Themes

          The development and image of the hero fully depends on one's perspective, the concept of hero/enemy is intertwined but also at the same time the very exact opposite of each other.  In O'Brien's They Things They Carried, this theme is faint but carries out through the whole book, the most obvious one being the soldiers as heroes to American citizens. The book itself is telling a war story, the Vietnam-American War; the soldiers are at war fighting to protect our freedom, but for the Vietnamese, they are enemies, horrible monsters who invaded their country killing innocent civilians. The Vietnamese who dies is as much a hero as the American soldier who was sent over to kill them.  "most of the hamlet had burned down..."(135). To the fourteen year old girl, also the only survivor of the attack, the soldiers are not heroes, but a group of savage men who just killed her entire family and burnt away her home. The image of the hero is only something the "outsiders" see, the heroes themselves might not even view themselves as a hero. What they do (or fails to do, in this case) eat them away on the inside, the heroic titles andthe memories of war haunt them. "you had seven medals. sure.." (142) Norman Bowker comes home with seven medals, but none of that matters to him, he blames himself everyday for Kiowa's death. To Norman, the negative aftermath of war overshadows every heroic thing and good deed he's done, he isn't a hero to himself, but a coward, a shameful friend.
           Religion and faith play a big part in our society today and even though faith does not technically have to be religious, it's what helps people through even the toughest times, but while religon may save you from yourself, it can not save you from the constant death threat. Kiowa, the most religious person in the story ends up dead in a shit field, literally. His god couldn't save him when death crept up, but faith however, helps one cope with whatever problems one may be having. "He carried around his girlfriend's  pantyhose.."(10). Henry Dobbins carries his girlfriend's pantyhose as a comforter. A comforter, rather than calling it faith, each soldier as well as every living person, has a comforter. Something to go to when nothing else is there, something that gives them hope or at least calm them down and give them even the slightest bit of peace.  For some people that comforter is religion, it's where they go to when they're lost and looking for answers, guidance or just simply a place of peace of mind. For others it could be an old locket that once belonged to their grandmother, or a favorite book of poems, even a celebrity, an idol, someone they look up to, it could even be the sunrise every morning blood-staining the sky. Anything and everything can act as faith for someone, for them to believe in.