Gage Fogle
English 1110.01 at 11,T-Th
8/23/18
Exploration Four: TTTC theme and research
An interesting and unique theme to the book, The Things They Carried, arises in the chapter, Ghost Soldiers. The theme is the need of belonging in a group, and in this sinario the character Tim O’ Brien feels that he is losing his connection with his soldier brothers. After healing from a gunshot wound, Tim was transferred to the Headquarters Company, where he would be in a safe and easy environment. He wouldn’t see his friends from Alpha Company for over three months. When they flew into Headquarters Company for stand-down, Tim realized that he wasn’t as much apart of Alpha Company as he used to be. The reader is shown this through Tim’s interior monologue, when O’Brien writes, “I felt something shift inside me. It was anger, partly, but it was also a sense of pure and total loss: I didn’t fit anymore. They were soldiers, I wasn’t... A funny thing, but I felt betrayed”.(O’Brien, 188). This theme is very important to the chapter Ghost Soldiers, as it is the reason Tim later carries out a plan to mentally torture the man that Tim feels replaced him, Bobby Jorgenson. The need to belong to a group, as well as the feeling of being betrayed by your group, are common experiences between all of us. In my own experience this theme has always been present in sports. I have always felt better when I am a positive contribution to a team, and I of course feel bad when I am excluded from team activities.
At the beginning of, The Things They Carried, O'Brien describes what equipment, personal items, and clothing the soldiers carry with them everyday. This made me curious about what the typical soldier in Vietnam wore and what they armed themselves with. I also wondered what the soldier's sleeping and diet habits were while in the field. I just wanted to learn more about what daily life was like in Vietnam. I discovered that the troops wore jungle uniforms designed to protect against bugs, the sun, and other natural elements. They wore pants with special pockets that secured their medical kits and other supplies. Their boots underwent multiple upgrades to become the optimum jungle boot; they were capable of draining water, improved ankle support, and contained a spike protection plate. As for weaponry, the rifles of choice were the M14 and the M16. The preferred side arm was the Colt 1911A1 pistol. The staples of the soldier's diets included pork and beans, stewed vegetables, and corn bread. Much more could be said about the life of the U.S. soldier in Vietnam, but these are basic details so far. The cite http://david.brubakers.us/vietnam/ was a very useful source in my research.
At the beginning of, The Things They Carried, O'Brien describes what equipment, personal items, and clothing the soldiers carry with them everyday. This made me curious about what the typical soldier in Vietnam wore and what they armed themselves with. I also wondered what the soldier's sleeping and diet habits were while in the field. I just wanted to learn more about what daily life was like in Vietnam. I discovered that the troops wore jungle uniforms designed to protect against bugs, the sun, and other natural elements. They wore pants with special pockets that secured their medical kits and other supplies. Their boots underwent multiple upgrades to become the optimum jungle boot; they were capable of draining water, improved ankle support, and contained a spike protection plate. As for weaponry, the rifles of choice were the M14 and the M16. The preferred side arm was the Colt 1911A1 pistol. The staples of the soldier's diets included pork and beans, stewed vegetables, and corn bread. Much more could be said about the life of the U.S. soldier in Vietnam, but these are basic details so far. The cite http://david.brubakers.us/vietnam/ was a very useful source in my research.
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| Optimum Jungle Boots |
Hey Gage, I find your research question very interesting! Something that I wondered throughout the novel was what a normal soldier's patrol was; How far would they "hump", what was a typical resting spot, etc?
ReplyDeleteI would agree that that is a big theme in the book the feeling of belonging to a group. Yes, I feel that sports are very group or team oriented. With the soldiers in the war I don't know how I would feel about eating a lot of pork and beans. I'm not really a big beans guy.
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