Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

1990, when The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien was published the reality of Vietnam was still a much recent memory for most. The fear of being drafted, the heartache that came with losing your friends and family in the war, and not to mention the mental scarring it did to those who came out of Vietnam alive. The Things They Carried highlighted some of these things and even showed a bit of what life was like after coming out of something as emotional and traumatic as a war like that. However, from the point of view of a Vietnamese veteran the book could make it appear as if the Vietnamese were being dehumanized and disgraced, and it can also seem like it tries to make people sympathize with the American soldiers who invaded Vietnam.

"You just don 't know," she said. "You hide in this little fortress, behind wire and sandbags, and you don 't know what it 's all about. Sometimes I want to eat this place. Vietnam. I want to swallow the whole country—the dirt, the death—I just want to eat it and have it there inside me. That 's how I feel. It 's like . . . this appetite. I get scared sometimes—lots of times—but it 's not bad. You know? I feel close to myself. When I 'm out there at night, I feel close to my own body, I can feel my blood moving, my skin and my fingernails, everything, it 's like I 'm full of electricity and I 'm glowing in the dark—I 'm on fire almost—I 'm burning away into nothing—but it doesn 't matter because I know exactly who I am. You can 't feel like that anywhere else."” (O’ Brien 80-81). Tim O’ Brien shows how being in contact with the war can change a person so pure and innocent to a person who isn’t in connection with themselves and is forever trapped inside their own mind. Also it shows how the people who can’t handle the rough environment of war can have a terrible reaction and loose themselves. He also shows how the war changes you mentally making it hard for you to tell if the is the real you or just a persona you took when you couldn’t handle it anymore and needed to mask your broken soul.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt once wrote in a letter to President Harry Truman that, “No one won the last war, and no one will win the next war.” As civilians it is hard for us to imagine the unspeakable horrors that soldiers face while on the battlefield. It is equally hard to understand how they come back home so very different than the men and women we saw off at the airport all those years ago. Many soldiers have said that they went to war as a boy and came back without a mind; even though they ‘won the war’, the costs outweighed the benefits because they have to carry all of the things they did in the war zone with them the rest of their lives. In The Things They Carried, Vietnam veteran Tim O’Brien repeatedly says that he has an intense need to write down the stories of his oversees experiences even though the memories are too painful to think about. With that in mind, this essay seeks to answer the questions: Does writing about their experience help soldiers cope? What about Tim O’Brien; does writing about his experiences seem to give him any sort of relief at all?

When fighting as a soldier in the Vietnam War, everything carried has to have significance. In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the soldiers carried items that were important to them symbolically and emotionally. There were some objects that were a necessity such as, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, steel helmets, ponchos, and etc… Also, standard weapons were needed like the M-60, M-16, and M-79. Jimmy Cross was first lieutenant so he had the responsibility to shuffle around a compass, maps, code books, binoculars, and a .45-caliber pistol. RTO Mitchell Sanders had the responsibility to carry the PRC-25 radio, which was a whole 26 pounds. Rat Kiley was the medic and had certain items needed to treat

War never changes, it’s the bane of our existence and the risks involved in committing to such a thing is more then most can and are willing to take. Many people do not understand how tragic war really is and its Inevitable, its brutal and shows no mercy. It can take such a toll on people, it affects us psychologically, mentally, and as well as physically. Things such as guilt and regrets, things that almost everyone has to deal with and its not easy. That is what the book “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien conveys to its readers, to show the mental toll it takes on each soldier during the Vietnam war, all the regrets, the shame, and the guilt.

“I think it's important to have closure in any relationship that ends-from a romantic relationship to a friendship. You should always have a sense of clarity at the end and know why it began and why it ended. You need that in your life to move cleanly into your next phase,” (Jennifer Aniston). The best teachers are those experiences which challenge us. If people work to understand these relationships, they will gain great knowledge. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie is a girl who goes through life clueless of what love means and struggles to find its true purpose. In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien tells his stories about the Vietnam War and talks about those he has lost in the

Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is considered one of the finest book about the Vietnam War. It is a book about "storytelling, how stories ruled [soldiers] live, how they're told and retold...," and how the war changed the lives of many. O'Brien's novel gives many examples of people who were profoundly changed by their experiences in war. Many soldiers felt the guilt, many felt the grief, and many were confused by the war itself and its experiences. The soldiers faced the burdens of fear, emotions, grief, terror, love, and longing. The war effects the soldiers emotionally, mentally, and physically.

The soldiers face loneliness, isolation, the heavy burden of fear, and the weight of their reputations. The soldiers carry such a heavy weight from the past, in the present, and for the future. Even after the war, the psychological burdens the men carried during the war continues to define them. Those who survive the war carry guilt, grief, and confusion.

Throughout The Things They Carried O’Brien emphasizes that death does not truly mean you are not alive. Although members of Alpha Company experienced fear at some point, showing fear will only reveal vulnerability to both the enemy and sometimes-cruel fellow soldiers. All three short stories share a similar trait, dead guys with big hearts that will never be forgotten.

In Tim O’Brien’s, The Things They Carried, he was describing the life of soldiers in the Vietnam War. As the topic of the short story suggests, O’Brien was discussing what soldiers carried around and needed facing their harsh experiences during the war. It seemed that the struggles of the soldiers were not only about facing death or having a hard lifestyle in which they carried their safety equipment, food, medical supplies, and even sometimes their dope. The struggles included burdens related to habits, tasks, beliefs, and emotions.(1)

There are many novels about war which are written all around the world and each have their own qualities and values but to find one that shines the light on the true details of war is difficult to pinpoint. The novel The Things They Carried written by Tim O’Brien highlights the details of the vietnam war. Tim O’Brien wrote the novel The Things They Carried in 1990. He wrote many novels on war but the novel The Things They Carried contained the details of the vietnam war. O’Brien teaches creative writing at Texas State University now. Therefore, writing the novel The Things They Carried O’Brien shines the light on the details of the Vietnam War which make readers wonder whether the stories are only from his memory. In addition, O’Brien demonstrates the true stories about the war and the emotional ties that came with it. Nevertheless O’Brien uses the physical weight to emphasize the emotional weight each soldier carried during the war. O’Brien writes this book to illustrate the emotional weight he experiences during the war and during the writing of the stories in the book to show his

After reading “The Things They Carried”, I felt a slight understanding in what these soldiers go through. I understand the way they feel neglected afterwards and how they feel during the war. Maybe not 100%, but I do understand. During the war, they’re scared. They’re placed in an entire new environment that they have to deal with for the entire span of the war. Not only do they have to worry about getting the job done, but also staying alive. After the war, they have to worry about staying sane. Being back home after a long period of time can cause a major shift. They feel paranoid and always on edge. This book was surprisingly good. I don’t really enjoy these types of books, but the way it was written was pretty good. I also enjoyed this book because my dad was in the Iraq war, back in 2002 & 2005. It probably wasn’t as bad as the Vietnam war, but I feel

Staying alive through the war wasn’t the only struggle that the soldiers of the Vietnam War faced. In the novel, The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, the damages are illustrated to see the psychological strain. For some soldiers, trying to forget the unforgettable for some soldiers was more traumatizing than the war itself: Killing people, watching them die; these are all the things that the soldiers have to live with, but some just can’t live with it.  The mental and physical trauma that was brought upon by the Vietnam War, still affects United States, and the stressed topic of the things the soldiers were carrying.

War has been known to cause negative mental effects among soldiers. Whether it be PTSD, depression, or a change in personality, war takes its toll. Because of its application to the real world, this common theme is often expressed in literature. In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” he explains the physical and mental burdens that soldiers carry. He also describes how these burdens create psychological stress and eliminate soldiers’ ability to feel normal emotion. Ernest Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” also discusses the negative mental effects created by war. He accomplishes this by explaining the inability of a soldier to assimilate back into society after returning home. Although “The Things They Carried” and “Soldier’s Home” both express the psychological effects that war has on soldiers, the authors use different tones, plots, and types of mental effects to display this common theme.

Characters in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” went through various changes because of the Vietnam war. They witnessed gruesome deaths and injuries of fellow soldiers,k They gained courage and bravery but many lost who they were before the war. people that are put in terrible situations have to adapt to survive even if parts of their personality dies.