What He Carries
The things Kiowa carries are reflective of who he is, but in these things we can see the conflict. He is Native American, but he's also a serious and devout Baptist. He carries the New Testament in his pack as a reference to his Christian background; this is incongruous to his native heritage.
While many native tribes were converted by the missionaries, we see the apparent struggle because he also carries his grandfather's hunting hatchet. This is an important weapon in his culture, and he carries it so he'll feel the connection when he is so far from all that is familiar. He needs the connection to his ancestors the hatchet provides.
He Brings Gentleness
Kiowa brings a gentleness to the men of Alpha Company. He helps the soldiers in his platoon traverse the war by showing them that excessive violence is not necessary and is harmful to them. He is there to provide support when the war is more than they can handle. He offers each man what they need to put one foot in front of the other when the difficulties of fighting a war get to be too much.
When Tim kills a man, Kiowa tries to help ease his burden by shouldering some of the blame. ''I'll tell you the straight truth,'' he says. ''The guy was dead the second he stepped on the trail. Understand me? We all had him zeroed.'' He's trying to help O'Brien understand the entire platoon is responsible for his death, not just him. We are aware of Kiowa's kindness, his sense of what's right, surfacing for all to see. He didn't care what the others might say or think. He knew his friend was hurting, and he wanted to help.
Kiowa is gentle and often soft-spoken, quite the opposite from many of the soldiers in Alpha Company. He carries his moccasins so he can walk silently in the jungle. Where many of his fellow soldiers have been made angry and brutal in this hated war, Kiowa has been able to maintain his compassion.
A Man of Substance
Kiowa is a man of compassion and understanding. He is the first to reach out to friends who are suffering. He is there to lend a hand or a shoulder when needed. In many ways he, more than his fellow soldiers, is prepared for what the war brings. Maybe it's his Christian and Native American background, or maybe it is just his nature. He seems able to rise above the difficulties war presents. He becomes the one person whose character is stronger and more intact than the rest. Kiowa brings the humanness to the war in Vietnam. His compassion and honesty make him stand out among the men.
His Death Clarifies
In The Things They Carried, the reader doesn't hear about Kiowa's death until after the war. We come to understand that many people deal with the pain of the war by telling stories.
Norman Bowker is home and suffering and has no one to speak to. He gets in his car and drives around thinking about how Kiowa died. We learn he died in field of sewage. The men are determined to find him and make sure he gets home, but Jimmy Cross is blaming himself, and Azar is trying to make jokes. Finally, it's Bowker who finds him. They pull him out of the stinking mess and make sure he gets on a helicopter for a ride back home.
Jimmy Cross believes he's to blame for Kiowa's death because he chose the field where they slept, the place where Kiowa died. You had to blame someone, or everyone, or the war, or no one. ''When a man died, there had to be blame. Jimmy Cross understood this. You could blame the war… A moment of carelessness or bad judgment or plain stupidity carried consequences that lasted forever.''
Lesson Summary
In The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, we are introduced to Kiowa, a Native American Baptist who brought his gentle, kind, compassionate nature to the jungles of the Vietnam War. He is there for his best friend Tim O'Brien when he needs him, as he is for the other men in his company.
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