Men And War In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Men & War

The way soldiers respond to the dread, uncertainty, and mortality surrounding war may vary; it might be shockingly compassionate, irreverently humorous, or horrifyingly cruel. By examining their responses to specific situations they are faced with, we gain the ability to draw conclusions about both the men themselves as well as war. In the novel The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, we are told many war stories about the soldiers from Tim’s troop during the Vietnam War. The detailed description of a soldier’s perspective of the world, stories of death and sorrow, and how certain soldiers respond to terrible circumstances are all featured in the award-winning novel. Although, the anecdote about Rat’s abuse of the baby water

While explaining this, he tells the story of Curt Lemon’s death in addition to how Curt’s best friend, Rat Kiley, responded to his death. His troop had found a baby water buffalo prior to making camp, and Rat expressed his anger by brutally battering it and shooting it numerous times. Rat was so overwhelmed with emotion that he hurt an innocent animal to help process his anger. “Rat Kiley was crying. He tried to say something, but then he cradled his rifle and went off by himself”(p. 76) as stated in The Things They Carried, which shows that Rat did not intentionally want to be cruel. His response to this tragic accident was to take out his anger on the first commodity nearby, so he could then feel the sorrow of losing his friend. Rat was unable to feel the intensity of his emotions immediately because they were at war and the group had to ensure they were no longer in imminent danger. This caused a build-up in emotion that was then released on the water buffalo, reiterating the idea that because war is unsafe and stressful, it causes feelings to be more

This story describes in vivid detail the body of an opposing soldier that Tim killed. We are also able to see the story Tim created for the man in his head as he gazes upon the body. He was frozen for hours in one spot, unmoving because he struggled to come to terms with the fact he killed a man. This story shows an amplified sense of emotion when it comes to dealing with emotions in war. Tim felt so sympathetic for the man that he stayed, filled with guilt, even when men in his troop tried to get him to leave. The contrasting reactions of Tim and how others felt indicate that all soldiers have different, extensive, reactions to emotions during war because of the stress. Another example of empathetic soldiers is seen in Larry Gwin’s memoir “An American in Vietnam: ‘Those were the first men I ever killed and I remember each of them very distinctly’”. His job was to attack a settlement complex, but afterward, when they entered, Gwin and his troop discovered they had decimated a civilian village. “It broke my heart and it broke the hearts of the guys I served with. I know after we left that village, none of us could talk and none of us could look back.”(Gwin, 1999). Being unable to mention or think back on this horrific event illustrates that they were extremely remorseful about what happened. Gwin even mentioned how that event was his “turning point” in realizing how