War In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

bearing comes into play and maintains the composure of the soldier himself. Military bearing can also be

“They carried the soldier’s greatest fear which was the fear of blushing. Men killed and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment.” (O’Brien pg. 20)

Tim O’Brien’s book “The Things They Carried” epitomizes the degradation of morals that war produces. This interpretation is personified in the characters who gradually blur the line dividing right and wrong as the motives for war itself become unclear. The morality of soldiers and the purpose of war are tied also to the truth the soldiers must tell themselves in order to participate in the gruesome and random killing which is falsely justified by the U.S government. The lack of purpose in the Vietnam War permanently altered the soldier’s perspective of how to react to situations and in most cases they turned to violence to express their frustration.

War is the story of the people lives who were lost throughout the war. This includes during and after. This is what I would believe the meaning behind war. I have a lot of reasons as to why this is which is backed up through behind the book The Things They Carried. TTTC goes through the life of an army platoon in the middle of the war in Vietnam. Many of the people that are included throughout the book includes Jimmy Cross, Ted Lavender, Mitchell Sanders, Kiowa and many other people in the platoon.

In Three Day Road, Xavier voiced this by saying, “We all fight on two fronts, the one facing the enemy, the other facing what we do to the enemy” (Boyden, p.301). This quote poetically summarizes the emotional pain that soldiers are subject to. Service members become desensitized to the brutality of war. So even after a soldier leaves a battle without physical injury, he cannot escape the guilt and remorse of the violence he has committed.. Depression and anxiety disorders can lead to changes in personality and can make it very difficult for someone to complete basic tasks and take care of themselves.

Soldiers fear the feeling of embarrassing other soldiers and their families. Most of the soldiers in this book did not want to go to war, they were drafted. Many soldiers wanted to flee, but the thought of running away from this problem scared them more than

1) “They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment” (O’Brien 20).

Items they carried had been based on the necessity of that item and this necessity dictated (355). Amongst these was cigarettes, kool-aid packets, P-38 can openers, heat tabs, wristwatches, pocket knives, rations, water etc (355). Due to extreme war conditions, they carried armor, bandages, and a green plastic poncho that was “worth every ounce” (356). Lt. Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, which carried a strong significance throughout the duration of the excerpt. According to their rank or specialty, the soldiers carried a variety of weapons and accessories. They performed various missions while being resupplied every few days with “more of the same “(365). An increase in the amount of equipment carried translated to the increase in the amount of physical weight withheld. All these physical objects in which they carried weighed down on their emotional state of mind.

In the story Lieutenant Cross makes both of the changes after the death of Lavender. He changes his values by acknowledging that Martha was not in love with him and now he would not be in love with her and he also burnt the pictures and letters so he was not looking at them anymore. The guilt that they all felt altered how they acted. Some of the men made jokes about tense situations that were not funny because joking made them feel better. The situation grew lighter by laughter, even though the men knew nothing was funny about their situation, and this knowledge made them feel guilty about their insensitive acts because it violated their values. The way the men dealt with their guilt was by passing the blame or trying not to think about how wrong it was, even though they knew. These kinds of strange reactions to normally tense or tragic situations are a way to ease the fear of death.

Being in war is definitely one of the most life changing events a person will ever have whether it be for the better or for the worst. Soldiers will witness events that are impossible to forget or see back at home in the states. Some soldiers may have even seen one of their best friends that they’ve known for forever get blown up into pieces right next to them, or they might even get one of their own limbs blown off of their own bodies, becoming handicapped for life. As a result of seeing something so intense like that, most soldiers are usually traumatized. In matter of fact, a great amount of soldiers are traumatized from the very beginning of being in war. It’s without a doubt difficult to deal with this but there are some ways where

This embarrassment gives them a reason to keep fighting because they do not want to bring dishonor on their families if they abandon post. The men are afraid that they will die but they would rather die than to let people know they were a coward. Each of the men also carry the emotional baggage of grief, they are constantly grieving for the people and friends that died too young from the extremities of war, but at the same time they are grieving for themselves and their

Tim O’Brien, a Pulitzer Prize winner, wrote The Things They Carried. O’Brien wrote this fictional novel after his time serving in the Vietnam War. Once O’Brien received his draft for the war, he wanted to run away to Canada. Instead, he ran away to the Tip Top Lodge, where he met Elroy. He stayed at the Tip Top Lodge for several days before he made his decision to go to war or to run away to Canada. While his stay, Elroy took Tim to the border of Canada, while on the fishing trip, and instead of Tim jumping out of the boat and swimming across the border, he just began to cry. On his last day, Tim decided to go to war. Although, Tim knew that he was nowhere near brave enough or strong enough war, he went to war anyway. In the book, O’Brien wrote, “I was a coward, I went to the war” (SparkNotes, 2017). Kiowa, a soldier in the Vietnam War, was a friend of O’Briens. During one night while on watch, Kiowa dies in such a dreadful way.

“Only the dead have seen the end of war”-unknown. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, he tells us what a true war story is. Throughout chapter 7, he writes what he believes is a true war story. It’s through evil, disbelief, embarrassment, and hidden meanings in Mary Anne’s trip to Vietnam that we know what a true war story is. The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong is a perfect example of a true war story.

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.

When a soldier enlists into the military forces they know they are going in to fight for their country and freedom for everyone. They spend months training and preparing for the war and what to come. They learn to fight, shoot, and kill enemies, but what they do not learn is how to cope with the after math of the war. Soldiers in war every year come home with many post traumatic effects from what they had witnessed. During world war two this was known as shell shock; however what can be concluded is that world war two impacted the soldiers emotionally and physiologically from the time they entered to post war.