Irony In The Things They Carried, By Tim O Brien

In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien describes how soldiers physically and emotionally adapted to Vietnam. In the chapters “The Dentist” and “Stockings,” he uses irony to accentuate these adaptations, in order to illustrate that for those who fought in the war coping was as essential as surviving.
In “The Dentist,” Curt Lemon’s desire to be perceived as strong highlights his burrowed uncertainty of his courage. After Curt Lemon, a man who saw himself as a “tough soldier,” was too afraid to get his teeth pulled, O’Brien states “Anyone else would’ve laughed it off, but for Curt Lemon it was too much…Late that night he crept down to the dental tent.” Although, “the dentist couldn’t find any problem” he “kept insisting” so the dentist “yanked out a perfectly good tooth”(88). Tim O’Brien uses the irony of Lemon’s embarrassment to reveal his true self behind his tough facade. His subsequent attempt to reclaim his courage reveals that he needs to reestablish his immunity from fear. This illustrates

Throughout the war Dobbins views his girlfriend's stockings as “body armor” making him invulnerable. “But then, near the end of October, his girlfriend dumped him. It was a hard blow. Dobbins went quiet for a while, staring down at her letter, then after a time he took out the stockings and tied them around his neck as a comforter. ‘No sweat,’ he said. ‘The magic doesn’t go away.’”(118). Much like the other soldiers’ abuse of drugs or devotion to god, Henry Dobbins turns to magic and superstition with his stockings to escape the reality of combat. The importance of this barrier is emphasized when he continues to use them as a barrier between him and the reality of war even after his girlfriend leaves him. Henry Dobbins allows these socks to extend past a connection to home because it is necessary for soldiers to escape the reality of