The Book: The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien - Research Paper Example

Intermediate Composition  “The Things they carried” by Tim O’Brien Introduction ‘The Things They Carried’ is a book about the events that occurred before and after the Vietnam War written by Tim O’Brien. It’s a collection of short stories that narrate the experiences of the American soldiers during the time they were in Vietnam. These soldiers participated in a war that they really never wanted but they had to since there was no choice. They therefore carried things to divert their attention from it hence the title of the book. Tim puts himself at the centre of action as he gives the story with himself being one of the combat veterans. For any soldier who is going to a battle field, when you talk about ‘The things they carried’ what comes in ones mind are fighting weapons. In our case, that was not the case as the book is all about the things O’Brien and his fellow soldiers carried that would take their minds away from the war. Things that would give them hope and encouragement. With them were baggage of emotions of men who were going to die, terror, grief, love, shameful memories and secrets of cowardice which they didn’t want to show. From this we can clearly say that though the soldiers went to the war, they clearly were against the war and didn’t want to participate in it. The things the soldiers carried The title of the book is an irony by itself as the talk of war brings weapons in everyone’s mind. In this book, the soldiers carried distracters from the war, things to encourage them that the war was worth fighting, to give them hope that they will see the sun rise the next morning, things to make them forget the bad and haunting memories of the war. This clearly tells us that the soldiers attitude towards the war; they hated it and could do nothing to stop it but they had no alternative so they just had to stay in it. They carried the intangibles which still had with them their own masses; they had tangible weight as they to some way worsened the situation at war by the memories they brought. The one main thing that they carried was cowardice deep within them; they couldn’t show it because that would be embarrassing to those who looked upon them like their lovers, the country and their family members. The things the soldiers carried along with them include love letters, malaria tablets and illustrated Bibles contrary to what any one could have expected. Those who made it home safely had with them torturing memories and images of a nightmarish war. Rarely at any part of the book are we told of situations and events that the soldiers loved and enjoyed at the time they were at war or good memories after they war was over. This is to say at no point did the soldiers come to like the war and they didn’t appreciate any part of the war. Some parts of the book are fiction of the soldier’s experiences like how Tim killed a soldier and he was so shocked and traumatized but that was his work of art so as to create a true picture of what the situation was in the battle field. The soldiers killed the enemies but ended up regretting and feeling remorseful. The book is about the things O’Brien learned in this war and the secrets and truth that are always kept from the eyes of the common man. Most memories bring out the blurred line separating the truth, facts, reality and fiction. We can conclude by saying that everything they carried was precious to them or else they could have left them behind as the war requirements were already heavy for them. What they carried was mostly decided by their fears, their homesickness and the desperate need to be distracted from the war. We can see Rat carrying comic books while jimmy pictures of Martha. Some carried good luck charms to save them from the unworthy dangers of the war. Situations which show that the soldiers didn’t want to take part in the war or hated the war The last thing that a soldier has to have in a battle field is fear, that shows that he is either not prepared or he is doing something against his will. In this book, the soldiers are seen to be frightened of the war situation to mean they were not ready for it. Tim and his fellow soldiers are seen to be so terrified when they were attacked at some points; they cried and screamed then made promises to God. After all these, when they managed to survive, they were ashamed of their acts as they didn’t want those around them to see (Tim, p56). They had to spare time and tell jokes so as to distance themselves from the fears and grief of the war. Incase of any of the soldiers died, they tried to run away from the reality by not calling that death but used words like ‘greased’ and ‘lit up’. Though they were taking part in the war, they were scared of every bit of it and didn’t like how things were unfolding. They were loosing friends, undergoing torture yet there was nothing they were gaining from it. The soldiers pretended not to care but in real sense they did only that caring didn’t seem to change anything. They are hurting inside but put on a brave face as they didn’t want to be seen soft or weak. They pray inside and wish they would lie down and never get up, or they shoot themselves on their own toes so that they could be taken out of the war. It gets to a point that they dream not to carry anything more after the war so as to help the memories of the war fade away with time. Wars come along with different responsibilities apart from just fighting. Such obligations were neither easy for some of them, the war had taken their cowardice to the extend anything related to darkness or blood would frighten them to death. The soldiers were at times required to search inside tunnels a task they were all scared of because to them the tunnels were ghostly and dark. They had images of rats and other dangerous things down there. For soldiers that are ready for war, situations like this would not have any effect on their courage but this was not the case. In the book, one morning it was Lee’s turn to search the tunnel, he is nervous but still goes down, after a few minutes Jimmy got impatient and thought that something was wrong but instead of thinking of the situation, his mind is on Martha. He wishes that he could have her right there in the tunnel. The soldier’s minds and hearts were not in the war but in the things they treasured and loved most (Real, p140). When Lee reappears, he reacts to suggest that he is so happy to be alive meaning their lives were always in danger. Almost at the same time, Ted Lavender is shot dead on the head, and Rat repeats the statement he has been saying over and over again in this war, ‘Oh shit, the guy’s dead. Death had become the order of the day. From the beginning, it was not Tim’s wish to take part in the war but he had to, so that he could not disappoint those who were looking upon him. The stories clearly show that Tim and the other soldiers went on to fight this war but they didn’t believe in it. He narrates how hard it was making the decision to go to war; all he could do was cry. He is quoted saying, “right then, with the shores so close, I understood that I would not do what I should do” (O’Brien, p57). He decided to go as he said he heard voices inside him of people from his future and past who were cheering him to go on and he could not in any way disappoint them. Within him he knows that he should protest against the war but he could not do anything that would make him look bad to the eyes of other people. Elroy tries to ignore Tim’s crying the night before he left for the war but it was clear to him the next morning when Tim leaves Elroy’s emergency fund in the kitchen then leaves for Vietnam. He admits that it was not an easy and happy ending but he went over it and participated in the war but that was just an act of cowardice altogether. This is just but an example to show how many soldiers went to this war against their wish. Most of the soldiers that took part in this war were very young men and most of them were unprepared. They are sad and confused but don’t want the other soldiers to know so they kept on pretending to like the war but they still revealed their emotions in comical and heartfelt way. The situation worsened until at some point Tim wanted to run away to Canada , he tries to go spend six days in a lodge at the border but still afraid of what his friends and family members would think of him if he didn’t fight (O’Brien,p56). He admits that he didn’t go to the War because he wanted but because he was a coward, he was afraid of what other people would think of him. A lot of things happened to the soldiers in Vietnam; they lost their sense of morality and justice, they were paranoid, they were so angry and hardened mostly because they felt as if no one at home really understood what they were going through in Vietnam. Even after Rat’s friend dies and he writes to his sister, he doesn’t get any replies and his grief for his friend turns to anger. Tim says that in this war, there is no morality, its all about cruelty and ugliness. The true picture of the situation in the battle field was seen when a soldier invited his girlfriend, when she arrived she was very young and fresh but after staying there for some time she gets into the jungle life and got gradually transformed till she lost her old home life. Tim kills a young Vietnamese soldier by throwing a grenade to him but he is continuously haunted. When Norman returns from the war, he is unable to handle the terrible memories and knowledge of the war. He finds it hard to talk to any one as nobody would listen or understand. The experiences sounded irrelevant and silly. This was too hard for him to handle that he eventually kills himself as a way of doing justice to his life. In one of the attacks, they lost one of their best men; they are hurt and want to blame each other for the death as they look for him in the mud. That was the day to day situation in this war in Vietnam, no more a battle field but a death field, even the most heartless wouldn’t have loved this. Tim is shot twice, the first time he was lucky to receive good medication but the second time he almost died due to lack of proper medication, most soldiers died not because of the seriousness of the wounds they sustained but because of poor medical attention. He revenges this but later feels guilty. The effect of the war to the soldiers The soldiers didn’t hate the war only because of the awful situations it put them into but also because of the effects and impacts it had. Most of the effects were negative ones giving the soldiers more reasons to hate the war and get against it. When Cross discovers that Ted was dead and he might have prevented it, his life totally changes from a dreamer, a lover and a soldier to someone who had lost hope and distanced himself from everything that was important to his life. He just realized that he was living in another world (Real, p212). The war drove the soldiers crazy, they felt there was no morality in anything they were doing, they become desperate for anything that comes along as the wartime life seemed endless, boring, repetitive and terrifyingly pointless. Jensen got to a point he couldn’t tell the rights from the wrong, he stays in war for so long till he starts to fight men on his side instead of the enemies. Rat was so affected by the death of his friend, when the sister to the diseased didn’t respond to his letter, his grief changes to anger, fury and hopelessness. The war made him to be vulgar and a killer. Anne Bell who had been in Vietnam for only a few months, lost herself and Rat described her as being an animal. For Norman, the war took everything that was close to him, he knows no one in town who can share his experiences; he was being tortured by the thoughts and couldn’t get them away no matter how hard he tried. Most of his time he stays alone and cannot relate to anyone. The above effects were so diverse to the soldiers that they looked at the war a hell on earth. Conclusion The Vietnam War is still a nightmare to the soldiers who participated in it and the United States as a country, the mention of this war sends a feeling of hatred in the souls of so many people especially the soldiers who participated in it. From the book “The Things they Carried” by Tim O’Brien, we see how the life the soldiers in the war was, they were killed, tortured physically and mentally, hurt, lost their loved ones and friends, lost themselves fighting a war they didn’t not want participate in, in the first place. No good thing came out of the war as it can be said to have been lost after all the sacrifice the soldiers had made. The war hurts the soldiers most as no matter how hard they try to explain how things were in the battle field nobody seems to understand making them feel like there is nothing they are being credited for. Nothing good came out of the war. Works cited O’Brien Tim. The Things they Carried. Mariner Books, 2009; 256.Print O’Brien Tim. The Things they Carried: Multiple Critical Perspectives. Prestwick House, Inc, 2009.52.Print Real Terrence. I Don’t Want to Talk about It. Scribner Publishers.1998.212.Print Tim O’Brien. A Selection from the things they Carried. Houghton Mifflin Publishers.1989.56 Read More