Coping Strategies In The Things They Carried, By Tim O Brien

Coping strategies are crucial to the success of the Vietnam War troops. In The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien conveys the experiences of War World Two soldiers, and the way soldiers cope through shifts of tone, setting, and character development. The Things They Carried, is multiple short stories put into one book that follows a group of soldiers told from the perspective of the narrator, who is also a character in the book during the time of War World One. The book is structured to reveal what the soldiers carry not just physically but also mentally. In this context, coping refers to the soldiers' efforts to control the stress of battle and keep their sanity in the face of ongoing danger and anxiety and the aftermath of healing

O'Brien examines the various ways that soldiers cope with the trauma of war, from medication and suicide to storytelling and denial, through the experiences of his characters. O'Brien underlines the value of individual choice and the need to respect each person's path in coming to grips with trauma by illustrating the nuanced and frequently contradictory ways in which his characters deal with their experiences. Ted Lavender, one of the first soldiers introduced to the reader, copes with the stress of war through the use of drugs. Lavender “went to heavy on tranquilizers” (O'Brien 31) to help him deal with the fear and uncertainty of combat. He is described as being "scared" and "nervous" throughout the book, and his drug use is a way for him to escape the reality of the war (O'Brien 31). Lavender is used as a symbol for the fears and anxieties that the Vietnam soldiers went through and the sacrifices that they made for their sanity. Unfortunately, Lavender's coping strategy which is revealed to become an addiction ultimately fails him because he is shot to death. His passing serves as a warning that coping techniques will not be able to keep you from the thing you are trying to avoid. Norman Bowker battles with the trauma of his Vietnam War experiences. When Bowker returns home, the memories of his friend Kiowa's passing plague him, making him feel cut off from everyday life. Bowker makes an effort to find a way to go on, he attempts to distract himself through driving but “just drives around town all day and can't think of any damn place to go” (O’Brien 151). He also attempts to talk to others, he “wants to talk to about it, but he can't” (O’Brien 151). In the end, after attempting to find ways to escape he still feels imprisoned and unable to free himself from the burden of his memories storytelling helps “to stay conscious” but sadly he was unable to