is a lot harder when you carry the death of someone else.

There is a very common phrase that many people have said and thought.
That phrase is, “I wish I had known them, what I know now.” Another phrase is, “history repeats itself.” Many of us will have to experience things that have happened to people before us. By reading about the experiences that others have had in their lives, we can apply the knowledge that they recovered to our own lives, therefore allowing us to prepare ourselves for similar experiences.