The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien - Book Report/Review Example

05 may 2007 The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien In the short story "The Things They Carried", O'Brien depicts casualties and hardship of the Vietnam War through evolution of characters' emotional and psychological state. Throughout the story there is a blame of unmoral behavior of the soldiers, but it is most poignantly and symbolically demonstrated with the rejection of previous life. O'Brien depicts his memories and experience during the Vietnam War. Thesis Psychological pressure is caused by war, but O'Brien portrays it symbolically through material and emotional things the soldiers 'carried'. "The Things They Carried' is based on the theme of psychological pressure caused by war time and military actions. This theme is depicted through material and emotional things the soldiers carry. O'Brien serviced two years in the infantry (1969-1970) and participated in one of the cruelest military operations near village My Lai Massacre (1968). Hundreds of civilians (women and children) were killed by American soldiers during this military operation (Bowen, Weigl 56). This experience had a great impact on his writing and world views. To create an impression of real burden, O'Brien gives a detailed analysis of everything soldiers take: "the weapon weighed 7.5 pounds unloaded, 8.2 pounds with its full 20 round magazine. The riflemen carried anywhere from 12 to 20 magazines...adding on another 8.4 pounds at minimum, 14 pounds at maximum." (O'Brien 5). Under "things" O'Brien means weapons and ammunition as well as terror, love, personal values and beliefs, but "almost everyone humped photographs" (4). These things are so important for them as ammunition during wartime, because they help the main heroes to overcome depression and difficulties they face with. It is important that "a set of things" has been changed, and at the end of the story the heroes carry a completely different "things" with them. O'Brien depicts casualties of war through the main characters and their feelings. Through the character of Jim Cross, O'Brien depicts that in the first instance of human beings and of human beliefs and actions necessity is the main thing they carried. In this situation emotional and psychological necessity is connected with a person's other beliefs, the prevailing canons of evidence (Vernon 171). For instance, "Grief, terror, love, longing these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight." (O'Brien 4). These necessities help soldiers to survive and overcome depression and desperation they are faced with. The other main characters, Ted Lavender, Kiowa, Lee Strunk, and Henry Dobbins, are also carry their "things" which differ because they have different life experiences and expectations. Nevertheless, war forces them to carry the same psychological things as scary and hope. They need to adapt to war, but the only way for them is to change their habits and personal values (Vernon 171). Some of them like Ted Lavender's conditioned to this reality using their own way, but fails. Subconscious persuasion and drugs have no effects. This causes lack of coincidence between war and personal feelings, since many of the characters struggling to develop their emotions while everyone else struggles to suppress their feelings. The evolution of hopes and values is depicted through the character of Lieutenant Jim Cross. O'Brien depicts "the rise and fall of the dreams of individual soldiers -- their hopes riddled by disillusionment, their fantasies broken by shrapnel-edged realities" (Timmerman 111). His negligence, passion for a girl and narrow-mindedness causes a death of one of the soldiers, and this event forces his to revise his values and ethical code of a soldier. O'Brien uses a simple language, but symbolism and stylistic devices helps him to unfold the message of the story. Following Timmerman it is possible to say that "Every time human experience is rendered as fact, however, the human place in war becomes more abstracted and more simplistic (Timmerman 109). The main idea of the text is that wartime has a great impact on feelings and views of people. He depicts that in spite of all the negative life lessons soldiers understand what it is to be an individual. Similar to other solders, O'Brien experienced great emotional distress and disorder after the war. It is possible to say that he unveils his personal feelings on this story and shows that the inner state of soldiers has also changed, and the readers cannot find a cynical man as most of them were before the war (Vernon 171). For O'Brien the Vietnam War became a real 'burden' too heavy to carry any longer. Critics admit that he needed to express his feelings in writing and supported other soldiers suffered from emotional distress (Timmerman 108). At the beginning of the story O'Brien describes things they carry: "what they carry was partly a function of rank, partly a field spatiality" (O'Brien 5). Further, for most of them it is difficult to change their attitude towards life, but the rat-trap of war has an great influence on their outlook. For instance, Jim Cross has burned all pictures of Martha and shifts his attention to duties. Posek (1997) describes: "His portraits of Ted Lavender and Lieutenant Cross particularly display these intangible burdens: Ted through the vague description of his apparently troubled lifestyle and his own tragic downfall, and Cross through his elaborately described love and anguish that he feels about Martha". Within the story O'Brien shows that the core difference between a soldiers and a civilian is in their inner perception of the world. A civilian does not constantly understand all the duties he might to discharge and obligations he might to carry out. O'Brien "communicates with his reader through straightforward description of sensations and emotions, thematic self-revelation, translation of the argot of the soldier" (Wesley 2002). As a soldier, a man does not rely upon the others; he is the only one who makes decisions and answer for the consequences. On soldier explains: "I'd come to this war a quiet, thoughtful sort of person, a college grad, but after seven months in the bush I realized that those high, civilized trappings had somehow been crushed under the weight of the simple daily realities. I'd turned mean inside (O'Brien 9). To some extent, the evolution of characters depicts the state of maturity which cannot be measured by knowledge level or life struggles. The fact that O'Brien took part in military operations illuminates readers understanding of the story and unveils reality of life faced by the author. As Wesley (2002) describes: "Resisting the cultural closure, the postmodern form of The Things They Carried identifies Vietnam as a continuing struggle over representation despite the cessation of military combat". In this story O'Brien depicts eternal problem of war time and sufferings of soldiers experienced by the author during war time. O'Brien underlines that soldiers become mature individuals in a short period of time influenced by hostility and violence of war. O'Brien vividly portrays that war ruins everything around us, but as the most important it transforms personalities engaged in useless fight. This story appeals to readers because it describes attitude of soldiers towards life, ability to rule their destiny and ability to accept the consequences of their actions. As a war writer, O'Brien demonstrates the despair and pointlessness of the dreams with the help of variety of interpretations with his emphasis on the irrational and conflict between old and new world. Works Cited Bowen, K. Weigl, B Writing between the Lines: An Anthology on War and Its Social Consequences. University of Massachusetts Press, 1997. O'Brien, T. The Things They Carried. Broadway, 1998. Posek, J. "The Paradox of Necessity in Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" Literature Seminar. 1998. 05 May 2007 Timmerman, John H. Tim O'Brien and the Art of the True War Story: "Night March" and "Speaking of Courage", Twentieth Century Literature 46 (2000): 100-113. Vernon, Alex. Salvation, Storytelling and Pilgrimage in Tim O'Brien's the Things They Carried. Mosaic (Winnipeg) 36 (2003): 171-180. Wesley, M. Truth and fiction in Tim O'Brien's If I Die in a Combat Zone and The Things They Carried. College Literature. 2002. 05 May 2007 Read More