Guilt

In response to Speaking of Courage

In the novel The Things They Carried, the readers experience the soldier's guilt through text and examples of the war stories. Two examples of guilt are with Bowker reliving Kiowa’s death and the story of the man I killed.

Norman Bowker took Kiowa’s death to heart and was overwhelmed with guilt losing a member of his squad was something that struck him hard. Kiowa’s death was not something that he could have prevented but because Norman was present for it, he took responsibility and felt the guilt. This is a great example of survivor's guilt and shows elements of Bowkers conscience in it. Bowker, like the other guys in the war, was thrown into circumstances far different than those he grew up with and was raised to follow. These circumstances can be known to change people and let parts of their conscience take over the others. Despite the fact that these circumstances change people, Bowker was still able to let his humanity through. His moral sense of right and wrong outweighed all others and he knew that he should have an emotional response to his death instead of just moving on.

Another example of guilt is the story of the man I killed. Tim O’Brien’s character reflects on the aftermath of a man he killed from the other side, and through this made a story about him. He creates identities for this man, wondering who he was and going over what he took away from his world. O’Brien’s character is filled with an overwhelming guilt that he can not handle it. This is an example of how elements of his psyche are revealed. O’Brien facing death does not fills him with so much guilt he can not handle it, even when it is someone on the other side of the war. Instead of just moving on, he is devastated, which shows how strong his super ego is.