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The Voices Behind The Vietnam War By Tim O Brien

1611 Words7 Pages

The Voices Behind The Vietnam War The Vietnam War was previously one of the longest wars in history, causing chaos, terror, and tragedy to everyone. The war officially started in 1955 and ended long after in 1975. The war took place in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos and was fought between the communist forces of North Vietnam and the South Vietnam government. The U.S. gave its support to South Vietnam as it supported the anti-communist side of the war. This war marked a turning in not only American history but the history of the whole world. People got drafted into the war without choice and had to serve a country that didn’t even align with their beliefs. At the end of the war, it left a divide in the world's society, with no clear winner …show more content…

The personal soldier stories appealed emotionally to people the best. “I was shot twice…For a long time I lay there all alone, listening to the battle,”(O’Brien 180). "I" repeatedly highlights the troops' sense of isolation and their unique experiences during the battle. "All alone" reflects the soldier's vulnerability and helplessness. While the expression "listening to the battle" emphasizes how persistent and unrelenting combat is. O'Brien uses emotional appeal to paint a vivid picture of the horrors of war. The Secretary of State at the time, John Foster Dulles states, “These risks are far less than those that will face us a few years from now if we dare not be resolute today,” (Dulles Speech). Dulles appeals to the readers by expressing his larger concern for the near future and shows ways we can stop the problem at the root. Dulles utilizes emotional and logical appeal to cater to the concerns of the individuals. O’Brien utilizes intimate, personal stories about the tragedies of the Vietnam War, while Dulles utilizes logic to portray his ideas about the war. Through telling personal stories about the war, O’Brien conveys ideas about how unnecessary the violence in the war was. This signifies the differences between individuals that experienced the war differently. Although Dulles perceived the right concept, he would never know what it felt like to endure the pain and suffering of the Vietnam War. Neil Young created the song “Ohio” while utilizing famous artists of the time to get his message more widespread. Young talks about the personal aspects of the war, “Soldiers are gunning us down Should have been done long ago. What if you knew her and Found her dead on the ground,” (“Ohio”). Neil Young, the artist of the song “Ohio” portrays a more brutal and personal view of the war. This is similar to the views that O’Brien portrays. In both of

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The grueling Vietnam War, disrupting the lives of soldiers and their families, un-packs its complexities through the journey of the soldiers. After the death of Curt Lemon, a fellow soldier, O’Brien exclaims, “War is hell, but that’s not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love” (80). O’Brien’s metaphor conveys his perception of the Vietnam War while setting a strong precedent of what the war really was like. Furthermore, it is evident that the complexities of war are hard to navigate as soldiers, tearing away at their mental health, revealing soldier’s experiences at war that corrode their overall well-being. Furthermore, this toll on overall-well being can be self-inflicted when soldiers assign blame to themselves as guilt culminates into lifelong burdens.

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Tim O’Brien is a novelist and a retired soldier from the Vietnam War. He wrote a semi-autobiographical novel titled, The Things They Carried, in a format that seemed as if we were in the novel itself. As readers continue with this novel one can envision and have the impression of deaths and all the effects war has on a soldier from the war. O’Brien explores the effect of war on an individual through fictionalized stories he tells in this novel in order to show how humans can change through drastic events that happen to them due to the war. Being in a war affects the way we think and the people we love.

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Although the soldier he killed was an enemy soldier, instead of vilifying him he was able to humanize the man. O’Brien was able to describe the physical appearance of the soldier and imagine her life before war. The author was able to portray an emotional connection and made the line between friend and enemy almost vanish. This was able to reveal the natural beauty of shared humanity even in the context of war’s horror. O’Brien is able to find the beauty in the midst of this tragic and horrible event.

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In addition, Tim O’Brien conveys how society’s view on cowardice leads to the feeling of guilt in soldiers in the Vietnam War. In “On The Rainy River”, O’Brien claims that he opposes the Vietnam War, and he sees no reason for the war. However, against his own will, he is drafted and is required to go to war. O’Brien reacts negatively to this saying, “All I wanted was to live the life I was born to... now I was off on the margins of exile, leaving my country forever, and it seemed so impossible and terrible and sad,” (50 and 51).

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Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.

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Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are". (O'Brien 38) O’Brien uses his stories to reach his audience. There are generations of people who have no clue what war is really like, whether it is because of our misconceptions based on what media portrays or the fact that there are people who have not served in the military. Some people might know about Vietnam and know the outcome of the war, but they don’t have the experience and real life understanding of how that story ended. They might not be able to fully understand the feelings of a soldier.

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One out of ten people in Vietnam was a casualty which leads to the 58,000 dead and rising in Vietnam. The 21 first century was defined by this war, which resulted into the carelessness in our defense of our country. We were pulling out of countries and some of them were retaliating and painted a target on the U.S.”s back. Our generation would not be the same without this defining war of a new age. It was a long, grueling war that lasted a decade with over 3 million casualties and 58,00 being U.S. troops which was seen as

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O’Brien The novel/autobiography, If I Die in a Combat Zone (1973), recounts author Tim O’Brien’s experiences with life, love, and personal dissention during possibly one of the most horrific military conflicts in history: the Vietnam War. In If I Die in a Combat Zone, Tim O’Brien gives a terrifying first-person perspective of his disdain and opposition toward the Vietnam War through his recollection of his internal struggle of living life in mid war Vietnam, the violence and loss of humanity that soldiers, and the life-altering, irreversible damage that the author/narrator endured during the Vietnam War. Throughout his involvement/participation in the Vietnam war, O’Brien was having a hard time coping with the way he felt about why the war was even happening to

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The soldiers in the Vietnam War are portrayed as losing themselves in the chaos and trauma of combat. Through the stories of the soldiers and their experiences, O’Brien explores the ways in which war strips away one's sense of identity and humanity. The author himself is depicted as losing himself in the war. O'Brien served in the Vietnam War, and his experiences inspired much of the book. Through the character of Tim O'Brien, the author explores the ways in which war can strip away one's sense of self and purpose.

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There is almost a feel like you were present at that time, in the war, watching O’Brien lay there. In a New York Times Article, “In Vietnam, Turning a Camera on the War”, James Hill wrote up about a foreign photographer named, Horst Faas, in Vietnam. Fass was front row in the violence. Capturing moments that you could say O’Brien is trying to portray in his writing. Interviews of veterans can bring the war to life as well, in a video “Vietnam War 12of12 Combat Veteran Interviews”, a man describes his experiences in the war.

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Even after all these years, O’Brien is still unable to get the images of Vietnam out of him head, specifically of the man he killed. In the novel, he repeats the description of the man numerous times, almost to the point of excess, saying,“he was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man of about twenty. He lay with one leg bent beneath him, his jaw in his throat, his face neither expressive nor inexpressive. One eye was shut. The other was a star-shaped hole” (124).

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This quote stated by O’Brien shares how himself and other soldiers felt about the war, and how they felt like their fight and war tactact was overall useless for the United States. O’Brien also mentions that he feels frustrated that the government would let thousands of Americans' lives to end just for a war that had no benefit or meaning for the country. O’Brien is a great representative for American soldiers who served in the Vietnam War because of the emotion and frustration he felt about the war and the war’s

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I hated dirt and tents and mosquitoes. The sight of blood made me queasy, and I couldn't tolerate authority, and I didn't know a rifle from a slingshot. I was a liberal, for Christ sake”. Through these doubts, acts of bravery and courage from those who have served their country would not matter to O'Brien. O'Brien's view on the Vietnam war was having those who “support a war” should be the ones who put their “own precious fluids on the line.”

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The Vietnam War is widely considered one of the most traumatizing wars ever and had at least 58,220 recorded deaths. In his 1990 war novel, author Tim O’Brien asserts that easing the pain of trauma is extremely difficult to manage. However, through memories, storytelling, and limiting the weight of emotional agony, alleviating these struggles becomes less difficult. Simply recalling the memories of people who have died and made an impact on one’s life can relieve traumatizing experiences. Tim O’Brien recalls his first encounter concerning death which involved his first love, Linda, and while pondering this, he explains that “as a writer now, I want to save Linda’s life.

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He fought a war in Vietnam that he knew nothing about, all he knew was that, “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (38). He realized that he put his life on the line for a war that is surrounded in controversy and questions. Through reading The Things They Carried, it was easy to feel connected to the characters; to feel their sorrow, confusion, and pain. O’Briens ability to make his readers feel as though they are actually there in the war zones with him is a unique ability that not every author possess.

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