" The Battle Within "

As the soldiers take a good look at the people they love;the beautiful sun setting in the background ;and the life that they’re leaving behind. They begin walking down a path of no return. While on this path, the soldiers face constant battle against their morals and the burden that each of the men must carry on a daily basis ;this creates a huge dilemma that the men must face head on in order to survive. Fear, anger ,shame , courage: these are the emotions that resonate within the very being of the soldiers during the course of the story. Some are able to overcome these hurdles, while others allow the obstacles to eat away at them until it consumed them. To demonstrate this truth, Norman Bowker is unable to overcome his need to be useful to those around him which led to his untimely demise.This could have been avoided if he would of looked in different places to see what he excels in, rather than doing so he took his own life .The author uses the choices that each of the soldiers make to show that the fear of shame can be used as a motivational factor, that allows them to act courageously in critical situations.
In addition to overcoming each of their personal dilemmas and fears they also had to try and not allow the war to change who they were as a person. Even though Tim narrates the story he was unable to do this very feat himself. He admits that the months of enduring the harsh conditions of the Vietnamese jungle changed him by making him mean and empty on the inside. This is a common problem that every soldier had to face during the war.This is due to the fact that the soldiers had to swallow their morals on a daily basis ,just to survive the cruel reality of war. Without doing so they would fall vi...

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...nts take place. As a child he sat back and watched the girl he loved get picked on in school, he also watched his best friend Kiowa sink underneath the waste fields in Vietnam without being able to save him; even though in most of these outcomes wouldn’t have changed even if he would’ve took action. The fact that he didn’t take action is what really ate away at him. The voice in the back of his head telling what if I stepped in when they needed me, I could’ve changed the outcome right? Instead of forgetting about them and allowing them to die in his heart he kept them alive through his imagination and the good times they shared. This is why O’Brien decided to end The Things They Carried in the manner in which he did; to show that even if your love ones dies as long as you keep them alive in your heart they will be together with you forever.