Closure For The Mind and Soul

In response to the chapter, Field Trip in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

The shit fields and what happened in there was a tragic death of one character, Kiowa. The place of his death was very influential to a lot of the characters because Kiowa’s character was truly genuine compared to the others. Tim and Kiowa’s relationship was never really prominent besides in the chapter The Man I Killed. So, Tim visiting the place of his death was very unusual, but made sense in the end.

Memories and forgiveness were a couple of the main themes in the chapter Field Trip. As Tim goes back to Vietnam with his daughter he was able to reflect and take in all that occurred in the field. He didn’t, however, bring his daughter there just to visit a third world country or to see the place he fought in the war but I believe it was for his own sake. He needed to find closure and a sense of peace and the only way that he was able to do that was to see where so many men were sucked into the war and metaphorically died. His daughter was like his roots and safety net that kept his mind from sinking back into the shit fields. I see it as if going back to that place would suck him back into that “war-like” state of mind and his daughter being there with him is keeping him from losing himself to the war...the shit fields. As Tim buries the moccasins of Kiowa, he's burying that soldier in Vietnam. He’s releasing that life and moving forward from it all. One constant factor that was present not only in this chapter but also several chapters before that is the presence of water.

The element of water stands for several things like purity, rejuvenation, and even healing. In this novel, water is one of the many natural enemies. The rain in the forest, the diseased filled waters, and the murky watered shitfield all have played roles in the deaths of more than one soldier. So, as Tim enters the water after the war when it is all over, it’s as if he is accepting defeat. Tim is giving back to the water what it has rightfully taken and won against him and his men.