Witnessing War and Effects of War
Witnessing War
War is a graphic affair that is bound to affect everyone who experiences it. Tim O’Brien in his book “The Things They Carried” explains his experiences of war through different short stories. In each account, different characters depict how war affects different people. Nonetheless, a common feature is that it significantly affects human nature. DiCicco (132) explains that “not everyone experiences major historical events in the same way.” In “The Things They Carried,” The Alpha platoon is the center of the book, highlighting how the war impacted each man while in Vietnam. The purpose of this book is to explore how war affects the human spirit, using depictions from “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien.
Effects of War
War causes an emotional burden on the soldiers. Emotionally, these men carried loads of grief, horrors, emotional pain, and the love they had. The physical loads of the soldiers only serve to magnify the emotional luggage. For example, Henry Dobbins walks with the pantyhose of his girlfriend. To him, this object is a symbol of love and comfort. Likewise, Jimmy Cross is seen to have maps and compasses. This shows that he is responsible for the rest of the men in the platoon. While at war, the men are fearful and at times horrified of the happenings at war. At the same time, they are laden with the burden of their statuses. Despite all of these, none of the men show signs of fear because it is a sign of weakness, which the enemy can use to their advantage.
The aftermaths of war also cause emotional burdens. These burdens continue to delineate the soldiers. Those who managed to survive the way are guilty, they experience grief, terror from their memories, and confusion. These emotions inhibit many of the soldiers from coming to terms with the happenings of war. In the chapter “Love” Jimmy Cross says that he is unable to forgive himself after the death of Ted Lavender. Because of the grief, horror, and confusion of Norman Bowker, he is forced to aimlessly drive around his neighborhood. He also writes a letter of seventeen pages to O’Brien, documenting his peculiar emotions after the war. Later on, he proceeds to hang himself after failing to understand and process his heavy emotional burden. Unlike Bowker, O’Brien decides to share his psychological emotions through storytelling. In this manner, his emotional burden is carried by several people and he manages it better.
People become prone to make life-changing decisions based on the wrong stimuli. From the excerpt, shame is a powerful motivator while in war. In essence, the soldiers feared being humiliated in front of their peers more than they feared the war. For example, when O’Brian received a letter that drafted him to war, he faced a moral dilemma. According to O’Brien, fighting in an unjust war is not right. However, he did not want to appear as a coward before his peers. This is the motivation that sustains him during the war and not the dedication to the country as many would believe. Another concern is the opinion his family and community would have of him had he failed to go to war. All these feelings combined, O’Brian agreed to be drafted to war.
The fear of shame motivated men to go to war in Vietnam. This fear also influenced the relationship the soldiers had with each other while at war. The majority of the men were conscious of social acceptance, regardless of being faced with the choice of life at the society or a possibility of death while at war. In another instance, Curt Lemon opts to forcefully remove a good tooth from his mouth, to cover the shame of passing out while visiting the dentist. Jimmy cross goes to war because his fellow mates have been drafted. The consequence is that he becomes a leader who is uncertain and confused, endangering the life of the rest of the team. The stress of the war and the societal expectations eventually led to the soldiers making more dangerous decisions that serve to magnify the intensity of the war. The fear uses his characters to explain that even though the fear of shame is a great motivator, it is not suitable to make life-changing decisions based on this emotions.
Another effect of war is that it subjects individual to telling the truth. Regarding the film Hearts and Minds (1774), Davis explains that war stories are “an attempt to examine why we went to Vietnam, what we did there and what the experience did to us.” In this similar manner, O’Brien gives his characters the name of his team members as they were in Vietnam. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the author disrupts the variances of fact and fiction. As a result, the reader is unable to verify whether the events as write in the story are factual. Throughout the story, the characters contradict their ideologies and logic several times. Thus, the author gives the impression that the stories are not accurate depictions of the reality. It is arguable that the purpose of writing in this story is not to give a recollection of the war but to write the truth about how the war affected each soldier.
In the story, the different narrators, Mitchell Sanders and Rat Kiley, lay out the bare truth. Their stories are profound and as a result rule out the possibilities of any doubt. Some of the statements used include “This is true”, an opening to one of the chapters. These narrations are true as to how they happened to the soldier and their experiences while at war. Often, this truth is ugly and contrasts to the glorious nature of war as depicted by the media. O’Brien also writes that the most sincere narrations in the story is that which contains profanities, the purpose of it being to narrate the truth of the war and not sugar coat it for the readers.
War remains pointless to majority of the solders at the battlefield. In his book, Kieran (127) writes “we should have said no,” in reference to the different actions him and his friends did during the war. A common feeling amongst the men of the Alpha Platoon is that none of them understood the essence of war and being drafted to different missions. Additionally, they did not understand how their actions influenced the conflict between the nations. In the story, Cross requests air support to take away the body of their deceased teammate. In retaliation, a village of the opposing side is bombed. Tim also murders a man who does not threaten his life. There are several deaths and effects of war. The men are either killed or they survive to fight the following day. The rationale of the war remains confidential to each of the men, with majority of them yearning to be sent home.
War enforces the ideologies surrounding friendship relations between individuals. In the excerpt, the men tease each other and often bicker amongst themselves. Despite this type of relationship, a deep form of understanding and support is seen in their relationships. The men understand each other’s emotions, even when one person is unable to articulate their feelings. For example, Kiowa guides Tim through understanding his despair, as Tim internalizes how he committed murder. After Vietnam, the men still understand and support each other. Cross instructs Tim to document about the men and Tim does as requested. Norman also writes a long letter to Tim, informing him of his work. This types of relationships are only prevalent as the aftermath of war.
Conclusion
War significantly impacts the life of the people it affects. In most times, it affects these individuals both physically and psychologically. This situation is seen through the characters of “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. While at war, the men are burdened with both physical and emotional luggage. The physical baggage magnifies the emotional burden as they serve to be a reminder of what used to be the norm. Another effect is that war causes human beings to make life changing decisions based on fear. The war also causes the truth regarding war and not as depicted by the media. The majority of the soldiers also realize that war is pointless and fail to understand how their actions affect the general conflict. Nonetheless, a positive impact is that war strengthens friendships and human relations.
Works Cited
DiCicco, Jonathan M., and Benjamin O. Fordham. “The things they carried: generational effects of the Vietnam war on elite opinion.” International Studies Quarterly 62.1 (2018): 131-144.
Kieran, David. Series: “How a Divisive War Changed American Public Memory” Culture, Politics, and the Cold War. Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press. 2014. eBook., Database: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
Peter Davis’ documentary Hearts and Minds or the PBS film The Sixties the Years that Shaped a Generation