The Things They Carried

     In "In the Field" of Tim O'Brian's The Things They Carried, one sentence in particular stood out to me: "'Nobody's fault,' he said. 'Everybody's.'" This chapter seemed to be focused on how the little decisions people make, especially in war, can attribute to someone's death. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross made the first mistake, which was choosing that field despite not only the villager's warning but its defensive issues: "Tactically, he'd say, it was indefensible ground from the start. Low and flat. No natural cover. And so late in the night, when they took mortar fire from across the river, all they could do was snake down under the slop and lie there and wait," (O'Brian 162). Even though Cross made the first error, there were two more major ones following it. The 'young soldier' Cross was talking to switched on his flashlight to show Kiowa his girlfriend's picture. "Like murder, the boy thought. The flashlight made it happen. Dumb and dangerous, and as a result his friend Kiowa was dead," (O'Brian 163) The last mistake was made by Norman Bowker was talked about in an earlier chapter: "He pulled hard but Kiowa was gone, and then suddenly he felt himself going, too… the stink was everywhere - it was inside him, in his lungs - and he could no longer tolerate it," (O'Brian 143). Bowker let his friend's life go even though he knew he was still alive. No one would blame him and I doubt anyone could say for sure if they could do better, and the same could be said for the 'young soldier and Lieutenant Jimmy Cross' errors. Even those who didn't make an error felt that they had. But each mistake added to Kiowa's death. If one had happened without another, Kiowa probably wouldn't be dead. This can be applied to life outside war, but wouldn't result in someone's death so quickly: "In the field, though the causes were immediate. A moment of carelessness or bad judgement or plain stupidity carried consequences that lasted forever," (O'Brian 170)