Roles Of Women In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Think of our society today and the role that women play in it. Women impact people’s lives every single day. In Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried, there were a couple of women who were brought up in the book, and it showed the enormous effect that the women’s presence had on the men during the war. Mary Anne and Linda were two girls who played huge roles, yet were not even the main characters. Their roles consisted mainly of altering the soldier's personalities and perspectives of life during this time. The women brought about the idea of love, humanity, and strength. All of these ideas were put into major effect in the book in many ways. First, Mary Anne was an extraordinary woman who came originally to visit her boyfriend,

Linda was the character, Tim O’Brien’s, first love at nine years of age. Linda was as innocent, yet mature as a nine year old could be. She was always smiling and did not have any anger or hate towards anyone. Tim O’Brien fell in love with Linda. O’Brien explains, “Even then, at nine years old, I wanted to live inside her body. I wanted to melt into her bones- that kind of love” (228). He was crazy for her, but then her tragic death from cancer changed his perspective on everything. Throughout the entire book, you see O’Brien always having humanity and emotion in every situation. The other soldiers would laugh at death and not tend to care too much about it, whereas O’Brien would have sorrow when somebody, even the enemy, would die. Linda’s death taught O’Brien a lot about having humanity in real life situations. He grew a sort of maturity and love inside him with Linda and the reader can see that in O’Brien’s personality throughout the

In “Prometheus Burned” by Susan O’Neill, the main character is a female nurse who is trying to convince a wounded soldier to try and find the will to live. She brings out a personal side of him that he probably would not have shown to another soldier. As the man was taking his last breaths, instead of trying to convince him to live, the Lieutenant nurse lets him die in peace and comfort. In O’Neill’s story, this part the Lieutenant meets the patient on a personal level and sings to him as he loses his will to hang on, ‘“Twas grace that taught my soul to fear…” His face wavered; she lifted her glasses and brushed her eyes with her fingertips, and it resolved, the eye blinking then falling closed again, lips forming a word, losing it” (O’Neill 156). This scene truly shows how the presence of a woman can open up a new side to a man who is close to dying. This soldier most likely would not be this open to another soldier and ask his friend to sing for him. The nurse brought a new comfort and warmth to the soldier and he knew that he could be his true self around her. There were many women who worked in the nursing field, but not given credit for what they did. According to M.Carlson from The Vietnam Conflict article, “Women were treated as second class soldiers, both in the military and after coming home. I say this because, although women could find excitement and a career in the military, the woman soldier