Vietnam War In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

All characters cope with different situations in their own ways. In Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried, his character cope with the effects of the Vietnam War differently. O’Brien’s character Mary Anne and Norman Bowker deal with the war the only ways they know how to. Various characters in O’Brien’s novel deal with the war and its repercussions that occur. During their time at war, soldiers crack jokes and say things to cope with their surroundings. They do so to try and make light of horrible situations they encounter during the war. When Mary Anne first joins the men in Vietnam, she had a clear complexion, smooth skin, and nice clothes. Before joining the men, she is a girl who cares about looks and what she looks like and what is said about her. Once she reaches Vietnam, she wants to explore and see exactly what war is all about. She becomes overly invested in the war that she does not care about what she used to before being involved in the war. Mark Fossie, Mary Anne’s boyfriend, immediately

The burden was overly heavy that Bowker ends up committing suicide years after the war because of it. Once he returned home from Vietnam, he tried to continue with live his life day-by-day. He lives his life day-by-day because he does not feel like he has anything else to live for after the war. The day Bowker committed suicide he was playing a game of basketball at a local YMCA complex. When he was found in the locker room, there was no note there “to burden anybody” as though he did not want to bother anybody with his death (O’Brien 154). Bowker was already apart of a burden that he did not want to be part of a larger one by leaving a suicide note. His biggest burden was Vietnam. He thought so often about the Vietnam days it was like he was still there and never going to leave. He was constantly living his life in circles because of