How does O’Brien use The Things They Carried to cope with the psychological impact of his experience in the war?

The Vietnam War was one of the biggest and the most impactful war that affected the society, especially in the US. Draftees often came back with mental and physical illnesses such as post traumatic stress disorder. Many came back with a missing limb because of the fights that they had to go through as a soldier. These soldiers also got trauma from the war because of the deaths and the dangers that they faced during the war. These psychological effects impacted the way many veterans lived and many of those ex-soldiers went to drugs abuses just to be able to cope with their situation during the war. Tim O’Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, had special way of coping with the psychological impact of his experience in the war. He expressed his thoughts and his emotions by writing this book. Through the themes, motifs, and the stories that are told through this novel. Although it is known as a piece of fiction, the stories that O’Brien tells show how he was coping with his situations.
One of the themes that are present in the novel is the physical and emotional burdens that the characters carry. None of the characters that O’Brien created were perfect; they all had some kind of disorder. Physically, they all carried their necessities, such as a nylon-covered flak jackets, compasses, guns, and a poncho. But at the same time, they carried emotional loads which was filled with hate, regret, and dreams. For example, “First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha” (O’Brien 1). The Lieutenant was carrying a letter from the girl that he liked back at home. She was his dreams and regrets of his past. He regretted not confessing to her when he was in America. Therefore it was his dream to go back home safely t...

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..., that which is absolute and unchanging” (O’Brien 224). He was able to “revive” the essence of Linda by recreating stories with her. He started to do this with members of his squad that went down in the war. He explains that “In Vietnam, too, we had ways of making the dead seem not quite so dead”(O’Brien 225). They made the dead feel alive in the squads. By changing their mentality and creating stories, the soldiers were able to cope with their psychological impacts.
Overall, the author of the book The Things They Carried, O’Brien, had wrote the novel to cope with the psychological problems that resulted because of the war. He did so through the theme of the book, the motifs of the book, and the stories he created in the book. By recreating these moments with fictional characters, O’Brien was able to cope with the psychological impact of his experience in the war.