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Emotinal Burdens In The Things They Carried

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“Only the dead have seen the end of war.”-Plato . As we read through the book we relize that soldiers have too much emotional truam due to the trumatic experiences they have gone through. These trumatic experience has caused soldiers to carry emotinal burdens when they come back home to society. In the novel “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien shares his experience as a soldier in the Vietnam war and shows how much the war causes someone to carry emotional burdens. The mini stories that are within the novel expresses what it is like to be a soldier in the Vitenam war and the personal experiences of the soliders. Throughout "The Things They Carried" by Tim O’Brien, soldiers often blame themselves for the things they have experienced while …show more content…

[Insert Body Paragraphs Here]- Because Jimmy Cross is the lieutenat and the leader of the group he feels responsible for the death of his soldiers. While the soldiers were looking for a spot to spend the night, LT Cross decided to stop in a sewage field which led to Kiowa’s death. When Cross was standing over Kiowa he had felt that is was his fault, “Jimmy Cross stood very still, afraid to move, yet knowing he had to, and then he murmured to himself, "My fault," and he nodded and waded out across the field toward the boy” (169). Since Jimmy Cross balmes himself for the death of not only one of his soldiers but also his friend, he feels as if he needs to take full responsibility for Kiowa's death. Despite Cross's fear, he knows that he must move on and take action for the other soldiers. When Jimmy nods he acknowledges that he was resopnisble for what happened. This shows that even when soldiers face tragedy and guilt, they are still there to lead their team and …show more content…

Due to this when they return home they take with them the emotional burdens they got from the war. As Jimmy Cross thinks he is responsible for the death of his firend and soldier Kiowa he thinks that he is not fit for his job anymore. But after he has processed through the greef of Kiowa he relizes that even when he faces tragedy he still needs to be there for his team. Emotional burden does not stop when you stop fighting in the war, it comes with you when you return home and that is what happened to Bowker. When he returned home he felt very alone and felt very numb because of what he went through, this caused him to end his life. This is a very real issue in the world today, soldiers tend to blame themsevles in order to cope with what they have experienced. Because of what they have gone through many soldiers come back with PTSD and feel alone because no one knows what exactly they have gone through resulting in them ending their

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For Veterans, war has impacted a majority of their life due to the traumatic events that they encounter, so they are left them with the last decision, which it could be drugs or suicide. In the book, The Things They Carried, Tim Obrien writes several short stories on the Vietnam War. A fictional book based on real events and how he describes the Vietnam War as the most significant event in his life because of the things he and his friends had to face. It studies the nature of young men in a time of war, and what made them do tough decisions in and after the war. The thing that is noticeable at first is how characters go into development, and how they listed the things the men had carried with the profound irony being that is not the physical thing they carried but the nonphysical thing they carried, the emotion, the experience and the guilt they encounter in Vietnam.

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He is conflicted with the emotional burden of loving Martha and his responsibility to his men. Cross is the Lieutenant of this platoon, meaning that he is their leader and ultimately responsible for the outcome of all their lives. Even though it is easy to see how these men need an escape to help them survive the daily task of fighting, the illusions of being somewhere else can result in additional weight being

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They each blamed each other and themselves for certain events, such as Kiowa’s death; all of which affected themselves as a person inside the war, and following the war. Within the book, Jimmy Cross explains his view and attitude towards the unexpected death: “There was nothing he could do now, but still it was a mistake and a hideous waste. He felt sick about it” (O’Brian 164). Cross’s feeling of guilt for Kiowa's death he feels was because of his lack of intuition and courage was the reason for his death. Not exclusively does Cross blame himself, but others also end up blaming Cross.

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He accepted the blame of Ted Lavender’s death because he was more focused on Martha than he was about his troops. Wesley states that while Jimmy Cross accepts the blame he thinks this will make it all better by accepting heroic responsibility. This relieved the stress upon Cross and made him feel as if he was even more of a leader and not a coward. When Ted Lavender died they treated it as if it was nothing but a daily routine.

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Any rational person would blame Jimmy Cross’s neglect for Lavender’s death, but the author explains how Jimmy’s emotions for Martha were some he could not control. O’Brien describes Cross’s behavior when he exclaims, “suddenly, without willing it, [Jimmy] was thinking about Martha.”(11). As a drafted soldier who longed of his life in America, Jimmy Cross simply could not stay focused in the war environment. Even more, given the circumstances, the war enervates Cross so much that he nearly loses his masculinity when he “[tries] not to cry”(16). However, having made clear that all these behaviors were one’s that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross could not control, Tim O’Brien argues that soldiers cannot always perform as society expects them to and can sometimes make mistakes in war that are

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The lasting effects of war are more than anyone could ever imagine. War is a traumatic experience for many soldiers and oftentimes they are unable to return to the way things were before. In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien uses sadness in people's eyes and life after war to convey the idea that it is nearly impossible to relate to the feelings during and after war if people did not experience it. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien emphasizes the effects that war has on different soldiers. It illustrates their separate but similar struggles.

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This shows his poor mental state after loss, which comes up in many soldiers, especially if death is caused by their own hands. Another way death is taken into their own hands is by taking their own life. Norman Bowker, a man obsessed with other opinions and drowning in despair after watching his comrade drown, can’t live with himself after believing that he caused another to die. Post coming home from the war, and after not being able to live with the guilt, Norman “hanged himself... his friends found him hanging from a water pipe…

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The main character, Lieutenant Cross struggles between his love and his responsibilities. Ted Lavender dies in the story and the soldiers are all shocked; it causes Lt. Cross to give up his love and become a man. In the story, Tim O’Brian uses a total omniscience point of view, which reveals Lieutenant Jimmy Cross as distracted, sentimental, and caring. This causes the reader to feel admiration for him leading the country, but also empathy because he is struggling physically and emotionally. Tim O’Brian conveys the theme that war weighs heavily on a soldier.

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Jimmy Cross feels ashamed of every death that is caused by the absence of quality leadership on his part. When Ted Lavender dies O’Brien writes that Cross, “ . . . felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war” (16).

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In The Things They Carried, the character of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a perfect example of how political considerations can interfere with military objectives. Cross is a young officer who is more concerned with winning the approval of his superiors and keeping his soldiers safe than he is with achieving his mission objectives. He spends much of his time daydreaming about a girl, Martha, who is back home and worrying about the safety of his men. Lieutenant Cross's story highlights the fact that political interference in military strategy can lead to a lack of focus and a failure to achieve objectives needed to achieve victory. In Vietnam, political considerations often took precedence over military objectives, leading to a disjointed and ineffective approach to the conflict, and making it seem like there was no end to the conflict.

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Lieutenant Cross is the best example of how responsibility is another emotional burden that the soldiers have to deal with. Cross is responsible for all the soldiers as stated above. Cross’s thoughts of Martha cause an unfortunate problem which is the death of Lavender and Cross must suffer and carry guilt with him because he allowed one of his men to die because he was thinking of Martha at the time. This makes Cross realize that he cares more about this faraway girl than he does his own men which is another example of the guilt that Cross has to carry with him. Since Cross let Lavender die on his watch and he felt responsible for his death Cross burns all the pictures and letters that Martha sent him.

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