Innocence In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

If asked about the warfare, the sedated soldier, Ted Lavender, would reply, “Mellow, man. We got ourselves a nice mellow war today” (O’Brien 33). Indeed, it is a fact that Ted is physically and mentally numb to his chaotic environment due to him using his tranquilizers to calm himself. Here, in making this comment, Ted is displaying how he is avoiding the reality of the battle by actually numbing his body and mind to have a less stressful life during conflicts up until the moment he perished. In further accordance to what O’Brien witnessed, Rat Kiley maliciously harmed a buffalo, but “it wasn’t to kill, it was to hurt” as Rat “put the rifle muzzle up against the mouth and shot the mouth away” for instance (O’Brien 76).

“Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here.” (Sue Monk Kidd). In The Things They Carried, O’Brien is clear in saying that he would agree with this as without stories, people would be very blind about their past and in some cases, what to do in the future. Sherman Alexie and Tim O‘Brien tell stories to help teach people, or show that people are naturally good at heart but they’re ideas can change based on events that they experience or witness in their lives.

Mary Anne is this cute girl that comes to this war zone in Vietnam. By coming to Vietnam she did not know the dangers that were hidden in the jungle. Before she felt it was right to go and help with what she can, but after she felt that she had to do more and was losing herself along the way. “She was dangerous. She was ready for the kill” (O’Brien 110).

She began to change and take even more interest in the war. When mark Fossie noticed this he decided it was time to send her home, but the night before she was to leave for home, she left with a group of Green Berets. “The next morning she was gone. The six Greenies were gone, too,”(p.63 O’Brien). Mary Ann became even more apart of the war, refused to leave it.

Death is always associated with the occurrences of wars. No matter what, there is no escaping the fact that people will die in battle. Throughout the book The Things They Carried there are scenes of extreme violence, and heart crushing deaths. Witnessing someone you know being killed, or even killing someone you do not know is very traumatizing to a person and their life, but it's war and that is just how it is. Tim O’Brien uses many examples from the war for his story to emphasise the theme of Death, and violence and that no matter what it is no one's fault, and everyone fault.

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.

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

First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross faced a conflicting dilemma of love versus duty in Tim O’Brien’s short story, “The Things They Carried.” Jimmy Cross exhibited a loyalty to both the woman he loved, Martha, and to the men that he served in separate incidents in the narrative. In the beginning of the narrative, Cross found time to place himself in a state of day-dreaming about Martha because thinking about her provided an escape from reality. Because of the circumstances that Cross later found himself, his loyalties needed adjustment. He decided to place his men and his duty as their leader above anything or anyone else in the final paragraphs in order to protect his men, even at the expense of making life more difficult for himself and his men.

The soldiers learn to release their anger and grief through violence. This is demonstrated by Rat Kiley, as after Curt Lemon’s death he lashes out in anger on an innocent animal. Following Curt Lemon’s death, Rat goes up to the baby buffalo the soldiers had found and tied up for the night and brutally shot him. As Tim describes, Rat Kiley’s shot “wasn’t to kill; it was to hurt.” This shows that due to witnessing his friend's death Rat turns to violence as a response.

In another chapter from The Things They Carried titled “Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong”, Mark Fossie is inviting his girlfriend Mary Anne to visit him for some time in Vietnam during the war. At first, Mary Anne is embodying a feminine persona, wearing pink, jewelry, and makeup. As time passes on, Mary Anne expresses more interest in the war and even starts participating in war-like activities. A passage in “Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong” writes, “Once or twice, gently, Mark Fossie suggested that it might be time to think about heading home, but Mary Anne laughed and told him to forget it. ‘Everything I want,’ she said, ‘is right here’” (O’Brien 95).

Although Martha never returned Jimmy Cross’s affections towards her, and although Jimmy understands that on some levels, he continues to fantasize and obsess about her in order to carry himself through the war. Martha, to Jimmy, is not a living and breathing person; much like Kiowa carries his belief in God with him, Jimmy carries his obsession with Martha, his continual wondering about her virginity or her poetry in order to distract himself from the pain of war, in order to believe there are still beautiful things left in the world. He does this without wanting to; even when he is desperately trying to look out for his men, his subconscious is still forcing him to dream about Martha: “ And then suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking

This passage explains love and emotional significance in the war . Although the small role of women in The things they carried ,it is an importance threw out the book. Females character’s Martha ,Mary Anne and Kathleen have all effects on the men. Different women in the book have different effects on the men and affect them in different ways .For an example “Jimmy cross carried letters from a girl who named , Martha who 's an English major at Mount Sebastian College.

The Things They Carried “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a short story set during the Vietnam War. In the story, O’Brien lists many different items soldiers in the Alpha Company carried with them as they humped across the rugged terrain. Many carried necessities such as rations, matches, ammunition and things of that nature; however, many soldiers also carried quite peculiar objects such as condoms, pantyhose, and M&Ms. Readers can grasp a closer insight of the characters’ lives after further examination of the symbolism and meaning of the things they carried.

“Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried tranquilizers until he was shot in the head.” Pg. 2 This is ironic because the Ted was the most frighten person in the group who was scared to die and somehow he was the first victim to die. “The thumb was dark brown, rubbery to the touch, and weighed 4 ounces at most.” Pg.

The characters in The Things They Carried felt pressure to go to be tough, by going to war, not get emotional over girls, and being brave. Tim O'Brien got drafted to go to war during his summer off from college while he was working at a meat factory. He was not the kind of man to pay attention to the war he would rather study or focus on school work. When he got a letter telling him he was drafted to go into the war he was afraid. He thought about running away to Canada, but his fear of getting judged by society for not being tough was greater than his fear of the war.