PTSD In Tim O 'Brien's The Things They Carried'

In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”, O’Brien created several allusions that each character endured during the Vietnam War. Throughout the story were vast representations of the things the soldiers carried both mentally and physically. The things they carried symbolized their individual roles internally and externally. In addition to the symbolism, imagination was a focal theme that stood out amongst the characters. This particular theme played a role as the silent killer amongst Lt. Cross and the platoon both individually and collectively as a group. The theme of imagination created an in depth look of how the war was perceived through each character which helped emphasize their thoughts from an emotional standpoint of being young men out at war.

The soldiers that fought for or are fighting for our country are some of the bravest men and women that there have ever been. These men and women put their lives on the line as well as their own mental health for fighting for the people of the United States. The most common mental disorder that Americans hear about veterans having is PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Louise Erdrich’s “The Red Convertible,” and “Midnight Movie” by Mike Subritzky, the characters all show signs of PTSD. The Vietnam War is a large part of America’s history and therefore is one of the greatest examples of the effects of war, such as PTSD, on a soldier.

In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”, O’Brien created several allusions that each character endured during the Vietnam War. Throughout the story were vast representations of the things soldiers carried both mentally and physically. The things they carried symbolized their individual roles internally and externally. In addition to symbolism, imagination was a focal theme that stood out amongst the characters. This particular theme played a role as the silent killer amongst Lt. Cross and the platoon both individually and collectively as a group. The theme of imagination created an in depth look of how the war was perceived through each character which helped emphasize their thoughts from an emotional stand point of being young men out at war.

In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien uses the art of fabricating stories as a coping mechanism. Trying to distinguish the difference between fictional and factual stories is a challenge in this book, but literal truth cannot capture the real violence that the soldiers dealt with in Vietnam, only “story truth” can. He explains, “If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made victim of a very old and terrible lie.” (O’Brien 65). The novel illustrates that storytelling is a way to keep the dead alive, even if it may not be a true story.

PTSD is a disorder in which a person has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event.The following three characters, Norman Bowker, Azar, and Rat Kiley in The Things They Carried exemplify post-traumatic stress disorder tremendously in the book.Additionally, they weren’t eligible to work due to the hardships of the Vietnam War. Rat Kiley starts to see people around him dying. Rat Kiley experienced a passing of his close friend Curt Lemon. Firstly, Rat’s PTSD is exemplified greatly after Curt’s death, Rat Kiley kills a baby water buffalo. Therefore, this is an excellent example of how he has PTSD. Rat Kiley mainly wanted to take his frustration and pain out on the buffalo. Norman has made it home after the war,

While the Vietnam War was a complex political pursuit that lasted only a few years, the impact of the war on millions of soldiers and civilians extended for many years beyond its termination. Soldiers killed or were killed; those who survived suffered from physical wounds or were plagued by PTSD from being wounded, watching their platoon mates die violently or dealing with the moral implications of their own violence on enemy fighters. Inspired by his experiences in the war, Tim O’Brien, a former soldier, wrote The Things They Carried, a collection of fictional and true war stories that embody the

Memories and stories swarming the mind and twisted by imagination are the only glimpse of humanity a man can hold on to while at war. Through stories, men at war can share their thinning humanity with one another. The deafening silence of war defeats the human spirit and moral compass, thus it is not only man against man but man against sanity. Tim O 'Brien 's “The Things They Carried” provides a narrative of soldiers in the Vietnam War holding on to the only parts of themselves through their imagination. O’Brien employs symbolic tokens, heavy characterization, and the grueling conflict of man to illustrate how soldiers create metaphorical stories to ease the burden of war.

Unlike most war stories, in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” the war in Vietnam is not glorified and instead, the story is believable and raw. The horrors of war that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his squadron experience in an unfiltered, yet emotionally detached way that molds the structure and the language. This story, through its structure and techniques, displays the idea of how disillusionment and loss of innocence create unimaginable burdens for the American soldiers. O’Brien portrays the characters’ burdens with a monotonous and lulling tone through the use of flashbacks, setting, imagery, and metonymy.

PTSD is listed among a group called Trauma-and-stressor-Related Disorders. For a person to be diagnosed with PTSD, they must have been exposed to, witness, or experience the details of a traumatic experience (e.g., a first responder), one that involves “actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence” (APA, 2013, p. 271). (PRU, 2016, p. 66). The aforementioned definition of PTSD relates to soldiers; the manifestations and causes experienced with traditional PTSD can look somewhat different. Obvious causes of PTSD in soldiers stem from exposure to stressful circumstances within combat, exposure to the suffering and death of others, destruction, personal danger, and injury. A study on Vietnam soldiers provides insight on less obvious causes of PTSD. The study suggests

In “The Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien uses this story as a coping mechanism; to tell part of his stories and others that are fiction from the Vietnamese War. This is shown by using a fictions character’s voice, deeper meaning in what soldier’s carried, motivation in decision making, telling a war story, becoming a new person and the outcome of a war in one person. Tim O’ Brien uses a psychological approach to tell his sorrows, and some happiness from his stories from the war. Each part, each story is supposed to represent a deeper meaning on how O’Brien dealt, and will deal with his past. In war, a way to

Most authors who write about war stories write vividly; this is the same with Tim O’Brien as he describes the lives of the soldiers by using his own experiences as knowledge. In his short story “The Things They Carried” he skillfully reveals realistic scenes that portray psychological, physical and mental burdens carried by every soldier. He illustrates these burdens by discussing the weights that the soldiers carry, their psychological stress and the mental stress they have to undergo as each of them endure the harshness and ambiguity of the Vietnam War. One question we have to ask ourselves is if the three kinds of burdens carried by the soldier’s are equal in size? “As if in slow motion, frame by frame, the world would take on the old

The war of Vietnam played a significant role in Tim O’Brien’s life throughout his works and experiences. He was drafted to the Vietnam war after graduating college in 1968 where he served two years. O’Brien wrote the novel The Things They Carried after returning from the war as a way to clear off his mind from the experiences he went through. In the novel he constructed many memories that may or may not be true, but are told using imagination as a guide to explore the mind of the readers. O’Brien used his novel to liberate his many occurrences he faced and dealt with throughout his journey. In an interview with Michael Coffey on Patrick Smith’s article O’Brien states, “My goal was to write something utterly convincing but without any rules as to what’s real and made up…” (97). Tim O’Brien uses imagination to establish a therapy within his writing as a way to cope with reality based on his war transition, allusions, and stories to save him.

The Things They Carried is more than a story of physical warfare during the Vietnam War, but the battle of inner demons as well. In his novel, Tim O’ Brien takes us deep within the lives of his semi-fictional platoon in the midst of the Vietnam War in which he elaborates upon the harsh realities soldiers faced every day. O’ Brien claims, “They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried.” We see here that O’ Brien’s main purpose in writing his novel was to show the reader that the weight of the emotional toll was equivalent if not greater than the physical effects of war. The Vietnam War was an emotionally taxing experience for the soldiers, causing them to live in a false sense of reality, which tested their morals, and ultimately affected their psychological well-being.

After the Vietnam War, soldiers suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder in countless numbers. The trauma they saw, endured, and witnessed forever changed and scared their lives. Men, like Tim O'Brien the author of the novel The Things They Carried, suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder and it took them years to regain their lives after their return home. In the excerpt from his novel, O'Brien shows the reader how the men endured this mind-altering experience in the jungles of Vietnam through the details of all the items the men carry.

The Things They Carried written in1990, after the redeployment American soldiers from SouthVietnam (Saigon) on March 25, 1973. Three million veterans survived this war while 58,000 died there. For many of the returning veterans, the war was not over. Although not founded by medical research, it is believed that over 50,000 soldiers from the Vietnam war died due to mental challenges related to experienced events of the war. The disorder referred to as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Similarities that relate to those of PTSD can be found throughout the story “The Things They Carried.” Men and women of earlier wars additionally reflected the commonalities associated with PTSD. In days of old, it was named: cowardice, lack of military discipline,