About 80 pages into Tim Obrien’s The Things They Carried, we’re confronted with a grotesque and inhumane scene. Curt Lemon just had his life snatched away by a booby trap, and his best friend, Rat Kiley, took it pretty hard. After Lemon got a dustoff, the platoon came across a baby water buffalo, chased it down, and tied it up. After supper, Kiley went up to the water buffalo, stroked its nose and offered it some rations. The water buffalo did not take any of the food. Kiley shrugged, and then proceeded to shoot the buffalo. He shot the buffalo meticulously: at the knee, ear, hindquarters, back, twice in the flanks, the mouth, tail, and below the ribs. Before long, the whole platoon began to watch, as Kiley went automatic, shooting randomly at the buffalo. Eventually, the buffalo fell to the ground, and Kiley shot it in the nose and throat. Finally, the buffalo died. Kiley began to cry, and then went off by himself.
Was it justified? Do we have a right to let our emotions go? Did Kiley have to take life to avenge a lost life? Granted, he was feeling the emotional pain of losing one of his best friends. But, did he take it too far? Did Kiley need to take his anger out on something in such a grotesque and inhumane manner? I don’t think so.
Losing a loved one sucks. I’ve been there, and I have a fair idea of what Kiley went through. However, I completely disagree with the way he dealt with the situation. Kiley could not control his emotions. I’m not an animal-rights activist or anything, but he definitely crossed a line. Kiley may have been one of the thousands who was drafted into the war, and this action may have been a physical manifestation of the anger and discontent that had been brewing inside of him for many months.
BUT - what is self-control? You can handle yourself in the heat of battle, but you can’t let that carry over into all aspects of your life? As a soldier, your job is to be a heartless, ruthless, killing machine. Part of being a soldier is to put the lid on your emotions. Be a man and suck it up! If you can’t maintain self-control, you’re not doing your job. As far as we know, Kiley did not seek any help or guidance from those in his platoon. He did not have enough self-control to do that. What if all the soldiers who lost something or someone acted in the manner Kiley did? Obviously, they wouldn’t be taking their anger out on just water buffalo. For all we know, soldiers might go on their own personal vendettas, wandering to other towns and killing innocent people, just so they can let go of that anger. Running rampage is not the mark of a soldier - especially an American soldier - in any shape or form.
So he cracked. But then someone from the masses will say: “It wasn’t his fault that he over-reacted.”
So this was “society’s” fault? His environment “forced” him to take brash and uncontrolled action? His anger is this just another byproduct of the terrible war? I beg to differ, dear friends. Yes, what happened to him was the result of his environment/society, but his REACTION to Lemon’s death was something that came from within him.
Notice the LACK of society in this whole situation. In America, Kiley would’ve faced jail time, lawsuits from animal rights activists, and other penalties if he tried to shoot through a buffalo enough times to see light come through it if he were caught. However, Kiley isn’t in America; he’s in a war. He is free from the rules and regulations of American society. He’s fighting a war, where anything goes. The effect is that Kiley is given freedom to deal with this situation in whatever way he chooses. And he let his emotions loose. What does this tell us about our own nature? Are we evil right down to the bone when rules are not placed over us and bad things come our way? This is a humbling thought, and many people don’t have the self-control to consider it.
The soldiers recognized something was different. After Kiley left, Tim Obrien says: “For a time no one spoke. We had witnessed something essential, something brand-new and profound, a piece of the world so startling there was not yet a name for it” (Obrien 79). The men in the platoon had never truly seen a man act out of pure, uninhibited, and genuine emotion; they had never seen such a clear glimpse into the heart of a man. And it moved them.
It’s scary to see what we can really be. Human Nature undoubtedly had a factor in Riley’s actions.
You didn’t get drafted to have a party. Next time it might be you who receives the satisfying thud of lead into some part of your body. Crap Happens. That’s life. Move on. Stay alive.
Citation: Obrien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway Books, 1990.
3 comments:
When i was reading this in the novel, i was shocked. That is really the only word to describe it. Sure Rat Kiley had just lost someone close to him, but i do not feel that what he did was justified in any way. War is a horrible thing and many lives are lost. In this war though, most of the soldiers didn't necessarily support the reason for entering the war in the first place. Kiley kiling the baby water buffalo was kind of like that. He did not know why he was there, and why his friend was just murdered, just like he had no reason for killing the animal.
I agree with what you said about it being scary if all soldiers lost their self control the way Kiley had. Then, not only would the soldiers be fighting their enemies, but also each other and their own feelings.
I definitely don't think it was justified that Kiley killed the buffalo. I mean, I know what it's like to lose a loved one, and yeah, it makes you feel pretty bad, but I don't think it was fair that he took out his anger on the buffalo. There are other ways that he could have taken out his anger. He could have gone off and shot at trees or something else that wouldn't be as harsh as taking a life.
I'm not saying that Kiley had to hold in all of his emotions and not express himself, I just think he could have done it in another way. I think being a soldier should have helped him put a lid on his emotions and be able to manage them better. I really don't think society had anything to do with how he reacted to this situation, but I do agree that it was part of human nature to be upset over his friend's death.
Drubester, first and foremost, I loved your post. You’re analysis of the entire situation with Kiley and the water buffalo and his reaction are superb, but I’d like to take a slightly different look at the reasoning behind why Kiley might have committed his heinous act. I just want to preface this by saying I completely agree with your assertion that Kiley’s acts were inhumane and utterly unacceptable. I just think they’re might be an additional perspective to view the situation in.
Naturally the bulk of Kiley’s violent outburst was fueled, as you stated, by the pain he felt for the loss of Curt Lemon, but it would seem that there is an additional unmentioned motive behind his acts. The death of Lemon could very well have awakened Kiley to the fact that his life could end just as quickly as his friend’s, that the end of his entire existence could be equated to a quick flash and a loud bang. This sudden realization could very easily have added a lot more to the fire already burning inside of him and definitely could have played a major role in explaining why he did the things he did. Does it excuse his actions? Of course not, but it might add a little bit to the rationale behind it.
Also, you view on how society itself is not at fault is really good. Naturally, it could be argued that society is responsible for creating the situation that forced Kiley to lash out, but it certainly didn’t govern his response. Whether or not it’s human nature is a massive debate in and of itself, but naturally the most important thing to note was that, as you stated, the nature of Kiley’s response resided within the individual and was not controlled by sociological views.
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