Trauma And Loss In The Things They Carried

The end of physical combat is commonly assumed to be the end of all conflict in war. In reality, the end of war is when the true battle of trauma and loss begins. Unlike physical war, the battle of trauma and loss is most often fought at the individual level, with battle strategies and coping mechanisms varying from person to person. In the end, the true victors are those able to most effectively fight against destructive emotions. Throughout the novel, The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (O’Brien) portrays the emotional struggle of various characters post-deployment and details their battle with trauma throughout the novel. One of the major methods O’Brien uses to illustrate the main character, Tim, struggling with trauma and loss, is the

While both Tim and Norman undergo similar traumatic experiences during the Vietnam War, the author depicts Norman as unable to process his emotions, as opposed to Tim who somehow manages to cope. The author brings attention to this through his description of the letter that Norman writes to Tim “...its [the letter’s] tone jumping from self-pity to anger to irony to guilt to a kind of feigned indifference. He didn’t know what to feel,” (O’Brien 150). Evident through the careful choice of words, it is clear that O’Brien deliberately utilizes a shifting tone to depict Norman's emotional turmoil. This consequently develops an antithesis that serves to contrast Tim’s emotions, “For years I’d [Tim] felt a certain smugness about how easily I [Tim] had made the shift from war to peace,” (O’Brien 151). By juxtaposing Tim and Norman’s ability to manage emotions, O’Brien casts Tim in a new light. Up to this point in the novel, O’Brien has depicted Tim as emotionally burdened. By providing Norman as a comparison point of emotional stability, O’Brien allows readers to put Tim’s mental status into perspective. In other words, the description of Norman's unstable status allows readers to infer that Tim is one of the more stable characters in the

Partly catharsis, partly communication, (O’Brien 151). By employing a simile, O’Brien compares storytelling to the unavoidable process of clearing one's throat. This depicts Tim’s manner of coping with trauma as much more simple and natural as compared to Normans, yet again indicating to the reader that while Tim may have some insecurity, his mental state is much more stable as compared to other