Stress Disorder In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

Post Tim-atic Stress Disorder The book The Things They Carried is based on the emotional turmoil of its characters. Tim O’Brien outlines the different men he served with and the emotional baggage they all carry. However, he often only touches on his own emotions. There are several instances in which he sheds light on part of himself, and when those are all strung together, it is revealed that Tim O’Brien has post traumatic stress disorder. The Black Hole of Trauma outlines the symptoms of an individual with PTSD quite well, and it can be used to show how Tim is affected by it. It states that “the past interferes with the ability to pay attention to both new and familiar situations”. This applies to O’Brien in the fact that he does not accept new things, he is fixated on the war. Tim constantly thinks about the war, and his life is centered around writing books about it. In fact, writing the books may be Tim’s own attempt to cope. The Black Hole of Trauma states that survivors may be able to overcome their trauma for a short period of time, however they almost always will revert back to reliving

It is unclear whether or not he actually took the young man’s life, because in two separate chapters he discusses contradicting points of view. “The Man I Killed” outlines how Tim felt and describes how he remembers seeing the man and the next chapter outlines how he felt when his fight or flight senses kick in, “I had already pulled the pin on a grenade. I had come up to a crouch. It was entirely automatic.” Later he goes on to say that sometimes he forgives himself and sometimes he does not and it becomes hazy as to who actually threw the grenade. Tim says that he was guilty of killing the man just by being there, but since he cannot remember if he actually threw the bomb, he cannot move on from this moment. The instant that he threw the grenade, he would throw himself into a spiral of