The Things They Carried Essay

Ty Martinez

The Things They Carried Essay

Dr. Ball

4/19/23

The Vietnam War was a complex and controversial conflict that lasted for over a decade and had significant impacts on both the United States and Vietnam. The United States involvement was seen as needed by some and hated by others. Soldiers struggled with the imprinted images of war that they could not escape even after returning home. The book The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, is a powerful work of fiction that provides insight into the experiences of soldiers who fought in the war. Through the stories in the book, we can learn several historical lessons about the war and its consequences it has on the soldiers fighting it mentally and physically.

To begin with, the first

The Things They Carried vividly portrays the physical and emotional toll of war on the soldiers. In the story "Night Life," the soldiers experience the horrors of war, including the death of a comrade and the destruction of a village. The story emphasizes the psychological trauma that soldiers experience during and after the war. During the story we learn of the platoon's medic, Rat Kiley, and how his personality and mentality changes as his platoon works what's called the “night life”. Which is when you sleep, or try to sleep, during the day and patrol at night. The story goes on to explain, “ around midnight things always got wild. All around you, everywhere, the whole dark country- side came alive” ( O’Brien). The story furthermore explains how night time had its own voice, and you could hear everything, but you can’t see the guy in front of you because the night was the blackest black in the world. The story explains the toll this took on Rat, and how he drove himself to such a state that he would do anything he had to, to get out. His answer was to dope himself up and shoot himself in the foot to be medically released from duty. More than 58,000 Americans and over 3 million Vietnamese died in the war. Many soldiers returned home with physical and psychological injuries that changed their lives forever. The war also had a devastating impact on the Vietnamese

In The Things They Carried, the character of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a perfect example of how political considerations can interfere with military objectives. Cross is a young officer who is more concerned with winning the approval of his superiors and keeping his soldiers safe than he is with achieving his mission objectives. He spends much of his time daydreaming about a girl, Martha, who is back home and worrying about the safety of his men. Lieutenant Cross's story highlights the fact that political interference in military strategy can lead to a lack of focus and a failure to achieve objectives needed to achieve victory. In Vietnam, political considerations often took precedence over military objectives, leading to a disjointed and ineffective approach to the conflict, and making it seem like there was no end to the conflict. The United States was fighting a war that it did not fully understand or have the support of; and it was unable to commit the resources necessary to achieve victory. As a result, the war dragged on for years, costing thousands of dollars and American.The war was an effort in order to contain the spread of communism, but political considerations often took precedence over military objectives, and the war back home against anti-war movements made doing the right thing even