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Guilt In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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The Things They Carried “Guilt is cancer. Guilt will confine you, torture you, destroy you as an artist. It's a black wall. It's a thief.” - David Grohl. When soldiers come back from the war all of them have guilt that will be with them for the rest of their lives. They carry it forever. Soldiers can not unsee the seen or undo what has been done, they have to live with it. Every soldier at some time, during and or after the war feel a burden of guilt that they cannot overcome. It tortures them, confines them, and destroys them. The Things They Carried and Operation Homecoming show Soldiers having to deal with guilt, Guilt that most people will never experience; The shame of not being able to stop the killing of their own, the shame of killing a person, and the shame that can kill you and those around you because of your thoughts. Some soldiers believe that they …show more content…

In The Things They Carried, As O'Brien was in the field, he killed a young Vietnamese soldier with a Grenade. The soldier was posing no threat to him but through the grenade in panic, not even knowing it. Even though he was a Vietnamese soldier. He felt guilt for killing him. In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien writes, “‘Stop staring at him”, says Kiowa. His friend shakes O’Brien out of his reverie. O’Brien notices small blue flowers near the dead man’s head and a white butterfly fluttering near his mouth. “Talk to me Tim,” says Kiowa. But O’Brien remains silent, staring at the body”. O'Brien then describes the body: ”He was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man of about twenty. He lay with one leg bent beneath him, his jaw in his throat, his face neither expressive nor inexpressive. One eye was shut. The other was a star-shaped hole”(O’Brien). Throughout the book Tim O'Brien keeps describing the dead body of the soldier. A person is a person, even if it is a good guy or bad, it is still morally wrong to kill

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