Essay On Stereotypes In Things They Carried And Tim O Brien

When reading a book, have you ever thought about how a certain scene made you feel, and how that may differ due to your own experiences? In the books The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, the main characters Pecola and Tim O’Brien go through some of the worst times in their lives. From Tim having to deal with the war and the death of friends to the overall terrible life of Pecola Breedlove, who must endure hate, discrimination, and spite from almost all the people around her, these characters are shaped by biased ideas. The way all of the characters in both of these books are written is heavily inspired from stereotypes and the authors’ own genders. Due to the authors having certain views of the world and

either wishing to express these beliefs or shed light upon them, the characters must face the judgement of those close to them, especially the evil and twisted men in their lives, and they also must face the horrible ways that the children treat one another.
In both of these books, the characters must face judgement from those close to them, like friends and family, and end up even mentally worse than before. Pauline, the mother of Pecola and the wife of Cholly, began reminiscing about her past. At one point she describes trying to make herself look nice and when she accidentally bit into a candy, it pulled out a tooth and she talked about how she “ just didn't care anymore after that. I let my hair go back, plaited it up, and settled down to just being ugly. I still went to the pictures, though, but the meanness got worse” (Morrison 123). Toni Morrison, the author, is describing here how Pauline had dressed herself up so that she would not be judged anymore by others, but when she had lost her tooth, it had made everything worse, and made people judge her even harsher than before. From this event, Pauline lost faith in herself and how she looked, leading her personality down the path that led her to be an abusive and uncaring mother. This also sheds light on the judgement and criticisms that women have for each other based on the stereotypes of what a woman should be in society. The readers do not see much of men judging her, but the book talks in length about the judgement Pauline received from other women. Similarly, in the book The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien shows us a change in personality of one of the characters, Mary Anne. In the story, Mary Anne goes to Vietnam to be with her boyfriend Fossie, but over the course of the trip she begins to change, and most of the men judge her harshly for it. When talking with Fossie for one last time, Rat Kiley observed, “At least for a moment she seemed to be the same pretty young girl who had arrived a few weeks earlier… There was no emotion in her stare, no sense of person behind it. But the grotesque part, he said, was her jewelry. At the girl’s throat was a necklace of human tongues” (O’Brien 110). O’Brien was trying to show the reader how Mary Anne is first compared to how she was noticed by the men, for her pretty looks and youth, and then to her unfeminine stare and ghastly necklace. Rat, a soldier in the war, talked as if Mary Anne had a look no woman should have, but that it was almost normal for men. This shows how Mary Anne’s change from what the men desired from her to a soldier-like figure caused her to be judged, feared, and even resented by the men within the camp. O’Brien, a man himself, shows how women who deviate from the expected norm were treated at that time of stereotypical thinking and how many women are treated now, always being judged by the people around them.
Within both books, O’Brien and Morrison create male characters who could be described as sick or evil, but with tragic pasts or important responsibilities.

Cholly Breedlove, the husband of Pauline and the father of Pecola, is an abusive older man who ends up running away after raping his own daughter. While Cholly is reminiscing on his past, he comes to recall that he “...could go to jail and not feel imprisoned, for he had already seen the furtiveness in the eyes of his jailer, free to say, “No suh,” and smile, for he had already killed three white men. Free to take a woman’s insults, for his body had already conquered hers” (Morrison 159). Toni Morrison wrote Cholly as a terrible person, beating his family and raping his daughter, but gave us this backstory that told of all the pain he had felt in his life, where he felt alone and betrayed. But, where many could rise to become better people and seek help from others, it is almost as if Cholly mentally changes, believing himself to be powerful in every way, killing people and smiling after it, believing to own a woman, and just being able to do whatever he wants. Even if Cholly has this sad background, many have come from this state to be a humanitarian person, whereas he has committed acts considered unspeakable and horrible to a modern day person. Toni Morrison's gender as a woman has influenced how she has written the men in her story, each as horrible people, but acting as if a sad backstory will pardon them in the

eyes of the reader, where the men are guilty but pained, and the women suffer for it. Similarly, Tim O’Brien writes many men within his story as twisted, but gives them a large responsibility as if to give them purpose. A little after the reader first meets Jimmy Cross, the reader learns how he loved a woman named Martha, and wished for nothing more than to have “...carried her up the stairs to her room and tied her to the bed and touched that left knee all night long” (O’Brien 5). Tim O’Brien shows us a drastic change in Jimmy Cross’s personality, one which can only be described as dark. Normal men do not think like this and most who read the book can agree that the way Jimmy Cross loves Martha is wrong. Despite this, Tim O’Brien gives Jimmy an important role, that of a squad commander. This is most likely done to give him purpose, and possibly to see Jimmy in a more favorable light than how we saw him before. In reality, Jimmy can only be described as having a dark twist to his personality and had not even considered how Martha would feel if he had done this, but due to his important role in the story as a squad commander, the readers look to see if he has any redeeming qualities that we can like his character for.
In The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison, the children within the book act terribly to one another in order to get as close to the white majority as possible by looking down on fellow African Americans.

After Claudia and Frieda met Maureen Peal, they went to meet with Pecola when “They [the boys] had extemporized a verse made up of two insults about matters over which the victim had no control: the color of her skin and speculations on the sleeping habits of an adult...they themselves were black…” (Morrison 65). Toni Morrison wrote this to show how other black children treated each other, all due to one having darker skin than the other. The children of this time period, and even sometimes today, are racist toward one another to seemingly please people with lighter skin and to feel better about themselves, impacting each other in a large way. This also happens later in the book, when Pecola meets a boy named Junior. In this section, Junior draws Pecola into his house by offering kittens, and after locking her in a room and seeing her be friendly to the cat which he hates, begins to “...swing it [the cat] around his head in a circle” then saying to his mother “she killed our cat...” (Morrison 91-92). Toni Morrison writes Junior as a child who does not know how to love, so he responds with pain, and blames Pecola for the death of his cat to avoid punishment and to see her suffer. Pecola is falsely blamed for the cat’s death and is insulted by being called black, even though

Juniors mother and Junior himself are also black. Junior is harsh and evil toward Pecola whom he wants to see in pain, and remorselessly blames her so that she can suffer and his mother believes him due to Pecola's skin color. The author, having a similar skin color, writes this as to either condemn people for the way they think or to bring more awareness to the issue, but nonetheless has a biased perspective on the issue.
Ultimately, Tim O’Brien and Toni Morrison write about characters and scenes from their own point of view and experiences by having the characters weather judgement from those around them, male characters acting in cruel ways due to pitiable pasts, and deal with children who must endure insults from those with similar skin color due to a want to be more white. While it is true that the authors can have their own opinions on these matters, I believe that when they write they should have better reasoning and try to be less bias with their use of characters and scenes. Not everyone views all these things in a similar light and having these biased characters takes away from the story and adds an unrealistic element to it. Writers should never forget that biased characters and stories can lead to misinterpretations or anger from those who read their books in the hope of from the story.