'The Things They Carried': skam, sandhed og struktur

Throughout this essay I will discuss how shame fits into O’Brien’s portrayal of the war experience and O’Brien’s use of the terms “happening-truth” and “story-truth” and how this is used in the book and lastly the structure of the work, and how the work’s fragmented style contribute to the themes that run through the stories. I will exemplify the different aspects of shame which is a common feeling in or after war. Next I will analyse the way Tim O’Brien tells the differents stories, and how to distinguish between the “happening-truth” and “story-truth” with examples. Lastly I will interpret the fragmented style in the book, and the different narrative techniques he uses, to get the readers attention.

When focusing on shame in i The Things They Carried, there are different aspects to focus on. Shame follows the soldiers into the war in Vietnam, which makes them do unexpected and irrational things as seen in “The Dentist”, where Curt Lemon faints while he’s a the dentist. Throughout the book he is portrayed as a man who does dangerous stunts and brags about them while playing “the tough soldier” as seen on p. 82 l. 5 “It’s true that he pulled off some dangerous stunts, and even a few that seemed plain crazy”. He wants to prove to the other guys in the platoon that he is brave and a man who can fight, even though he feels ashamed of the dentist incident. Shame is also expressed after the war, where “survivor’s guilt” haunt the soldiers, and O’Brien too. O’Brien feels ashamed because he feels guilt about Kiowa's death, because he believed he was the man responsible as seen in “In The Field” p. 162 l. 29 “The young soldier was trying hard not to cry. He, too, blamed himself”. Lieutenant Cross also feels guilt about Kiowa's death, and blames the war. In the story “Speaking Of Courage” Norman Bowker feels ashamed because he didn’t win the silver star and because he feels that he father is disappointed as seen on p. 135 l. 3 “And his father would have nodded, knowing full well that many brave men do not win medals for their bravery, and that others win medals for doing nothing”. He can’t let go of the feeling of knowing that he could have won the medal if he had saved Kiowas life. The feeling of shame results in Norman Bowker hanging himself.