” Ted Lavender is the first member of Alpha Company to die in the book. Before he dies, Lavender pops
tranquilizers to calm his fear of dying.
What does Ted Lavender symbolize?
O'Brien has Lavender killed to serve several purposes: Lavender is a symbol of
unweighed fear
. The function of Lavender is to be a doppelganger, a ghostly twin to haunt Cross (a Christ-figure), the one who feels the most guilt for his death.
What did Ted Lavender carry figuratively?
Ted Lavender (“who was scared”) carries
tranquilizers
. The emphasis is on Ted Lavender, the scared one, who carried tranquilizers.
What does Jimmy Cross carry Why does he carry these?
They carry the things their military rank demands that they carry. For example, Rat Kiley is the medic, so he carries morphine, malaria tablets, comic books, and M&Ms. Jimmy Cross is the platoon leader, so he carries
a compass, codebooks, and the responsibility for his men
.
Was Ted Lavender a real person?
VIETNAM — Ted Lavender, a member of the Alpha Company fighting in Vietnam, sadly passed away in mid-April in 1970 in a small village in Vietnam. He was shot in the head outside one of the villages.
What is a soldier's greatest fear?
They carried the soldier's greatest fear, which was
the fear of blushing
. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor.
Who did Jimmy Cross blame for Lavender's death?
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross blames himself for
Ted Lavender's
death because he loves Martha so much that he's been preoccupied. They burn Than Khe. Kiowa keeps describing the way Lavender fell when he died.
Why does Rat Kiley The medic carry M&Ms candy?
Rat Kiley carries “[all] the things a medic must carry” (5). The medical items he carries mean that
he is constantly dealing with blood and guts and gore and wounds
, many that he undoubtedly cannot heal or treat, hence the reason for the M&M's he “carried for especially bad wounds” (5).
Why does Rat Kiley call his friend's sister an offensive name?
He calls the sister a
“dumb cooze”
not because he is a misogynist but because it is his way of negotiating anger. Blame must be assigned, Kiley rationalizes in his anger, and O'Brien sees the truth in Kiley's emotions.
What type of character is Ted Lavender?
Ted Lavender is
a young, scared soldier
in the Alpha company in Tim O'Brien's book The Things They Carried. He is the most afraid to die, and dies first. Before he is shot, he carries and takes tranquilizers to dull his fear.
Why does LT cross blame himself for Lavender's death?
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross blames himself for Ted Lavender's death
because he loves Martha so much that he's been preoccupied
. They burn Than Khe. Kiowa keeps describing the way Lavender fell when he died.
What did Tim O'Brien carry physically?
Tim O'Brien: I carried all the standard military stuff:
grenades, ammo, an M16, sometimes an M60
. Letters from mom, dad. Letters from a girl back home. More than the physical, I carried incredible terror with every single step I took.
Why does Tim O'Brien describe Elroy Berdahl as the person who saved his life?
Tim O'Brien describes Elroy Berdahl as the person who saved his life. Why?
He gave him the space and time he needed to think about the war, the draft, and his true feelings all without ever saying a word about dodging the draft or the war
. Tim O'Brien says “I was a coward.
How did Mary Anne change in things they carried?
Mary Ann starts to
transform when she helps out with the injured, seeing horrible, gory things
. Then she starts going out on ambush in the middle of the night. She admits that it scares her but also makes her feel alive in a way that no one back home would understand.
What were the soldiers doing when Lavender was killed?
What were the soldiers doing when Lavender was killed?
They were on a mission to tunnel complexes and Lee Strunk had just came back
. What is the “good luck charm” that Norman Bowker carries? The thumb that Mitchell Sanders gave him.
What did Rat Kiley carry emotionally?
In The Things They Carried, Rat Kiley emotionally carries
stories about the war, the responsibility for the lives of the men in the platoon, and the burden of witnessing violence and death
.
