Isolation In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

The Vietnam War (1954-1975) was known to be the longest conflict in United States history, where over three million men and women were sent to Vietnam to fight for America's cause. The Things They Carried is a collection of short stories about the soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War and what each one of the soldiers carried throughout the war. Tim O'Brien explains how each one of the soldiers that fought in the Vietnam War handled the experience in a number of ways. In the novel, The Things They Carried, O'Brien uses the feeling of Isolation to explain the different responses of the soldiers during the war and how each soldier suffered to heal from the traumatic experiences of war. Norman Bowker is one of the few soldiers who struggled with

Tim O'Brien is a portrayed as a scared soldier who did not want to go to the war when he was drafted at first, but he ends up going in order to disregard the embarrassment. Tim first experiences a sense of isolation when he is talking with Mitchell Sanders, a soldier in the same platoon as Tim, about Bobby Jorgenson the new medic. Tim O'Brien plans to for not treating him for shock after Tim gets shot in the butt. He did not receive the response he thought he would have received from his friend, Mitchell. "People change. Situations change. I hate to say this, man, but you're out of touch. Jorgeson---he's with us now" (188). Tim O'Brien feels a sense of loss when Mitchell tells him that he is not as tight with the group as he was before getting his wound treated. In a way O'Brien feels that his peers do not want him around because he does not like the new medic, but everyone else finds the medic to be a good guy. Mitchell and the other soldiers of the platoon consider Bobby Jorgenson as apart of the group without Tim . "I felt something inside me. It was anger, partly, but it was also a sense of pure and total loss: I didn't fit anymore. They were soldiers, I wasn't (188). After Tim O'Brien hears what Mitchell Sanders had to say, he no longer considers himself as a soldier and feels somewhat out of place. Tim O'Brien experiences a great deal of isolation towards the end of the war and does not like the person he