Things They Carried Guilt

Personal view of O'Brien's anecdote:“If I Die in a Combat Zone…” In "If I die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home", Tim O’Brien gives the readers a unique insight into the Vietnam War from a soldier’s perspective. He uses dark humor to describe his firsthand experience of combat and the feelings of fear, bravery, and loss. Drafted into the war, O’Brien begins his journey in a training camp in Washington, making a close comrade who shares similar views with him. During his time at the camp, he considers the senselessness of the war and thinks of fleeing the country with his comrade, Erik. O’Brien was surrounded by the era of protest and arguments on the war.

A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo shows the hard work and difficult tasks the men had to go through to prove themselves and protect their country. The war will change the men’s attitudes and the way they do everything. Men made sacrifices in the Vietnam War most people would never make in a lifetime, they will not just sacrifice but push themselves physically harder than most any other men. The men will also emotionally change from constantly watching other men die, or killing other men. The mens first kill was always the hardest for them, mentally they had so many thoughts of the other mans close ones back home and what they would go through and how it would be all their fault.

War not only impacts the nations involved, but their inhabitants too. Usually, the ones most directly affected are those on the battlefield. Within Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, through the perspective of a war veteran himself, he illustrated the psychological effects of relocation and of the brutal atmosphere that war was. O’Brien’s internal struggle began as he was contemplating what to do about his draft notice. His “hometown was a conservative little spot…,where tradition counted, and it was easy to imagine people… [talking about] the young O’Brien kid, and how [he was a] damned sissy [for] taking off for Canada” (O’Brien 42-43).

He reminisces about how he was almost dodged the draft and was “feeling the shame” of running ( O’Brien 37). Instead of feeling pride to serve his country, he is instead filled with dread and cowardice after seeing that he has gotten a draft letter, which in turn causes him to drive to Canada, but stops in a nearby lodge. Here he meets Elroy, owner of the lodge and archetypal mentor. Tim has the moral dilemma of how “intellect” (49) had came “against emotion” (49). This shows moral ambiguity for Tim because intellect coming up against emotion means that he had his heart versus his mind, an internal battle with himself to do what is right or what feels

In 'The Memorial Tablet ', Sassoon is representing his views as a soldier who died in World War 1. The soldier is forced to fight for something he doesn 't believe in. It says "Squire nagged and bullied until I went to fight". Sassoon 's choice of verbs 'nagged ' and 'bullied ' emphasizes how much the squire wants the soldier to join and how much the soldier doest want to join. The soldier hates the war, he says “I died in hell”, this implies that the honorable death that the young men believed in, was actually an inglorious death for an empty cause.

In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, Amir struggles to cope with his inaction during Hassan’s rape. Overwhelmed with guilt, Amir devises a plan to get Hassan and Ali dismissed so they would no longer be a constant reminder of all the times Hassan had protected him and his failure to do the same. The guilt of betraying Hassan burdens him for years, and even after he and Baba move to America, he carries the weight of his actions with him. However, after he accepts Rahim Khan’s request to rescue Sohrab and bring him to safety, Amir strives to leave behind the selfishness and cowardice he had previously succumbed to. Amir progressively begins to forgive himself for his injustices towards Hassan as he recognizes his evolution from a coward

Soldiers are told to executing the order and unaware of the story and who the poor guy is. Peyton, however, is of more importance to the story. In a process of story, which has one of its central purposes is Peyton had romanticized the war, and get the consequences that he deserves. Caught burning the bridge, before his execution, he suddenly has created a whole another scenario which he escapes the execution. Peyton’s desire to live his thirst for life was significantly strong, he knows that there is no escape from this but still by his imaginary he could live long enough to enjoy the last few

He was an army man who longed for affection from the country that he so dutifully served. “Seeing the city sinking… while making promises it couldn’t keep, would have pleased him” (Rosen, 2009). In his final moments taking in the last glimpses of his country, Stubbs wishes it would at least make a diminutive attempt to change his mind, but what he didn’t realize was that coming to terms with leaving was a major part of his existential

There are just stories about Vietnam War, and each of them has an important theme and characters. The main characters are Tim O ' Brien, Iimmy Cross, Mitchell Sanders and Kiowa. Tim O’Brien is both the narrator and protagonist of “The Things They Carried”. As he goes into the war, he is scared and afraid of the embarrassment he could cause if he would suddenly leaves. He leaves the war full of guilt and decides to write stories about Vietnam to ease the painful memories of his past.

Crane describes the soldier as desperate for something to drink. This is confirmed whenever he decides that he is going to take the risk of crossing the battlefield to fill up his canteen. Stephen Crane uses his opinion that people go to war and fight, but nothing changes afterwards, and puts it into this story. People are also desperate enough to fulfill their need to be on the battlefield; that they are willing to put their lives at risk, which Crane sees as idiotic. People are injured and die, and families are torn apart because of war, for the end result to be the same.

when a nation was justified in using military force to achieve its ends... and that in such circumstances [he] would’ve willingly marched off to the battle.” (O’Brien, 44) but clarifies that this is not the war Tim would willingly sacrifice everything for, “At the very center, was the raw fact of terror. I did not want to die. Not ever. But certainly not in the wrong war.” (O’Brien 44) At the root of all his worries is the very fact that the fear of partaking in a war was very evident in Tim and was a driving force in the decision to flee to Canada. His fear came in forms of uncertainty towards taking another humans life, and later stated as “...walking away from my own life, my friends, and my family, my whole history, everything that mattered to me.” (O’Brien 44-45) More than anything, O’Brien was afraid of rejection from everything that was familiar to him.

Throughout Barno’s essay he makes some very good points about the toll or war and how it impacts the soldiers, giving specific examples from his son’s tours. He uses his own son as an example because his son got called back for combat and admits he was angry about it. His personal connection to repeated service gives credibility to his position about reinstating the lottery draft. Although these are all good points when trying to appeal to the masses, this is the wrong approach to the problem. He needs to target the recent trend of starting a military action without first consenting the congress or the public on their opinion.

O’Brien describes his experience at the Tip Top Lodge as one that resolved an immense inner conflict he faced. When O’Brien received his draft card in the mail to fight in Vietnam, he immediately had to face the fact that he had been “drafted to fight a war that [he] hated” (O’Brien 38). In the face of danger and what he deemed as “moral confusion,” O’Brien suddenly decided that fleeing to Canada was the only way to avoid fighting in Vietnam. While driving north, O’Brien stopped at a fishing resort called the Tip Top Lodge and met Elroy Berdahl. While he refrained from asking obvious questions during O’Brien’s six-day-stay, Berdahl presumably understood O’Brien’s situation.

I came across a story called “On the Rainy River” which was about a man named Tim O’Brien receiving a draft letter and being conflicted as to whether or not he should go to the war or run away to Canada. After concisely thinking about his decision he runs off to Canada but later regrets it and feels immense guilt and shamefully serves in the war. Reading his story sparked something inside of me, although I opposed this war I thought about the heroism I could have possibly gained going to this war. I couldn’t run away from my family and possibly never see them again, Afraid of leaving my family and normal life behind, I went to war. The pressure O’Brien felt, was the same pressure I was enduring at that moment.

The war had also put Salva, and his entire village in danger. For Salva, the war was a really big event in his life that can affect him in many ways. I would ask Salva how he felt about the big war. I would of asked him is he was sad, or upset about losing his family. According to the text,” A Long Walk to Water”, it says “ These people were Dinka too!