Brotherhood In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Fallen Angels “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity” (Dwight D. Eisenhower). Throughout all of history war has surrounded human existence. From the Spartans in Rome to Infantry Marines patrolling the streets in Afghanistan, the presence of war has affected generations since the beginning of time. In the book, Fallen Angels, the author, Walter Dean Myers portrays how the harsh realities of war have a substantial impact on soldiers and their experiences by displaying the internal transformations, the power of fear, the permanent psychological damages, and the cruelty of the environment through a classic Vietnam War story. One of the most prevalent impacts war

Along with his usual gear, though, he carries with him the burden of not being able to be with his girlfriend and , “walking barefoot along the Jersey Shore, with Martha, carrying nothing,” (O’Brien 1480). Therefore in order to forget this burden Cross carries a pebble in his mouth because it is one Martha picked up, and he also stares at pictures of her in his foxhole every night. This is what keeps Cross, in a sense, sane during the war because he can escape the horrors around him and at the same time witness something beautiful and peaceful in a place that would be considered ugly and horrendous. Cross’s escape from the war can be contrasted to the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” in the sense that the speaker in this poem cannot escape the war he is in, but rather he has to face it every day without a break in the war since the troops have to march on until the soldier’s, “distant rest began to trudge,” (N).

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.

He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war” (O’Brien, 369). Cross blames himself for the death of this fellow soldier as he was not fully engaged with his unit’s activities due to obsessive thoughts about Martha. His guilt can be seen as a bit irrational as it was not directly his fault that Lavender got shot, but this is what makes it so devastating. He most likely would have felt guilt regardless if he was paying attention, but because he was daydreaming, it makes it very easy to place the blame upon himself. It is these feelings of guilt and blame that add to having high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Vietnam War was very different from the past wars. There were a lot more cases of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) among soldiers than any other wars http://historyofptsd.umwblogs.org/vietnam/ . In ‘The Things They Carried’, a book about the Vietnam War written by Tim O’Brien, using the psychological lense can help us understand how wars can change a person’s mental state dramatically. It can show us what soldiers had to carry during the war, including intangibles, like fear and guilt. These men had to fight a war that the U.S. did not have to be involved in and it changed their whole life.

It is because what he was doing was more preferable than being drafted, even though what he was doing was not something he had ever wanted to manage. When Cross first joined the war, he embodied a boy madly in love with a girl named Martha. A chapter titled “The Things They Carried” is making it evident that Cross’s feelings about Martha have been modified enormously. “He hated her. Yes, he did.

War: The Idea of Friendship In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the stories are mainly focused on the Vietnamese War and it’s effects on the soldiers. The two stories, Friends and Enemies clearly portray the personal problems faced by the soldiers during the war instead of problems in the actual war that the soldiers are fighting. In Enemies, Dave Jensen breaks Lee Strunk's nose over a stolen jackknife and is later found contemplating whether or not Strunk will get his revenge on him, causing him to become delusional. In Friends, however, both Strunk and Jensen agree to sign a pact that says if anyone of them gets hurt badly, the other will kill them.

The theme of friendship is shown in many chapters of “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, in the chapter “Love,” friendship is shown through Jimmy Cross coming to visit Tim in Massachusetts. They drank and smoked for a whole day and caught up with things. “For a full day we drank and smoked cigarettes together and talked about everything we had seen and done so long ago,” (O’Brien, 26). This quote shows how good of friends they had become during the war and after because if not Jimmy wouldn 't go to Massachusetts.

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

When the author expresses the feelings within Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s troops we see their individual personalities. When the author used characterization, symbolism, and tone, they truly brought out the theme of physical and emotional burdens throughout “The Things They

Cross blames himself, knowing “He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead…” (p. 121). First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is distracted by his infatuation for Martha, which ultimately results in Ted Lavender’s death, forcing Cross to realize his fantasies for Martha are wrong and that he is not fulfilling his duties as a lieutenant. Lieutenant Cross is inattentive to the war and his responsibilities because he is unable and unwilling to stop thinking about his adoration for Martha.

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.

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.

During the Vietnam War the soldiers, whether or not they wanted to be there, many of them developed mental illnesses. The things they would experience would cause burdens on them for the rest of their lives. “Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried tranquilizers until he was shot in the head outside the village of Than Khe in mid-April.” (The Things They Carried) Lavender carried tranquilizers until he died, because he was scared.

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.