Order 1083501: Read Instructions

Jamison 1

Cindy Jamison

Professor Scott Mitchell

English Composition II

3 July 2015

The Self-fulfilling Prophecy of Ted Lavender:

A Psychological Character Study

In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” (1990) soldier Ted Lavender’s behaviors

and attitude subsequently creates a state of mind that is directly responsible for his own death. A

mixture of self-medicating and a sense of impending doom, not his distracted officer, leads to his

undoing. Although the other 16 soldiers in his platoon share variations of these traits, this

particular combination proves lethal for Ted Lavender. This is a fault other’s feel but ultimately

is the result of Lavender’s own series of unfortunate decisions.

Lavender’s repetitious sense of impending doom feeds his self-fulfilling prophecy.

O’Brien clarifies Lavender’s character as the one “who was scared,” twice and he is the only one

to be described specifically with this characteristic (102 & 103). Furthermore, he is the soldier

whose death is mentioned than explained and described in great detail. This shows that his fear

of mortality eventually creates a situation that justifies his feeling of impending doom. O’Brien

even clarifies that “they carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror,

love, longing” (109) yet Lavender is the only soldier whose fear is highlighted. During this

persistent fear he self-medicates as a coping mechanism to escape his current situation and

inevitable end.

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Lavender’s use of dope provides a necessary means of mental escape from the horrors of

war. He can only endure the stresses of his current plight and the possibility of his own death by

self-medicating as shown by O’Brien’s statement, “until he was shot, Ted Lavender carried six

or seven ounces of premium dope, which for him was a necessity” (102). Unfortunately, the dope

results in disarming his paranoia and makes him vulnerable to his impending death.

Lavender’s use of tranquilizers dulls his senses to the oncoming tragedy. O’Brien’s vivid

imagery paints a picture of Lavender being completely unaware of his imminent death and the

quick and painless nature in which it was executed (103). After his death his crew begins to

speculate his state of mind when he was killed. “They told stories about Ted Lavender’s supply

of tranquilizers, how the poor guy didn’t feel a thing, how incredibly tranquil he was” (O’Brien

109). O’Brien’s use of “tranquil” solidifies the connection between Lavender’s self-medicating

and his mental state while showing that his death was brought on by his own actions.

Although distracted by thoughts of a woman, Lt. Cross’s actions at the time of

Lavender’s death were not the cause of it. Even though Cross consistently assigns blame and

discontent to himself there is evidence to support the contrary. At the time of Lavender’s death

Cross is attempting to shut out thoughts of Martha and focus on the tunnel assignment for Lee

Strunk (O’Brien 105). Even if he was able to devote unwavering focus on Strunk, as he should

have been, he still wouldn’t have been focused on Lavender. Either way this officer shouldn’t

have to babysit a single platoon member’s non-duty related actions while he’s watching his

orders being carried out by the rest of the crew. A point that the platoon must agree with since

there isn’t one mention of a soldier blaming Cross for Lavendar’s death.

Kiowa and Cross’s individual behaviors after Lavendar’s death were not of guilt but of

sorrow. Kiowa has the most insight when it comes to Lavendar’s death. He witnessed the event

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yet he does not assign blame to himself as Lt. Cross does. “Kiowa admired Lieutenant Jimmy

Cross’s capacity for grief. He wanted to share the man’s pain, he wanted to care as Jimmy Cross

cared” (O’Brien 108). Kiowa, like Lavendar, was not focused on Strunk. Therefore, he would

have been just as capable as Cross, if not more so, to warn Lavendar of the events to come, had

that even been possible.

O’Brien mentions Cross’s self-blame throughout the entirety of the story, but his actions

do not support his feelings. “He wished he could find some great sadness, or even anger, but the

emotion wasn’t there and he couldn’t make it happen. Mostly he felt pleased to be alive”

(O’Brien 108). Cross isn’t mourning Lavendar, he isn’t showing guilt in this moment, he’s

showing gratitude and personal growth. If Cross had been able to circumvent the soldier’s death

then he would be expressing deep remorse and true regret showing that Lavendar’s decisions are

at fault for the end result.

In actuality Lavendar’s death is a reason for Cross to let go of Martha, focus on being an

officer and getting the platoon to act as a unit again. Tina Chen states, “The subsequent death of

Ted Lavendar jolts him into awareness, forcing the realization that the romantic fantasies

produced by an exilic consciousness longing to return home to America are unable to meet the

exigencies of combat experience in Vietnam” (86). To this point, Cross must accept Lavendar’s

role in his own death and move towards creating an environment where the men are more

responsible for their own actions. “They would police up their acts. They would get their shit

together, and keep it together, and maintain it neatly and in good working order. He would not

tolerate laxity” (O’Brien 111). Cross may consciously blame himself for Lavendar’s death but

his actions show that he believes the men, to some extent, are responsible for their own destiny.

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This story isn’t about Ted Lavendar’s death, it’s a story about change in Lt. Cross, as

described by Alex Vernon as “a journey that has moral dimensions and the potential for spiritual

salvation” (173). However, Lavendar’s self-destructive behavior and questionable actions have a

seemingly dominant presence within the story. O’Brien provides his reader with enough

information to conclude that Lavendar crafted a self-fulfilling prophecy and then executes it

solely as evidenced by O’Brien statement “they carried their own lives” (107).

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Works Cited

Chen, Tina. “'Unraveling the Deeper Meaning': Exile and the Embodied Poetics of Displacement

in Tim O’Brien’s 'The Things They Carried'.” Contemporary Literature, vol. 39, no.1,

Spring 1998, pp. 77-98. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/1208922.

O’Brien, Tim. “The Things They Carried.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing,

edited by Edgar V. Roberts and Robert Zweig, 6th Compact Edition, Pearson Education,

Inc., 2015, pp. 101-112.

Vernon, Alex. “Salvation, Storytelling, and Pilgrimage in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They

Carried.” Mosaic, vol. 36, no. 4, Dec. 2003, pp. 171-188. Bloom’s Literature,

EBSCOhost,

ezproxy.gsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat

05756a&AN=gsu.9921848703402952&site=eds-live.

My Comments: Your thesis is effectively focused, concise, and argumentative. Your topic

sentences are effectively clear, concise, and argumentative. Your organization can be a little

stronger. You need to combine some paragraphs and cut some. You have concrete evidence that

you correctly cite. You clearly introduce some of your evidence but not all of it. You have

evidence from your secondary sources, but it would help to have a little more of it in the body.

You have some great insightful analysis of how your evidence supports your arguments.

However, you need to spend a little more time on some of your analysis. Your essay is

effectively focused on supporting the argument of the thesis. Your technique of bringing up and

refuting an opposing view point works well. However, you spend a little too much time on the

opposing view point, which distracts a little from your main arguments. Your language is clear,

sophisticated, and you have very few grammatical mistakes.