Summary Of Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

According to the article, Mental Health Effects of Serving Afghanistan and Iraq published by the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs, “PTSD symptoms are more likely to show up in returning OEF/OIF service members after a delay of several months. Using a brief PTSD screen, service members were assessed at their return and then again six months later. Service members were more likely to have a positive screen - that is, they showed more PTSD symptoms - at the later time,” (U.S Department of Veterans Affairs). This Article presents the topic towards soldiers who suffer from PTSD serving war. Correspondingly, A novel written by Tim O’brien, The Things They Carried, takes place in the War of Vietnam. O’brien develops a character from his platoon

In every part of the novel, the author cuts through mask of romanticized war to show these men as brave, flawed, afraid and above all, human. Tim O’brien uses the characters and plotline of his novel, The Things They Carried, to argue war is damaging and a ghastly experience for soldiers both mentally and physically; further research about the mental health effects of serving war supports this belief by arguing that war puts stress on many soldiers which related symptoms can increase their chances of having PTSD. On the author’s point of view, he claims that war is damaging to those who see others hurt or killed. On the first chapter of The Things They Carried, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross describes all the men of the company had carried of their preparations of dead men and their mental state of mind. Moreover, “They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror love longing… They carried the soldier's greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing,” (O’brien 20). With this in mind, O’brien creates a plot in the beginning of what these men in war had to experience and mentally prepare for to see others hurt

In the Article, You Don’t Ever Get Over It, published by Simon Hattenstone tells an insight of a man who shares his symptoms after war when, “At times he would be afraid to sleep because of the nightmares [he] was having. An example of tensing up when [he] saw hazard warning lights on a vehicle. [He] explained that in Iraq, vehicles loaded with explosive devices only had their hazard warning lights on,” (Simon Hattenstone). A british soldier named Robert Kilgour shares his after-war experience that let his health symptoms change his mental state of mind. With this in mind manifests Tim O'brien's view of how war can affect a soldier's emotional state of mind. Additionally, mental health effects of serving war not only affect an emotional state of mind, but further research says it can increase a soldier's chance of developing PTSD. In the NCBI database, A Meta-Analysis of Risk Factors for Combat-Related PTSD among Military Personnel and Veterans, published by LuLu Zhang identifies the risk factors make soldiers more likely to experience PTSD. Equally, “Various aspects of the trauma period also constituted risk factors. These include increased combat exposure, discharging a weapon, witnessing someone being wounded or killed, severe