Themes in The Things They Carried Chapter 1-”The Things They Carried” In the first chapter of The Things They Carried, O’Brien creates a feeling of each characters emotional weights and burdens through the use of the physical objects they carried through the war. Chapter 2-”Love” O’Brien uses the various connotations of love as the title to show Cross’s mixed feeling toward Martha, and his expectations of how she would act when he returned, compared to reality. Chapter 3-”Spin” By sharing these various anecdotes from the war of different characters, O’Brien comments on how the war time experience is very disconnected, and how one moment one can be laughing with their comrades and the next be being shot at, without even realizing what’s happening. Chapter 4-”On The Rainy River” Through sharing his struggles upon the subject of weather or not to join the war, O’Brien shows us how the decision to go fight for one’s country can cause great emotional wear. Chapter 5-”Enemies” In this chapter, O’Brien shows that men can often get far too worked up about small things being lost, and the grudges are often kept for quite a long time.
The lists also describe the emotional baggage each soldier carried, such as First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s (the leader of the squad) love for a girl back home. O’Brien’s use of lists and the repetition gives the reader a good impression of the lifestyle of the soldiers in Vietnam without outwardly and directly saying so, subsequently giving him a stronger argument by allowing the reader to attain the understanding of the situation on their own. The lists O’Brien uses in the story give clarity to the setting of the emotional and physical setting the story takes place in. When one thinks of a list, the natural conclusion is a dull and repetitive page of words, possibly bulleted or in some other such order, but never really all that interesting to read. O’Brien uses this to his advantage to give the reader a true sense of what the experience in Vietnam was for the common soldier, while at the same time not describing it outright, which is something he says later in the story cannot be done in simple words.
Throughout the film we see him struggle to survive as he is forced to become a liar, a coward and a murderer. Platoon, which was also written by Oliver Stone, is thought to be semi-autobiographical because stone served in the Vietnam War as an infantryman. A lot of his experiences are supposed to be stitched into the film and the main characters are based on individuals he served with. Charlie Sheens character is suppose to represent Oliver Stone himself. This is one of the reasons people believe the film is so good, because it has such a deep personal input from Stones memories and it just came natural while directing it because he has already seen it happen.
Throughout history, many soldiers faced life-threatening or traumatic events during war, as it took heavy tolls on them. Some events would cause them to relive these experiences through either nightmares or flashbacks. Tim O’Brien, a veteran who has received a Purple Heart, knows how traumatic events can affect soldiers as it makes them do things “brand-new and profound” which, in his story, “How To Tell A True War Story”, shows his characters “a piece of the world so startling there was not yet a name for it”(293). There are many terms used to describe this behavior, as war has always had an impact on people, but the most common is called Post-traumatic stress disorder, otherwise known as PTSD. It was the new name for an old story, and thanks to the Vietnam War, this disorder has been examined more closely.
Affield’s memoir illustrated the very real and raw aspects of war. Wendell’s personal account of life as a soldier started with the horrors of boot camp, eventually explained the terrors of war and finally ended with the rejection and ridicule that he and other soldiers endured on his return home. His detailed accounts helped readers better understand the situation and events that occurred during and after the war in Vietnam. Once Affield enlisted with the United States Navy he was originally stationed on a gunner Naval ship, USS Rogers, and traveled to Vietnam to aide in fighting the Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin. This West Pac cruise was difficult, yet it ended up being one of the least devastating assignments of his Vietnam experience.
Many of the results of physical pain were due to the oppressed environment and the very nature of war. The emotional injuries were encountered through the soldier’s constant struggle for survival. Soldiers were sent home after their tour of duty but many experienced post traumatic war syndrome; mentally and psychologically scarring these soldiers. In a war it is evident that wounds always remain for those who have experienced it. Physical pain is a primary ‘stereotypical’ effect of war which most people understand of being the broad result of war.
"Owen's war poem do not always deal with the horrors of the battlefield but with life before and after the fighting." With close reference to at least two of poems explore this aspect of his poetry. Wilfred Owen's poems Disabled and Wild With All Regrets both deal with the aspect of life before and after the fighting. These aspects are presented differently with different themes, where Disabled highlights the physical impacts of war and what one misses out on such as due to them such as sex and love. Wild With All Regrets showcases the friendship and camaraderie between soldiers though the poem is about a soldier on his deathbed saying goodbye to a friend.
The men and women currently deployed to these areas frequently engage in combat, and regularly witness injuries, trauma, and death. Even if a person tries not to internalize the horrific events they experience, they will likely be changed by war. Soldiers are negatively affected by combat; many return from war with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, alcoholism, and suicidal thoughts. Some soldiers return from war with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. According to the article "What Is Combat PTSD?”, Diagnosing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can be hard because soldiers view reporting their symptoms as a sign of weakness (What, 1).
In The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, there are a lot of people that live difficult lives, with the constant burden of some past hardship. It is in living with these hardships that a story emerges, and the character becomes interesting. Jake perfectly models the quote "the world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong in the broken places," loosing his manhood, and being broken by the world, but then becoming the only one who can stand against Brett's seduction, and the only one who seems to be able to manage their life by the end of the book. Jake served in world war I. this was a common thing to do back then, because this was when war was just tipping off the edge of being civilized, and people were still patriotic and wanting to help serve. Jake was willing to serve his country, and paid for it dearly.
This is a solemn occasion to remember those brave people who valued their country’s welfare more than their own. Those people had families. Most of them had spouses and children. They also had aged parents that depended on them. But despite all these obligations, they felt that freedom of their nation was most important and they did not hesitate to lay their lives down for that cause.