Conflict In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Conflict in a story can be either external or internal and the “conflict is the struggle that shapes the plot in the story” (Clugston, 2014, par 4). There are many factors that can determine the conflict and the resolution in literature. In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien the most obvious conflict is the Vietnam, War. To emphasize this the setting and characters all revolve around the war during that time. The fighting during the war was a physical conflict where the characters battled elements and even battles against one another as well as internal conflicts. Tim is the main character who battles conflict of his own personal turmoil in deciding whether to go to Vietnam War. He also battled his supposed love for Martha the girl he left

back home that was a struggle in his own mind and at times took his focus off his leadership to his men. “Slowly, a bit distracted, he would get up and move among his men, checking the perimeter, then at full dark he would return to his hole and watch the night and wonder if Martha was a virgin” (O’Brien, 1990, par 1). Due to his mind being distracted by thoughts of Martha he was not paying attention one of his men was killed. The picture of his man lying dead haunted him and caused him to finally realize he needed to get his mind right. “The guy's dead, he kept saying, which seemed profound—the guy's dead” (O’Brien, 1990, par 25). These conflicts are significant because they help readers to feel the theme of guilt, responsibility, and in the end, the acceptance that the main character comes to terms with.
The symbolism of the title The Things They Carried is not just pertaining to the items they carried but the emotional baggage they carried too. This shows the burdens that these men at war carried with them and how they also have to deal with coming back home when the war is over. Being able to recognize the conflict in a literary text allows the readers to really connect with the story and understand the meaning being portrayed through the story in the message delivered. Most literary works have a meaning that reaches far beyond the story being told, is has a moral to be learned or teaches something that is a part of history. The author uses symbolism in the pebble that Cross carries with him that Martha gave him to represent their connection as he uses that to comfort him during the war. “They were pressed together, and the pebble in his mouth was her tongue” (O’Brien, 1990, par 21). In the end, Cross realizes that his feelings for Martha are part of some delusional fantasy he has for her and the pebble than becomes as representation of his inability to be a good leader to his men. That leads him to getting rid of the pebble to show he is breaking the connection he thought he had with Martha. “He would dispose of his good-luck pebble” (O’Brien, 1990, par, 99).
In the story The Welcome Table by Alice Walker the main conflict is the racial discrimination that the old woman faces from the church and society as a whole.

This elderly African American woman walked a very long distance with the intent or worshipping Jesus in the church. The white people in the church has misinterpretations of what the elderly woman looked like and judged her for her skin color being black. “Some of those who saw her there on the church steps spoke words about her that were hardly fit to be heard, others held their pious peace; and some felt vague stirrings of pity, small and persistent and hazy, as if she were an old collie turned out to die” (Walker, 1970, par 2). The old woman also faced internal struggles as she battled against herself to enter into the church because she knew the persecution she would face.” She stopped to calm herself on the wide front steps, not looking about her as they might have expected her to do, but simply standing quite still, except for a slight quivering of her throat and tremors that shook her cotton-stockinged legs” (Walker, 19070, par 4). These conflicts really help readers to understand what it feels like to experience racial discrimination and also discrimination amongst the church. The white congregation shunned this woman and put her out of the church without a care in the world for how she felt about their persecution. A white woman would not have been forcefully removed from the church. “Under the old woman's arms they raised their fists, flexed their muscular shoulders, and out she flew through the door, back under the cold blue sky” (Walker, 1970, par 8). This particular piece of literary work was really used to educate and inform readers of what African Americans during the time of segregation faced on a daily basis. For those that have never been subjected to any form of discrimination or racism, this story depicts that for those readers. The use of symbolism in this story allowed readers to connect

with the woman in the story to feel what she went through and that significantly impacts how readers will react if faced with this situation in the future. The ending of the story where the writer describes the woman walking with Jesus is a symbolic way of referencing to her death she experienced while walking along that road after the church three her out. All the conflicts, struggles, and symbolisms uses through this story are currently being faced in society today. Although, people feel that segregation is over, society is still being judgmental and racist for those of different nationality. Society is fearful of what is considered the unknown and lashes out at those that are different from them.

References:
Clugston, R. W. (2014). Journey into literature (2nd ed.) [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/
• Deutsch, A. (2014). Types of conflicts found in literature. Retrieved from https://bridgepoint.equella.ecollege.com/curriculum/file/69978e52-f685-47f0-acd8-bcf20defc943/1/ENG125%20-%20Types%20of%20Conflicts%20Found%20in%20Literature.pdf