Fear Of War Theme

The Fear of War

Roman philosopher and dramatist, Seneca the Younger, expresses “Worse than war is the fear of war” (…) Seneca the Younger describes the physical and emotional attributes that coincides with war. He further states the emotional or psychological burdens far outweigh those of the physical nature. Through the centuries long after Roman influence, this philosophy remains accurate into modern times. “The Things They Carried,” authored by a Vietnam veteran named Tim O’ Brien, expresses the notion of the mental agonies of war, specifically the Vietnam War, through the eyes of an army unit led by a young First Lieutenant named Jimmy Cross. Tim O’Brien contends that the themes of fear, longing, taking responsibility, and uncertainty the

Cross fear death and the agony of seeing death around them. One of the men under Cross’s command is “Ted Lavender, who was scared . . . until he was shot in the head outside the village of Than Khe in mid-April” (1249). Ted Lavender’s death causes everyone in Lt. Cross’s unit, or platoon, to fear that they will also die in combat, adding more weight on the burdensome of fear. The weight of his death repeats multiple times in the story and one soldier, Kiowa, repeatedly expresses Lavender’s death as “Boom-down . . .Like cement. . . Nothing else” (1251), as if Ted Lavender falls like a massive and heavy stone puncturing the Earth. This repetition clarifies the fear everyone yields because of his death, and the scene replays constantly in their minds: “And yet when he [Kiowa] closed his eyes, all he could think was Boom-down . . .” (1256). The men can only think of Lavender’s death, as everyone dreadfully awaits their own destiny. This ensnaring thought of fate, in their minds, serves as emotional pain in which the soldiers must contain throughout the war. These young men of war also “carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing” (1258). These young men have a strong urge to uphold their reputations, because during war, safeguarding a soldier’s reputation is the greatest fear one has. The fear of being a coward in war, or dying because of

The hope and feeling of returning home. Within the story, a jet flies over Cross and everyone which creates a feeling of frothiness, a feeling of freedom and uplifting hope. The aircraft creates the uplift of freedom in that “they [soldiers] felt the rush of takeoff . . . a smiling stewardess . . . more than a plane, it was a real bird, a big sleek silver bird with feathers and talons” (1258). The plane connotes an escape from the emotional, yet mental pains and burdens from the war. The soldiers “dreamed of freedom birds” and “the weights [roll] off” creating that “there is nothing to bear” (1258). Unfortunately, one of the many mental and emotional tragedies of war, is that most of the men under Cross’s command, including Cross himself, will bear the pain and weight of the traumatizing war in Vietnam for the rest of their lives. “It was very sad. . . The things men carried inside”