PTSD on vietnam war to further understand "the things they carried"

The Things They Carried

Introduction

O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a literary work that draws the attention of every reader to try and understand what meaning the title carries. This literary text is a creation of what soldiers go to war.  O'Brien has shaped the characters to deliver the message. The Things They Carried is not a book on the Vietnam war. This book looks at conflicts that go on in the minds of people. It is an analysis of the war on if it was won.

Imagery

The text uses imagery in cataloging the things the soldiers carried, creating the mental picture, and make the reader imagine the person of each character. He lists the things they took both as a style in his writing and also to present the theme of his work. From the different characters and what each character carries, O’Brien manages to take us through a mental realization of the kind of society we live in and what war is in every person, a conflict of the mind. Because war is not a generalization, it goes into small things but it makes the soldiers character - what the writer calls ‘things’, (Anh 126). Koiwa carries a bible to war. He has been presented as a religious man. In the book, we find that he never leaves the bible. "Well, you carry that Bible everywhere, you never hardly swear or anything, so you must (Chau 11).  O’Brien creates in the reader’s mind the kind of war Koiwa is going through. Koiwa recognizes and likes the smell of the bible. Liking the smell has a significance in the understanding Koiwa. He fears the war and the outcome of the war. Therefore, war is never about war, in other words, it is about how ordinary soldiers live and experience war, (Anh 126).

Analysis

The reason he carries the bible is that he may gain hope from it. There is a mental war he is going through, and the guide is the source of concern. The liking of the smell of the book is to help him forget the problem in his mind. He wants to forget that he is in trouble because of the fear that he may not make it through this war. The writer further takes us through escape as an idea through Cross Lieutenant and the letters he receives from a girl he was dating. The letters were giving Cross company at night. He would always read them and look at her pictures while imagining how life would be with her. He was feeling guilty that he had not managed to fulfill the desire that he had to be with Martha

 He finds himself in a unique situation: he is not with Martha and now in the war, and Cross doesn't know whether he will ever see Martha again. He is trying to escape the reality when he is looking at the pictures and just trying to imagine that Cross is still with Martha, and that is why he keeps looking at the pictures and reading the letters. This battle is lost when he realizes that he may never win over this thought and finishes by burning he had received from Martha.  This was only used as a tool of escape as he wants to escape from reality.

Symbolically the letters and the pebble that Cross receives from the girlfriend he had dated before the war and which he never left behind while going for war are also important. In the beginning, it represented the connection for the two to Cross and helped to give comfort to cross as he continued with the war. He would dispose of his good-luck pebble (Sadie 23). This, in a way, hinders him from performing as a leader of the group. He is only able to refocus after doing away with them. This is showing some king of taking responsibility since he is the leader of the group, and he needs to perform for the entire group to win. He wins the war in his mind by disposing of the pebble and regains focus. This was a hindrance to his performance.

Theme of Acceptance

O’Brien explores the topic of acceptance throughout the story. As Lee Strunk is looking for the tunnel, after writing number 17, we realize that he, though he knows the risk that he is involved in searching for it in acceptance that it is in his turn. In the same way, as other men drink Kool-Aid, waiting for him, Mitchell Sanders says, 'you win some, you lose some.' These statements are instrumental as they suggest that in the same way Strunk, Sanders accepted the part of his duty as a soldier to search tunnel, not bearing in mind the danger involved. However, an essential part of the story, which shoes acceptance that Cross accepted that he might have been the cause for the death of Ted Lavender’s for not being responsible enough and ends up disposing of the pebble. The text tells us that, on the morning after Ted Lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha's letters, (Sarah 8).

O'Brien, at the end of the story, continues to explore the theme of acceptance. He knows that the men will complain, but despite this fact, he is still adamant that everything will finally change. He decides that he will never again think and fantasize about Martha, who is back a problematic assignment to achieve because he loved Martha. This is just showing us the war in the mind of Cross and the determination to win this war (Karen 16).

Theme of Conflict

The idea of conflict, in this case, internal strife, is also well explored in this story. As far as military considerations allow, each Party to the conflict shall facilitate the steps taken (Mahini and Morrow 1289). After Lavender dies when Cross is digging his foxhole, the writer tells us that Cross has not only felt some shame on him but also hate both love and hate. This is very important to us in that we can see the conflicting emotions in the mind of Cross Still remembering how he had killed Kiowa, (Sarah 1). The desire for Martha and the reality of hating the fact that he loved her and Martha does not love him in return. She wasn't involved. She signed the letters Love, but it was not love (Sadie 60). This makes him turn away from escaping from loving Martha in vain to taking up his role in his position as a soldier. O’Brien’s narration technique itself reflects a jumbled chronology, which is perhaps a reflection of the chaos surrounding the characters and their own confused mental processes, (Hannon 7).

 At least he has demonstrated that as an officer, he has taken up his responsibility, and the reader is now aware that Cross accepting to take up his role is a sign that he is feeling guilty for the death of Lavender. This cultural philosophy would condemn Cross’s renewed commitment to his soldiers and his role as a military leader, (Bonney and Sarah 3). He believes he is responsible for it.  He is capable enough to accept his mistake and change for good. Firstly, the war breaks down the notion of ‘human centralism’, arouses the natural nature that is associated with human nature, which we call ecological self. (Anh 127).

The texts further show how peace stands out, and this is what works as a relief against the war ‘The place was at peace’. The warfare is not supposed to show the tactics used in combat or the violence involved in a fight, neither to show heroism or victimization. The writer wants to show the other valuable things that go into war other than the person and the weapons.

Conclusion

 Peace goes into war; love goes into battle; feelings go into combat. Many valuable things go into war. Even though either side of the opponents may wear the war, many other items may never win in that struggle, the likes of the peace of mind, and whatever other things that the individual soldiers take to war with them.    

Works Cited

Anh, N. H. Human self and ecological self through The sorrow of War and The things they carried. Tạp chí Khoa học, 16(7), 123.

Bonney, Sarah. "Morality and Pleasure in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried." Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism 9.1 (2016): 4.

Hannon, G. M. (2019). Post-traumatic stress and American veterans: a historical and war literature analysis leading to art as potential therapy (Doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University-Camden Graduate School).

Mahini, R. N. T. N., Barth, E., & Morrow, J. (2018). Tim O’Brien’s “Bad” Vietnam War: The Things They Carried & Its Historical Perspective. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 8(10), 1283-1293.