Fear In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

What is fear? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines fear, “To be afraid of someone or something (Fear).” Fear, is a very small yet oh so powerful word. This definition fits the word very well. We all have fears, weather it is clowns, spiders or heights. We all can relate to what fear really is. But perhaps no one can relate to fear better than those fighting for our freedom in war.

There may be no better example about war and fear than Tim O'Brien's “The Things They Carried”. O’Brien takes a fictional, but very realistic, group of men fighting in Vietnam and tells their story. We learn a little bit about each character in the process. All though O’Brien never mentions that any of the men had fear, the conclusion can be assumed based on what the story says. “As PFCs or Spec 4s, most of them were common grunts and carried the standard M-16 gas operated assault rifle. The weapon weighed 8.2 pounds with its full twenty-round magazine.” (O’Brien 1251). The M-16 was the gun of choice for the men in Vietnam and the weapon of choice in The Things They Carried. According to The Armed Force Military Museum, the M-16 has the capability to shoot 12-16 rounds a minute with some able to shoot 45-60 rounds a minute, with a range of close to half a mile (Correa). Clearly the M-16 is not a recreational type gun

Dave Jensen carried a rabbit’s foot (O'Brien 1254).” For what exact reason we cannot say. But as with any good luck charm we have to assume that the point behind having one is to have luck. Luck maybe being one step ahead of the enemy like stated above, a bullet missing you that shouldn’t have or making a shot that was a longshot at best. Again it is hard to say but more than likely if you took one of these objects away from either of these men they would feel at some sort of a disadvantage. Obviously these thought that some element of luck was needed to come away from war victorious or as far as