ipl-logo

Apocalypse Now And Vietnam Essay

1064 Words5 Pages

War, on a global scale, is often categorized as an economical activity. Increases in home-country manufacturing, economy, and often times patriotism, while also stomping across seemingly inferior economies occur. However, in the eyes of the grunts, the soldiers, the actual "doers", war is nothing but trauma. The Vietnam War is portrayed as not only physically traumatizing, but psychologically traumatizing in the short story "The Things They Carried" by Tim O 'Brien and the films Apocalypse Now and Letters Home from Vietnam.
More than its tangible meaning, "The Things They Carried" by Tim O 'Brien offers the concepts of trauma by describing exactly the "weight" of each soldier in both tangible and intangible items. Even the order which the …show more content…

Finally, the film Apocalypse Now suggests psychological trauma by guiding the audience through the unpredictable terrors of Vietnam and by introducing the main antagonist as a PTSD survivor. The PBR, or Patrol Boat, River, is comprised of five soldiers, all but one who eventually die. Even before evidence is shown, just the thought of depending on one another, being around one another 24/7, having to deal with one another and inevitably establishing relationships with one another, and having them killed one by one? That enough will almost invariably cause psychological trauma. However, there are more factors--take for instance the first attack on the boat. An unseen enemy nearly destroys the place you sleep and live and stay--your home, essentially. Completely by surprise, no warning; literally overnight, shelter is almost lost. And not only that, but the next day after attempting to call for help, two more people are murdered, and one goes so far as to attempt to murder his own passenger? This unpredictable, unlawful, and he blames himself and attempts to throw away his humanity. The things they carried weren 't just guns and ammo, but sentiments; Kiowa 's hatchet, Sander 's condoms, Lavender 's dope--O 'Brien portrays these men as complicated humans with experiences unmatched by anything other than war. They aren 't just machines and psychopaths with clips as the returning soldiers were made out to be. They weren 't there by choice. They were human. Lt

Show More
Related

  • Stress In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

    608 Words  | 3 Pages

    Have you ever been in such a stressful situation while trying to think normal? In “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, the author describes the situations these troops are put through. Along with the situations, the author tells the audience the thoughts and feelings going on with the men. Showing that the men are affected by the situations they are exposed to. In “The Things They Carried” O’Brien explains the equipment that the characters need to carry to be prepared for the worst.

    Read More

  • Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: A Literary Analysis

    1292 Words  | 6 Pages

    Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.

    Read More

  • The Vietnam War In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    1837 Words  | 8 Pages

    Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a collection of essays, all centered on anecdotes of American soldiers during the Vietnam War. The seemingly straightforward recollections slowly reveal dense layers of personal and metaphorical meanings upon closer inspection, with the exploration of the characters’ emotions and the underlying motif of love creating the opportunity to trace how war changes a person in the realm of his emotions. The Vietnam warfare acts as a catalyst for all of the unsettling changes in the soldiers’ minds, raising the question whether the battlefield is actively responsible for this result or merely accelerating the inevitable manifestation of these personal issues, inherent in every person. In the collection of essays

    Read More

  • Spin By Tim O Brien Rhetorical Analysis

    791 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the author retells the chilling, and oftentimes gruesome, experiences of the Vietnam war. He utilizes many anecdotes and other rhetorical devices in his stories to paint the image of what war is really like to people who have never experienced it. In the short stories “Spin,” “The Man I Killed,” and “ ,” O’Brien gives reader the perfect understanding of the Vietnam by placing them directly into the war itself. In “Spin,” O’Brien expresses the general theme of war being boring and unpredictable, as well as the soldiers being young and unpredictable.

    Read More

  • The Things They Carry Rhetorical Analysis

    702 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tim O'Brien's “The Things They Carry,” tells a story about the lives of young men during war. The narrator tells his story from first person, marking all of his adventures and experiences of his companions. O’Brien crafts his piece through the use of repetition, symbolism, and metaphors to convey the idea of physical and psychological hardships of soldiers during war. Though the literary device of repetition, O'Brien portrays the physical and psychological hardships of a soldier.

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried: An Analysis

    688 Words  | 3 Pages

    “That’s what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future ... Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story” (36). The Things They Carried is a captivating novel that gives an inside look at the life of a soldier in the Vietnam War through the personal stories of the author, Tim O’Brien . Having been in the middle of war, O’Brien has personal experiences to back up his opinion about the war.

    Read More

  • Coping Mechanisms In The Things They Carried And Tim O Brien

    1435 Words  | 6 Pages

    Combat is one of those incidents, where the best and the worst of people will be shown. The effects from combat could last minutes to a lifetime and will define people for the rest of their lives. To overcome the effects, people must have coping mechanisms. In the book, The Things They Carried, a platoon of soldiers is followed in their quest to survive the Vietnam War. The soldiers developed coping mechanisms to deal with stress so they can function normally and survive the war.

    Read More

  • Fiction And Reality In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    1413 Words  | 6 Pages

    Hidden somewhere within the blurred lines of fiction and reality, lies a great war story trapped in the mind of a veteran. On a day to day basis, most are not willing to murder someone, but in the Vietnam War, America’s youth population was forced to after being pulled in by the draft. Author Tim O’Brien expertly blends the lines between fiction, reality, and their effects on psychological viewpoints in the series of short stories embedded within his novel, The Things They Carried. He forces the reader to rethink the purpose of storytelling and breaks down not only what it means to be human, but how mortality and experience influence the way we see our world. In general, he attempts to question why we choose to tell the stories in the way

    Read More

  • Gore And Violence In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

    1161 Words  | 5 Pages

    In today’s world people often overlook the gruesome and violent events that occur, rather than confronting the issue. In Tim O’Brien’s metafiction novel, The Things They Carried, he avoids sugarcoating the scenes that soldiers faced before, during, and after the war by describing the gore and violence in every detail. By including the scenes of violence, Tim O’Brien portrays the horrific effects of war on soldiers and the unnecessary casualties that the soldiers experience. Whether it be Rat Kiley murdering a baby water buffalo, Azar blowing up a puppy, or Lee Strunk begging his friend not to kill him after an explosion, O’Brien assures that the audience will have to confront the conflicts that these soldiers faced. Going into war involves

    Read More

  • Vietnam War Literary Criticism

    925 Words  | 4 Pages

    Literary analysis America’s war heroes all have the same stories to tell but different tales. Prescribed with the same coloring page to fill in, and use their methods and colors to bring the image to life. This is the writing style and tactic used by Tim O’Brien in his novel, “The Things They Carried”. Steven Kaplan’s short story criticism, The Undying Certainty of the Narrator in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, provides the audience with an understanding of O’Brien’s techniques used to share “true war” stories of the Vietnam War. Kaplan explains the multitude of stories shared in each of the individual characters, narration and concepts derived from their personal experiences while serving active combat duty during the Vietnam War,

    Read More

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

    1504 Words  | 7 Pages

    This quote epitomizes the trauma caused by war. O’Brien is trying to cope, mostly through writing these war stories but has yet to put it behind him. He feels guilt, grief, and responsibility, even making up possible scenarios about the life of the man he killed and the type of person he was. This

    Read More

  • Thesis For The Things They Carried

    999 Words  | 4 Pages

    The True Weight of War “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien, brings to light the psychological impact of what soldiers go through during times of war. We learn that the effects of traumatic events weigh heavier on the minds of men than all of the provisions and equipment they shouldered. Wartime truly tests the human body and and mind, to the point where some men return home completely destroyed. Some soldiers have been driven to the point of mentally altering reality in order to survive day to day. An indefinite number of men became numb to the deaths of their comrades, and yet secretly desired to die and bring a conclusion to their misery.

    Read More

  • PTSD In The Things They Carried Essay

    809 Words  | 4 Pages

    Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in The Things They Carried During the turbulent times of the Vietnam War, thousands of young men entered the warzone and came face-to-face with unimaginable scenes of death, destruction, and turmoil. While some perished in the dense Asian jungles, others returned to American soil and were forced to confront their lingering combat trauma. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried provides distinct instances of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and reveals the psychological trauma felt by soldiers in the Vietnam War. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD for short, is the most common mental illness affecting soldiers both on and off the battlefield.

    Read More

  • Essay On Post Traumatic Stress Disorder In Veterans

    547 Words  | 3 Pages

    More than half of all male Vietnam veterans and almost half of all female Vietnam veterans have experienced clinically serious stress reaction symptoms.” PTSD has also been detected among veterans of other wars. ("PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress

    Read More

  • Emotional Effects Of War On Soldiers Essay

    1881 Words  | 8 Pages

    Soldiers train rigorously, preparing for the departure of war. They sacrifice all that they have to fight for their country. As they return after the war, they are left with painful experiences and traumatizing memories, suffering from their inevitable conditions. However, the spouse, families and children back at home are suffering even more than soldiers.

    Read More

More about Apocalypse Now And Vietnam Essay

Open Document