Tim OBrien's The Things They Carried

The text, ‘The Things They Carried', is an excellent example which reveals how individuals are changed for the worse through their first hand experience of war. Following the lives of the men both during and after the war in a series of short stories, the impact of the war is accurately portrayed, and provides a rare insight into the guilt stricken minds of soldiers. ‘The Things They Carried' shows the impact of the war in its many forms: the suicide of an ex-soldier upon his return home; the lessening sanity of a medic as the constant death surrounds him; the trauma and guilt of all the soldiers after seeing their friends die, and feeling as if they could have saved them; and the deaths of the soldiers, the most negative impact a 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

The Things They Carried, a fiction novel by Tim O’Brien, carries courage throughout the stories he tells by describing what it takes to be a soldier in Vietnam. Through burning the pictures and letters from a loved one, to seeing a friend’s remains in a tree, and carrying on despite witnessing a friend die, right before him, O’Brien allows the reader to witness the true courage needed to be a soldier. Being courageous is what holds these men together and makes every one of these stories string together and relate to one another. Much like soldiers, these stories build each other up and amplify their effects together. Tim O’Brien represents how people coming from different places experience the same need to be courageous during a time of war in the fiction novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.

The novel, The Things They Carried is a story of one man’s accounts resulting to his tour of duty in Vietnam. Many of the men that are discussed in the book continued to be effected by the war, long after they returned home. Men were left emotionally scared, even if they managed to get out of the war physically unharmed. The

No war is easy for the soldiers who put their lives on the line to fight for what they believe in. The soldiers on both sides of the Vietnam War faced challenges that changed their lives forever and left a lasting effect on their physical and mental health. The hardships faced in the Vietnam War as depicted in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien are an accurate representation of the struggle faced by not only the soldiers fighting the war but also those who were involved in nonviolent positions.

The Vietnam War allowed American soldiers to experience many emotions and beliefs ranging from joyful and prosperous to even sorrowful and terrifying. During this war time, the soldiers go through many obstacles and situations where they may feel overwhelmed with feelings but they cannot fall short of being tough and to ignore their feelings because in the end they still are fighting a war. The war itself contributes to the way the soldiers express certain emotions or set their beliefs. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the audience discovers what it means to be a soldier in the Vietnam War through certain events and stories that contain themes of guilt and fear.

Vietnam war veteran and novelist Tim O’Brien, in his piece titled, “The Things They Carried,” portrays personal war stories of a group of soldiers during the Vietnam War to convey how stories and memories can aid in coping with death. The novel was extremely emotional and thought provoking, causing me to question what was real or not, and how these stories were more than just stories. As the novel progressed, it became increasingly clear how, for O’Brien and some of the other soldiers, these stories were not just stories for the them to reminisce on, they were a form of therapy, helping them to live on, even when faced with death and morbid experiences. Through these various stories ranging from the distant past and the present, O’Brien successfully

War is a time where soldiers lose themselves in the chaos that surrounds them. Soldiers have to immerse themselves in battle and always be ready for whatever comes their way. But when there is no conflict arising on the battlefield, soldiers have to reminisce on their pasts and think about their past experiences that shaped them into the person they have become. The Things They Carried is a memoir written by Tim O’Brien that takes place during the Vietnam War and talks about the experiences the soldiers of the war had experienced. O’Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, states that memories are experiences that blend over time into events to affect one’s emotions as they reminisce on events that happened in their life years ago.

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.

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.

Psychological burdens of war were just as real as the physical burdens of the soldiers. Those who were blessed enough to survive the war, struggle with confusion, anger, guilt, and lack of resolution. “They all carry ghosts”, (O’Brien, 1990) created by the fickleness of war including the “burden of

War and violence effects every individual differently. In Tim Obrien’s “The Things They Carried”, the characters are bombarded with inter-personal issues due to their long-term exposure to war and violence in the Vietnam War. Each character in the story carried a bit of baggage with them, both figuratively and metaphorically. The characters struggle to separate the real world from the world of war and violence that they have been living in for an extended period of time. Throughout the story, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his fellow men are effected drastically from exposure to the violence of the Vietnam War.

The Things They Carried is a war novel telling the story as well as the inner world of a group of soldiers during and after the Vietnam War. This is also a war novel, it is not bloody and violent. There are no heroism, scenes of slaughter, or senses of torture in this story. However, while I‘m immersed in the author’s story, i find that Norman Bowker was suffering from the pain of unable to speak about the horrors of war. Norman drives around the lake so many times, he has no capacity to talk about his war story with any others, miserably commits suicide in the end.Telling out the story about war experiences is one of therapy to help traumatic because a traumatic can be cured through language, making it possible to avoid feelings of helplessness.

The Things They Carried, Source A, was used in my article to give an example of severe PTSD, and how the effects can escalate to other disorders, such as depression. Although my article addressed the stigma of PTSD, a character in the book, Norman Bowker, was an example of the face of PTSD that is most commonly portrayed the public or members of society who do not live with a veteran. Bowker suffered severely from isolation and inability to adapt back to civilian life on his return from Vietnam. This source aided my argument by being an example of the extreme PTSD that most civilians are familiar with.

Loud explosions and small pings from distant rifle fire ring throughout the humid air. Short flashbacks are flooding back as sleep slowly seems so far away. Tim O’Brien, who was a Vietnam veteran, wrote several of stories about the war and the terrifying experiences that he was forced to have. One specific story is “The Things They Carried”. In this short story, he remembers what it was like to be a soldier; what his priorities were, the things he saw, and what still haunts him to this day. He also speaks about the items which he kept with him, both personal and regulation equipment, and even what his comrades lugged around. The most important thing that he talks about is how the war has affected his fellow soldiers both mentally and physically. This is known as PTSD or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder which can be caused by more than just war. For instance, Roosevelt Roberts who worked at the Pentagon was one of the first responders of the plane crash during the September eleventh terrorist attack. He describes the events in great detail to interviewer, Jennifer Roberts. He mentions things that he cannot get out of his head, like the smell of burning flesh which is very common with PTSD. What can say with certainty is that these two men have something in common and it is PTSD.