The physical and emotional toll of war, of blood, of killing, of fallen soldiers, are too difficult to put into words. Tim O’Brien’s, The Thing They Carried, effectively exemplifies these tolls and the devastating consequences of them. The collection of short stories show that we must appear composed in war, in times of emotional distress, and through these unexpressed emotions, a story emerges. The lines between “happening-truth” and “story-truth” become blurred as the soldier incorporates both the seen and the unseen parts of experience. The emotion a soldier experiences cannot be understood by anyone except those in war.
Although there is hope to heal and move on, how do we put an ending on the loss of someone we loved so much? The idea of closure may exist in practical matters, such as with business deals and transactions, but I do not believe it applies to the human heart going through the loss of a loved one. The columnist Jim Coyle sees the idea of closure as an insult to those who are grieving because the media continuously uses the cliché term during the most traumatic experiences hoping the affected families will achieve that sense of finality. Coyle believes that all broadcast journalists abusing this language are merely thoughtless and ignorant, in the sense that they are simply lacking knowledge. Just because a guilty man has turned himself in for a murder does not mean that the family will achieve closure in knowing they have found and charged the man responsible for their loss.
A true war story is hard imposed challenge by the one who tells it, the reason for this is because many factors come into action that could affect the stories credibility. In the book “The Things They Carried” the author, Tim O’Brien, writes in ones of the chapters how a true war story should be done and all the things that could affect how it goes. In example how emotions could get in the way of changing the path that a story takes. Imagination, invention, wartime conditions, and emotions affect a war story and in could turn one from true to a made up one. When someone is in war or comeback from war some of their stories about it are probably going to be exaggerated or partially made up.
His love for her was also a huge distraction from what truly was important. Lieutenant Cross shows shame and fear. His love for Martha distracted him so much that Ted Lavender, a soldier in his platoon, died under his watch. O’Brien states, “He felt shame. He hated himself.
Tim O'Brien writes how throughout the war, "They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide" (O'Brien, 21). Having to return to normal society after experiencing the hideous faces of war was not an easy task. For many veterans it proved to be more than they could handle.
There are many factors that lead to conformity or non-conformity and Aldus Huxley shows this trough his dystopian novel Brave New World. Because he is different, Bernard is the source of considerable speculation and suspicion. He does not enjoy sports; he likes to be alone; he is unhappy. Bernard doesn't know why he is dissatisfied, why he is different; many of his associates speculate that alcohol was accidentally put in his blood-surrogate while he was still "in the bottle." When we first meet Bernard we see him as a rebel, a protestor, "an individual."
Also, all of the men in the story, O’Brien included have to deal with the psychological strain of the war and their own burdens. Some men carry the guilt of killing others, feeling that they didn’t protect their men, their brothers, the other soldiers they were surrounded by while being in this tragic war. Later in life O’Brien has a daughter who not only reads his war stories but could possibly be his toughest critic. Tim symbolizes a hero not only because he opens up to his daughter to show her how he used to live his life but because he doesn’t shield her from the raw truth that was the Vietnamese war. Even though his daughter didn’t agree with what her father had possibly done, O’Brien still wanted her to apprehend the feeling, the overpowering emotion the war brings over
Hosseini's perspective of abandoning his country and his people has given him his own view of atonement. Tim O'Brien was a soldier in the Vietnam war, it showed him how cruel this world really is. His novel, The Things They Carried shows the struggles soldiers went through on a day-to-day basis. He also expresses the importance of loyalty in war. It has given him a different perspective of life whereas a family living at home will take things for granted.
Many suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and countless other physical ailments that went unnoticed by the general public. Some people might believe that the Vietnam War was wrong in its entirety. As a result, those people might think that the Veterans are getting what they deserve for being over there. They believe that the soldiers deserved to be scorned when they got back, and not treated as heroes. In an article entitled The Vietnam Syndrome, John Kerry stated that, at the time, soldiers did not know the atrocities they committed in Vietnam were war crimes.
“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few” Winston Churchill. Churchill attempts to explain the rigors of war, and how the majority of citizens owe everything they have to the few that fight to protect them. Likewise, Tim O’Brien tries to explain to his readers just what war is like, including all the gruesome details, vulgarity, and obscenity. In “How to Tell a True War Story,” O’Brien tells the reader there are certain rules that must be followed in order to tell a true war story. Without using O’Brien’s methodology, one cannot tell a true war story.