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War In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

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“They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried.”, the former quote is from Tim O'Brien's book The Things They Carried. The quote is relating not only to the physical belongings they carried but also the emotional turmoil they acquired during their active years as soldiers. As the weaponry and artillery that soldiers carry change with each new war one thing remains constant; soldiers don’t always leave the stress from their experiences at war ,on the battlefield. War has been around for hundreds of years but post traumatic stress being recognized as a disorder by the American Psychiatric Association only happened 35 years ago (Friedman). This information led me to …show more content…

In his article “The Civil War's Hidden Legacy” Horowitz discusses 25 year old corporal John Hildt who who had lost his right arm during battle and then “lost his mind” (Horwitz). John Hildt was an example of what the hard realities of war do to some of those who have experienced it first hand. After John had served his country and lost his in arm in the the war he was institutionalized in a government hospital for the insane because he was said to be suffering from acute mania (Horwitz). According to Horowitz’s research John Hildt had no previous history of mental disorders. It could be assumed that Corporal Hildt’s was afflicted by PTSD and not a physical exertion of some sort. John Hildt John Hilton most likely never receive the proper therapy to treat his post traumatic stress due to it never being properly diagnosed. An article on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder written by Leo Sher discusses the importance of PTSD being diagnosed correctly in order to provide proper treatments (Post-traumatic Stress disorder: The importance). Until 35 years ago , Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was most likely written off as “Nostalgia” or even “Combat Exhaustion” (Horwitz and Goodpaster). Kasey Goodpaster discusses some of the early treatments that were available to those most likely suffering from PTSD , but misdiagnosed with some other

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The Mental Cost of War The book by Tim O’Brien The Things They Carried is about the Vietnam War. He was a young boy only nineteen in 1969. He explained what he remembered of the Vietnam War. It could be bearable at times while other times it was grueling and scary, making the mental cost of war difficult.

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War is a topic most people have a strong opinion on. Most people clearly show if they are for a war or against it. Tim O`Brien the main character in the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien was drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. O`Brien view of war is very similar to Henry David Thoreau, the author of “Civil Disobedience ”, view on the war. O’Brien was against the Vietnam War and in his own words says, “ I was drafted to fight a war I hated (O`Brien 40)”.

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