The Corroding of Shame

Brene Brown once said, “Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change.” This is seen multiple times in the novel The Thing They Carried by Tim O’Brien through characters with rough pasts. This embarrassment or shame is reinforced by the guilt of not being “masculine” enough or not being brave, heroic, and patriotic enough. The war, especially the Vietnam War, was very traumatic for most soldiers because their enemies weren’t clear and the land was very unknown to them. Also, due to the draft, many “kids” had to grow up in the war as they were sent when they were merely eighteen years old. Shame affects many different characters in this novel in many different ways like Norman Bowker, Jimmy Cross, and Curt Lemon. 

Norman Bowker was definitely one of the characters who felt the most shame and guilt.  He carried so much with him throughout the war, that when he came home, he couldn’t do it. Norman feels the most shame when he didn’t receive the Silver Star of Valor because he didn’t save Kiowa from dying. He hides the shame of not saving Kiowa under not winning the Silver Star of Valor because it made the death of kiowa seem less like his fault in his head. He also wanted to show his dad and impress his dad but he couldn’t when he said, “‘I almost won the Silver Star,’”he would have said. ‘How’s that? Just a story. So tell me,’ his father would have said (O’Brien 135). He really wanted to tell his dad about all the medals he got, but they were common medals that many got. He wished that he had got that Silver Star to impress his dad, but since he didn’t save Kiowa’s life, he didn’t earn it. He also felt solely responsible for Kiowa’s death and it was very hard for him to deal with the shame and guilt when he got home. He couldn’t adjust back to normal life after the war. This shame pushed Norman to end up doing the worst thing he could possible do: commit suicide by hanging himself. He was too ashamed to talk with dad also because Norman thought his dad expected more from him. 

Another character who is affected by shame is Jimmy Cross. Jimmy Cross was the lieutenant and he felt responsible for many things. The greatest shame that affected him the most was the death of Kiowa. That night, he was warned by a local that the land was dangerous , but he didn’t listen. In the end, Kiowa ended up dying from drowning in feces and Jimmy Cross felt very responsible and his men assigned him this shame when Saunders said, “‘Better tell the LT.’ ‘Screw him.’ ‘Yeah but—some lieutenant’, Saunders said. ‘Camps us in a toilet. Man doesn’t know shit”’(O’Brien 159). Saunders says, and some agree, that Kiowa’s death was all Jimmy Crosses fault and that affected him a lot. Jimmy Cross carries this shame with him of not being a good enough leader but debates if it is the war’s fault or his fault. But after his own team is blaming him, he ends up blaming himself over the death of Kiowa. He wanted to write a letter to Kiowa’s dad out of guilt and shame, but was deciding based on if he thought it was his fault or the war’s fault. His shame of Kiowas death made him want to write that letter and also, live with that shame for a long time which is practically torture and could lead to horrific things like what happened to Norman Bowker. 

“‘Better tell the LT.’ ‘Screw him.’ ‘Yeah but—some lieutenant’, Saunders said. ‘Camps us in a toilet. Man doesn’t know shit”’(O’Brien 159).

The last character that dealt with a great amount of shame was Curt Lemon. Curt Lemon was exactly what you would think of a male soldier. He put on this front that he was tough, brave, and not to be messed with, and acted like an alpha male. When a dentist came to help the team with their teeth, Curt Lemon got very scared. He had a fear of dentists since he was a kid and when he was being treated by the dentist, he fainted and was afraid he would be made fun of when, according to O’Brien, “It was over fast. He fainted even before the man touched him”(O’Brien 82). He was shameful and humiliated because he is this tough soldier who kills people,  puts his life on the line and nothing scares him. He felt a great deal of shame when his team found out and had to prove to himself, but more importantly his team, that he wasn’t considered soft and was in fact, an alpha. In the middle of the night, he went to the dentist’s tent and demanded that his healthy tooth get pulled. That is what the shame drives him to do. Get a perfectly healthy tooth pulled just to prove he is a brave and tough soldier. 

Shame drives these characters to do crazy things like Norman Bowker commiting suicide, Jimmy Cross living with the shame the rest of his life, and Curt Lemon getting a perfectly healthy tooth pulled. Shame is one of the biggest roles in this book because almost every character has some shame about something. Also in the world, everyone has something they are ashamed of, no matter the vastness of it. This novel shows how hard it was for these characters to live and push through the shame, no matter how hard they tried. The shame in these characters changed their lives forever and changed the outcome of their life.