Jerkins, Miller, Nunez 1

Jacqueline Jerkins, Mary Miller & Joseph Nunez

Ms. Cooperman

AP English Literature and Composition

3 October 2011

Rat Kiley Character Analysis

‘Calm’ is most likely the last word that anybody of sane mind would

relate to war. However, in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Bob “Rat”

Kiley serves as not only the calm before each storm, but the calm during

and after as well. He is the lovable, lighthearted, and compassionate young

man that every member of the squadron grew to quickly trust and rely on.

Kiley initially acts as a symbol of stability and confidence before becoming a

classic example of how the war corrupts even the most seemingly im-

mutable individuals.

In a building, there are support beans, which accomplish exactly what

their name suggests-support. While providing support, they also allow every

other structure within the building to exist and carry through with their

own jobs. Rat Kiley is a support beam. As a field medic in the Vietnam War,

Kiley’s strange combination of a stable mindset and constant confidence

serves to help himself and the members of his team to survive. Instantly ac-

cepted by his squadron, he was someone they could depend on; he knew his

trade well and could act within a moment’s notice, saving the lives and

treating the illnesses of many. After Timmy O’Brien’s first experience with

being shot turns out to be

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less than a big deal thanks to Kiley’s confidence in his own abilities, he is

more than furious after Kiley leaves and is forced to deal with a new medic,

almost dying of shock thanks to a second bullet wound and the medic’s

novice abilities. Kiley was also infamous for adding in some much-needed

fun while the squad was camping out for the night. He was always fond of

telling stories, something that was almost annoying to the rest of the men

due to his determination to always tell the story correctly and to make peo-

ple believe him in the process. He also relishes in joking around, and was

fond of tossing smoke grenades back and forth with his best friend Curt

Lemmon, before Curt died during one of their games. Kiley kept a bizarrely

level-head during the majority of the war, somehow not letting the horror of

the entire operation get to him until the very end.

Despite Rat Kiley’s display of mental control during the beginning of

the war, he eventually succumbs to the madness after being subject to so

much brutality and suffering. The first crack in his wall of self-assuredness

appears in “How To Tell A True War Story.” After the death of his best

friend, Kiley’s pent-up emotions all rise to the surface, and he repeatedly

shoots a baby buffalo while traveling on foot with the squad. The rest of the

men just stand and watch, practically shell-shocked by Kiley’s severely out-

of-character behavior. Throughout the novel, Kiley’s confidence is notice-

ably shaken by the war. He becomes reliant on receiving some form of em-

pathy from people, whether it be from his stories or letters, and is visibly

upset when Curt Lemon’s sister doesn’t reply to his letter about her

brother’s death. He is eventually completely overcome by the war and starts

to go insane, believing that the bugs are plotting to kill

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him. He finishes his stint in Vietnam by shooting himself in the foot, allow-

ing him to get flown out of the jungle and to a hospital.

Despite Bob “Rat” Kiley’s beginning as a relatively calm and com-

posed young man, he left the Vietnam War on edge and at the brink of in-

sanity. His confidence and lighthearted nature washes away in the jungle

and left him as only a shell of the person he once was. Tim O’Brien’s The

Things They Carried uses Kiley to symbolize how war changes all men, no

matter how sensible they may first appear to be.