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PTSD In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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The Things They Carried The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a novel written about the Vietnam war O’Brien throughout the story describes events that happened to him and his brothers during the war, also how the soldiers experiences affected them in many ways. When one thinks about war they come to a conclusion that it's about fighting for our country. Strict rules and boundaries being set and doing the best for our country. Although the moment you're getting fired at, your brothers dying and the possibility that you could die all runs through your head to a moment where you are no longer thinking you are just doing. O’Brien shows these feelings are the reason for PTSD as the soldiers get reminded constantly of what happened during …show more content…

O’Brien lists off traits, and things the man ke killed could have done with his life if he didn't kill him. He imagines how his life was and what his life would be if he never died. He doesn't like killing others and believes the war should not be going on, but he still gets forced into a situation where killing is necessary to save his life and others around him. This chapter goes along with the theme shame and guilt because he feels horrible for killing the man and does not forgive himself. “ He was not a communist, he was a citizen and a soldier” (O’Brien 119) Tim feels like the man, like himself, is fighting because he has too not because he wants to. He believes he is a regular person drafted into the war. Continued on to the chapter ‘Ambush” his daughter 20 years later asks if he has killed a man he says no in shame of what his daughter will …show more content…

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried a lot of reminders of his love for a girl who was in college named Martha, through pictures and what he thinks are love notes, not knowing she has no intention of being anything but friends. While on a mission to destroy enemy tunnel lines, Cross daydreams about martha and becomes distracted causing him to be distracted. On the way back from going to the bathroom Ted Lavender gets killed and still Cross can only think about if Martha really meant if she loved him. Later he burns Martha's pictures and notes, and reminds himself that he isn't meant to love he is meant to lead. “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this is something he would have to carry on for the rest of the war.” (O’Brien 16). This quote goes along with the theme shame and guilt because Cross felt so much guilt in letting his man die because he was not mentally there and he regrets and feels shame for thinking of martha more than his men, and that shame caused him to forget about the one things that was keeping him going during the war which was martha. The thought of her would make Cross feel in a daze and not have a care in the world, and that is was more than a daydream it was real life. Him realizing what he could of done caused

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The short story “The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien, is about the experience of a team of American soldiers in the Vietnam war (Julia Guance et al. 323). O’Brien fought in the war of Vietnam himself and used writing as a way to express the realities of war (322). His works are realistic, given his personal experience at war. Each soldier in the story “The Things They Carried” carry specific objects that reflect their personality and priorities. Jimmy Cross is a twenty-four-year-old, American First Lieutenant.

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He feels guilty because the men in his company are under his command and he was supposed to keep them safe, but he failed because he wasn’t paying attention. He kept daydreaming about Martha, who Lieutenant Cross had a crush on, when he should’ve been paying attention to the battle happening at the time. And as a result, he blames his obsession on Martha and himself for the death of Ted. To atone for the death of Ted, Lieutenant Cross decided to burn “Martha’s letters” (Tim O'Brien 22), pictures, and threw away a pebble that Martha had given him. He threw away all reminders of Martha to make sure that the memory of Martha would never distract him again so that his men won’t have to die like Ted

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Jimmy Cross carried letters and some photograph of a girl named Martha, he loved Martha so much. He kept the letters safe by putting them in his rucksack, and when he rewrite her letters he would imagine them together, “imagine romantic camping trips into the White Mountains” (O’Brien 3). He would imagine being with Martha and daydream and he would sometimes daydream about her and how he wants to tie her up in bed and touch her leg all day and how he wants to be the one who gets to make her no longer a virgin. Moreover when Ted Lavender got shot in the head, Cross felt responsible for his death because he was the lieutenant and all he has been doing is daydreaming about a girl that doesn’t love him back. After the death of Ted Lavender, Cross started to change his colors by letting go if Martha and focusing more on the war.

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In, The Things They Carried, O’Brien’s cause of PTSD is thought to be of disassociation. The reason behind this is because of when he got shot, he was taken to a different location to be treated, and he did not like that because he thought that instead of being there he needed to be at the war helping out his fellow people instead of getting treated for his gunshot wound. From a reader's perspective, he might seem to think that helping his fellow war mates seems more important than his health and safety. One quote from when he got shot is this. “You slip out of your own skin, like molting, shedding your own history and your own future, leaving behind everything you ever were or wanted or believed in.

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The main point is how he has to deal with death from a young age to the combat zones. In a way he blames himself for the deaths of his friends or failing to save them, but he failed to understand that it is not his fault. He just needs to find a way to understand since he is forty three years old and has to find closure, O’Brien at the conclusion of his book said “I'm skimming across the surface of my own history, moving fast, riding the melt beneath the blades, doing loops and spins, and when I take a high leap into the dark and come down thirty years later, I realize it is as Tim trying to save Timmy's life with a story.” (233) He realized through his writing that he was carrying things with him that needed to be explained to him or it was going to hurt him mentally and physically.

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Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a collection of essays, all centered on anecdotes of American soldiers during the Vietnam War. The seemingly straightforward recollections slowly reveal dense layers of personal and metaphorical meanings upon closer inspection, with the exploration of the characters’ emotions and the underlying motif of love creating the opportunity to trace how war changes a person in the realm of his emotions. The Vietnam warfare acts as a catalyst for all of the unsettling changes in the soldiers’ minds, raising the question whether the battlefield is actively responsible for this result or merely accelerating the inevitable manifestation of these personal issues, inherent in every person. In the collection of essays

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In The Things Things they carried by Tim O'brien, many soldiers are forced to deal with guilt for their entire lives. Many of these men were drafted into war and witnessed their fellow soldiers die for unnecessary reasons. As an example, Tim O’brien feels a great guilt for the man who he said he killed with a grenade and this is a major lifelong burden for him. This guilt is something that Tim is forced to carry for his life which relates back to the title, The Things They Carried. In Norman Bowker’s case, his guilt eventually lead him to hang himself not too long after the war.

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Throughout the text, Cross “could not stop thinking about [Martha]” (p. 116), unable to concentrate on the war or the men he is charged with leading. Consequently, Cross’ distraction and inadequate leadership result in Lavender’s death. Cross finds himself accountable because “he loved [Martha] more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her” (p.

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Emotional worry is a major weight the men carry while in war. Jimmy Cross, the leader of the men, carries a picture of Martha, a college student, whom Cross longs the love he feels for her to be returned back. By keeping the picture of her in his bag, he constantly thinks about her and this leads to a death on his part and the carry of guilt. Cross thinks about a date they went on and continually wishes he had done more to her. This creates a longing for Martha even

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Tim O’Brien states, “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” (O’Brien 16). In this quote, Tim O’Brien explains that since Jimmy Cross blames himself about Ted Lavender’s death, he will always be in lieutenant’s head. Thus, the lieutenant will always feel the guilt. With this, Tim O’Brien makes the reader think that Jimmy Cross is the person to blame since he is the head of the group and he has to pay more attention to his plans. Having questions about his love, Martha, in his mind instead of being careful about his men is the reason of him feeling guilty that “the lieutenant’s in some deep hurt” (17).

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Jimmy Cross is the first lieutenant who carries pictures and letters from Martha, the woman he loves who—sadly—does not love him back. The pictures and letters from Martha symbolize Jimmy’s longing to be loved and comforted. It is ironic that although he is the first lieutenant who is expected to take charge and lead others, yet he never took charge of his own love life. This is a regret and burden Cross carries to the end of the story. “It was very sad, he thought.

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Synthesis Essay In the Vietnam war, there were many soldiers at war with each other, and most soldiers were not prepared for the fight. In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien was in the Vietnam war when he was young. The book was not in order but he still talks about his experiences while in the war. His purpose for writing this novel was because he wanted younger audience to know what happened in the war and what the soldiers experienced.

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What causes a veteran to feel pain? What causes a veteran to become violent? What causes a veteran to develop a drug addiction to cope with their emotional stress? Veterans experience traumatic events during their service years and the result of their experiences are astonishing. Experiencing these events can be burned into their minds and create various forms of pain for the rest of their lives.

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“The things they carried” is a story that holds not even the slightest bit back and lays it out there for us. It tells the real straight forward story of Tim O’ Brien, And his alpha platoon mates. The psychological lens would be perfect for the chapter “Speaking of courage”, For the simple fact that this chapter is about O’Brien is trying to sort out everything that has happened in nam and what is happening till this day. By putting a psychological lens on the chapter “Speaking of Courage” is a good way to get into the head of Tim O’Brien and his platoon, to understand why he was driving around the lake, Norman, and how he was going to tell the story to the guy at Mamma’s Burgers, Norman and the silver star.

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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in The Things They Carried During the turbulent times of the Vietnam War, thousands of young men entered the warzone and came face-to-face with unimaginable scenes of death, destruction, and turmoil. While some perished in the dense Asian jungles, others returned to American soil and were forced to confront their lingering combat trauma. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried provides distinct instances of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and reveals the psychological trauma felt by soldiers in the Vietnam War. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD for short, is the most common mental illness affecting soldiers both on and off the battlefield.

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