Bella Valinoti

The Things They Carried

In the story it talks about soldiers time in Vietnam. It discusses the horrors they had to

see and the emotional toll it took on them. In writing there are many different types of characters.

There is a flat, which only shows and is known by two traits. Round, they have many different

sides and are more complex. Static, they dont change throughout the story. And a dynamic,

which undergoes a change because of a dramatic occurrence. Throughout the stories that are told

you see different types of characters. The most common types of characters found dynamic and

static.

One of the stories told in The Things They Carried was called Night Life. This story takes

place in Vietnam in the depths of night. It is so dark out that they had to walk so close to one

another or they were risking getting lost. Rat Kiley is the main character that is talked about in

this chapter. He is a dynamic character that undergoes a drastic change. As a result of the gore

and the land was getting to him. He slowly started to lose his senses, he believed that the bugs

were after him the worst thing in Nam was the god-damn bugs. Big giant killer bugs, hed

say. (OBrien 209) This quote shows how the land was effecting the sanity of people. Rat Kiley

could no longer take being in Vietnam so he shot himself in the foot as a last resort to get him out

of there. His platoon had been glad to see him leave because they could see the downhill spiral of

his mental sanity. Rat Kiley had been a dynamic character, and the protagonist of this chapter.

The antagonist had been the land itself, it had slowly begun to breakdown Rat Kileys mental

health. Night Life is a good example of showing a dynamic character.

Another story from within this book that had good examples of the different types of

characters was In the Field. In the Field discusses a search for a missing member of a troop that
had been swallowed by the land of Vietnam. They had been marching through swampy land that

really sucked everything up that it could. They were making their way trying to find their friend

Kiowa, who had gone missing. Jimmy Cross was the lieutenant of the troop and was leading

them around on a scavenger hunt for Kiowa. He is a dynamic character in this chapter because he

was the one who had to write the letter to Kiowas family after they found him, dead in the

swamp. He felt some of the blame for Kiowas death, he knows he shouldnt because they are in

the middle of a war but he feels the blame for his death. The young soldier also feels a deep grief

for his friend who had died, he put the blame on him. He had been really hurt by the death of his

friend. He had been trying to show his friend a picture late at night by the light of a flashlight

making them like an open target for the enemy troops to find them. The young soldier is also a

dynamic character because he underwent a change because of the death of his friend. Azar a

member of the platoon, had been cracking jokes the entire time they were looking for Kiowa.

Once they do find Kiowas body he apologizes for making jokes. Azar is a static character he

does change because of the situation; he only stops telling jokes because he knows people are

mourning over the loss of a friend. In the field has good examples of dynamic and static

characters. The land is once again an antagonist, swallowing and destroying its surroundings.

Many years later one of the soldiers took his daughter on a trip for her birthday to

Vietnam because he wanted her to see and know his history. By returning to this land it brought

up a lot of internal conflict because being back in the land that had brought so much pain and

suffering to him in prior years. He is shown as a dynamic character putting on a brave face for

his daughter but also feeling the pain and loss that he had to experience earlier in his life. His

daughter was a static character, being in Vietnam really had no effect on her. She seemed

disinterested during certain activities but did not undergo any change.
 Throughout the story The Things They Carried many of the characters felt many drastic

changes because of dramatic events that changed them, but also there were characters who felt

no effect or change from the surrounding events. This narrative element was carried through each

chapter and had effect on how the characters were portrayed in the novel.
Highlights

1. What did you hope to accomplish with this writing?

I hoped to show the different ways that character was shown in the novel. I
wanted to show the different types of character used as well.

2. What do you think you did well in this writing?

I think that I had a lot of good information put into my essay. I think that my
body paragraphs are strong and really get my point across.

3. What are areas of weakness in this essay?

I think my conclusion is my area of weakness because I had a very hard time

trying to figure out how to conclude my essay.

4. After the peer review and self revision, what are changes that you made?

I didnt really make that many changes a few grammatical but I didnt have that
many corrections.