Brutality In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

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Lasting from 1955 until 1975, the Vietnam War was a territorial conflict fought primarily in Vietnam between the U.S. and Northern Vietnamese forces, involving hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers and countless deaths. This conflict is the setting of The Things They Carried, a collection of short stories in which author Tim O’Brien speaks to the significance of this during his deployment in the Vietnam War, telling of the brutality that swarms his existence for multiple years, in which he experiences both true comradery as well as great loss. However, one of the most notable aspects of his time in combat is his witnessing of endless bloodshed while simultaneously coping with uncertainty in his own mortality. When a person’s psychological …show more content…

In spite of this, desperate measures are taken to ensure any reasonable possibility of psychological survival. The reasoning behind these measures, as well as their effects, are what make war especially horrifying. In The Things They Carried, the soldiers of the Alpha Company, O’Brien’s platoon, faced with the brutality of war, utilize humor and unwarranted cruelty, among other emotions, as valuable coping mechanisms; however, these coping mechanisms are a temporary solution that, at the same time, fail to legitimately confront the root of the soldiers’ trauma. Under the psychological as well as physical stress exacerbated in war, the men of the Alpha Company hold on to certain forms of expression such as humor and pride as a coping mechanism. In the Vietnam War specifically, many men unfortunately became victims of the draft. In the process, these men lost opportunities, but stood for their own pride and dignity regardless. During that time, over sixty-thousand American troops died in combat, with varied reasons for their losses. As a result of death becoming an inevitable fact of life in wartime, soldiers sought refuge in one another, demonstrating great …show more content…

For both soldiers and veterans, those who survive the imposing threat posed by uncertainty, fear, and death through certain coping mechanisms, never truly depart from these threats. It is a known fact that human emotion cannot be constantly suppressed; like a dammed river, it is bearable, but only for so long. Humor and unwarranted cruelty, as well as other actions shown in The Thing They Carried, are demonstrated to be vital coping mechanisms; but their effects only being temporary, failing to address the trauma that plagues the troops in deployment. Through the values of humor, the death of Curt Lemon, the slaughtering of the baby water buffalo, Kurt Lemon’s eventual self-harm, and the effects of trauma on the soldiers of the Vietnam War, all reinforce this significance in dealing with the complications of war. Yet, such examples simultaneously corroborate that no coping mechanism is able to permanently suppress mental and emotional anguish; thus, causing many soldiers to fall victim to acts of

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