Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," tells the story of soldiers in the Vietnam War, whose lives will undoubtedly never be the same. O'Brien uses visual motifs to better express the soldier's feelings, one of them being water. Bodies of water in The Things They Carried are used as a way to convey a sense of loss, ultimately marking the end the soldier's lives before they get involved in the Vietnam War. In "The Things They Carried," rivers and lakes have the ability to physically take someone's life, resulting in terrible losses for those who were emotionally connected to the victims. After the war, Norman Bowker visits a lake that holds a great importance to him. Norman describes the tranquility of the lake, saying "Now, in the late afternoon, it lay calm and smooth, a good audience for silence, a seven mile circumference that could be traveled by slow car in twenty-five minutes" (132). After describing the calming atmosphere of the lake, Norman immediately dives into talking about his friend, Max Arnold, who drowned in the lake many years ago. As Norman reminisces about his old friend, it becomes clear that Max's death is something that takes a toll on Norman. The fact that he is surrounded by a peaceful lake and is free from the war and he is still thinking about his friend Max says something; the lake has done something unforgivable. However, Norman Bowker is not the only one who lost a friend in an accident involving drowning. Tim O'Brien looses his friend, Kiowa, to a shit field during the war. Years after the sewage had swallowed up Kiowa, Tim takes his daughter back to the very spot Kiowa drowned. He explains, "Our time was short, however, and choices had to be made, and in the end I decided to take her to this piece of ground where my friend Kiowa had died. It seemed appropriate  (176). Twenty years later, Tim still feels obligated to visit the spot where Kiowa died, clearly indicating that Kiowa's death still holds an