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Stress In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

608 Words3 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.”When a mission took them to the mountains, they carried mosquito netting, machetes, canvas tarps, and extra bug juice.” (372) Along with the essentials for surviving in the environment that they were in. The men also had to be prepared to take on the enemy that they should face.”Henry Dobbins carried the M-60, which weighed 23 pounds unloaded, but was almost always loaded.” (369) This is how O’Brien shows that the men had to carry all the equipment to be prepared for the situation they were in. …show more content…

These men didn’t have very pleasurable experiences explained by O’Brien. “The Teeth were broken. There was a swollen black bruise under his left eye. The cheekbone was gone.” One of their own men had been shot in the head on the way back from peeing. The men had seen the horrific image of their own man after being shot. That would take a toll on anyone one. Especially if you are Jimmy Cross the first lieutenant and leader of his platoon. “The responsibility for the lives of his men.” (369) When you are the one who has the responsibility of your men, and one of your men dies on your watch. That has to be hard mentally. I could only imagine what would be going through someone’s mind after something like

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The Things They Carried by American author Tim O’Brien, who was drafted in the Vietnam war, describes the experience of the American infantry fighting in Vietnam. O’Brien utilises various rhetorical devices to illustrate the immense emotional & physical burdens the soldiers were to bear to enlighten the reader about the true horrors of war. For example, O’Brien employs asyndeton & polysyndeton in sentences listing the many things the soldiers carried. “They carried Sterno, safety pins, trip flares, signal flares, spools of wire, razor blades…,” (O’Brien). The lists of items carried carry on, overwhelming & exhausting the reader of the physical burdens of war.

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The Things They Carried Analysis More often than not, a reader picks up the story, “The Things They Carried,” and notices the unavoidable overload of symbolism intertwined. The heavy burdens the soldiers carry is portrayed extremely well by the author’s use of symbols, as it is one of the main focuses the author seeks to make evident to the reader. However, the author does not only want you to focus on the symbols of the burdens these fictional characters carry, but he wants you to understand what they really went through and that his story symbolizes the lives of these real, brave soldiers.  “War is hell, but that's not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and

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The physical damage and emotional depreciation that the characters go through in the book, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, support the themes of the story by showing the traumatic effects the soldiers endure as a result of the war. December 1, 1969, changed lives of many people because it was the date that renewed mandatory service. The US draft for Vietnam brought many young boys into new surroundings and sent them crawling with an invisible enemy. Their normal lives were forever changed. No longer surrounded by familiar faces, their new homes were now foxholes, forcing them to stay alert at all times.

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In the book The Things They Carried by Tim o’Brien many war heroes don't always come back home the way they left. Throughout these stories readers can really see and understand what a few soldier encountered on the field. The author portrayed these through changes in tone. Three tones that are provided in the story are discouraged, miserable, and thankful. Being in the war can really change a person inside and out.

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No matter who you where in the war, everybody walked away with guilt. Jimmy Cross will never forgive himself over the death of Ted Lavender. “He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead” (pg 7) Cross has to live with the fact that his distraction over Martha caused Lavender to die and as commanding officer he had responsibility over him. O’Brien feels the blame over the death of “a short, slender young man of about twenty” (pg 129) With the pain of killing this young man keeps O’Brien “writing war stories” (pg 129).

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Any rational person would blame Jimmy Cross’s neglect for Lavender’s death, but the author explains how Jimmy’s emotions for Martha were some he could not control. O’Brien describes Cross’s behavior when he exclaims, “suddenly, without willing it, [Jimmy] was thinking about Martha.”(11). As a drafted soldier who longed of his life in America, Jimmy Cross simply could not stay focused in the war environment. Even more, given the circumstances, the war enervates Cross so much that he nearly loses his masculinity when he “[tries] not to cry”(16). However, having made clear that all these behaviors were one’s that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross could not control, Tim O’Brien argues that soldiers cannot always perform as society expects them to and can sometimes make mistakes in war that are

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Burdens of a Soldier Soldiers are looked up to all around the world. They are heroes. They are role models. The things they do and go through are widely appreciated by all.

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The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a text written about the numerous hardships that accompany war. The title of the novel does not exclusively represent the weapons and materials the men carried, but more importantly, represents the emotional, mental, and physical baggage they had to bear. The title of this novel was the structure for the entire book. The title of the novel relates to the book because throughout the first chapter, O’Brien informs the reader of the actual materials each of the men normally carried, including objects such as guns and explosives, or even comic books and candy.

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In the Novel The Things They Carried it starts off by talking about the things the men carry physically, mentally and emotionally. Throughout the book It gives many examples of how they carry emotional things such as guilt. It also talks about things they literally carry like their guns, things from loved ones and anything they need

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Dangerous and intense situations typically lead to certain devastating consequences to a persons both emotional and physical health. As result of these experiences, there is often not only exterior injuries, but also the non visual psychological damage that is just as hard, if not harder, to resolve. One commonality throughout all wars is this unseen casualty known as PTSD, or post traumatic stress disorder. Tim O’Brien, veteran of the Vietnam war, demonstrates how PTSD affects soldiers in countless ways in his novel The Things They Carried. He uses fictional but lovable characters that readers can easily relate to, intensifying their emotional engagement in the book.

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One of the Lieutenant’s men, Ted Lavender, gets shot in the head while the rest of the company is distracted and Cross takes the soldier’s death personally and in result feels like a failed leader. As a result, the next morning Cross burns Martha’s letters and photographs, he swears off any further fantasies, and makes a personal vow to become a harder, crasser officer for his men. Cross becomes acutely aware to the fact that these men’s lives are in fact his to shoulder and protect, the event serves as a major reality check and turning point for the

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