“In war, there are no unwounded solders.” Often, people tend to look at the physical aspects of war, such as demanding fitness required or the numerous bodily injuries one can suffer. While the physical aspects of battle are horrifying, the mental aspect of war is just as bad if not worse. For centuries, war has forced young men away from their families and loved ones to fight in battle often in harsh conditions. Being removed from loved ones in order to put your life on the line is very mentally demanding. Three works of literature really bring out the full negative effects of battle both physically and psychologically. “Othello” by William Shakespeare, short story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien and the poem “The Battle” by poet Louis Simpson really stress the negative mental aspects of fighting in a battle. Some of the many common links throughout the stories is that they all include various symbols, vivid imagery, and explicit figurative language to display intense emotion dealing with the horrors of war. These writers proves that the psychological aspect even causes the downfall of characters rather than any kind of physical harm. The literary terms proves that the psychological effect war gives is worse then the demanding physical challenge. Scholarly articles and examples from the text of each story go a long way to prove this.
Tim O’Brien’s popular short story “The Things They Carried” tells the stories about a platoon of foot soldiers during the Vietnam War. Stories within the text do its job of recalling emotional damage that comes from battle. Through the story, we learn that the characters carry an array of many different things that are both physical objects and things that are intangible. Physi...
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...ach of them faces is the war in their minds.
Works Cited
Alzaobi, Nahed: Othello as a Military Man." Othello Navigator: Othello as a Military Man. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
DiYanni, Robert. "Othello, The Moor of Venice, The Things They Carried, The Battle." Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004. N. pag. Print.
Hinde, Robert A. "Hinde | Psychological Bases of War (I)." Hinde Psychological Bases of War (I). N.p., 7 Apr. 1998. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Juo, Audrey. "The Things They Carried , Key Themes & Symbols." Key Themes & Symbols: The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. N.p., 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
LeShan, Lawrence L. The Psychology of War: Comprehending Its Mystique and Its Madness. Chicago: Noble, 1992. Print.
Survey, Twenty Students from Burlington County College. April 21, 2014.
Junger 125: Through this quote, Junger gives a realistic wake-up call to the readers. Depression and PTSD rates in soldiers are so high because they come back from war, to a society that is at war with itself. Junger concludes that modern society is completely disconnected from our tribal instincts, this disconnection is what leads to PTSD and other mental disorders. This disconnection is shown through the hostility that civilians in America have towards one another, as well as the many statistics Junger provides on a variety of topics.
War changes people, with some changes being very dramatic and very quick. This is evident in the behavior of Norman Bowker, Bob “Rat” Kiley, and Tim O’Brien. These changes affected each person differently, but they all had dramatic changes to their personalities. These changes had very severe effects on each
The Things They Carried is a collection of stories about the Vietnam War that the author, Tim O'Brien, uses to convey his experiences and feelings about the war. The book is filled with stories about the men of Alpha Company and their lives in Vietnam and afterwards back in the United States. O'Brien captures the reader with graphic descriptions of the war that make one feel as if they were in Vietnam. The characters are unique and the reader feels sadness and compassion for them by the end of the novel. To O'Brien the novel is not only a compilation of stories, but also a release of the fears, sadness, and anger that he has felt because of the Vietnam War.
War has been a constant part of human history. It has greatly affected the lives of people around the world. These effects, however, are extremely detrimental. Soldiers must shoulder extreme stress on the battlefield. Those that cannot mentally overcome these challenges may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sadly, some resort to suicide to escape their insecurities. Soldiers, however, are not the only ones affected by wars; family members also experience mental hardships when their loved ones are sent to war. Timothy Findley accurately portrays the detrimental effects wars have on individuals in his masterpiece The Wars.
The Vietnam War was a challenging time for soldiers both physically and mentally. They often didn’t have a choice on whether they were going to war due to the drafting system that had been in place. Many had tangible and intangible things that they carried with them for the sake of their sanity or their job in the unit. The chapter, “The Things They Carried”, in the novel The Things They Carried, captures this immaculately. The author, Tim O’Brien, speaks of the things each man within his unit carried with him. Each man did not just carry tangible objects with him, but also intangible objects as well .
War has always been an essential ingredient in the development of the human race. As a result of the battles fought in ancient times, up until modern warfare, millions of innocent lives have ended as a result of war crimes committed. In the article, “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience,” Herbert C. Kelman and V.Lee Hamilton shows examples of moral decisions taken by people involved with war-related murders. This article details one of the worse atrocities committed during the Vietnam War in 1968 by the U.S. military: the My Lai Massacre. Through this incident, the question that really calls for psychological analysis is why so many people are willing to formulate , participate in, and condone policies that call for the mass killings of defenseless civilians such as the atrocities committed during the My Lai massacre. What influences these soldiers by applying different psychological theories that have been developed on human behavior.
King, Rosemary. "O'Brien's 'How to Tell a True War Story.'" The Explicator. 57.3 (1999): 182. Expanded Academic ASAP.
The novel, “The Things They Carried”, is about the experiences of Tim O’Brian and his fellow platoon members during their time fighting in the Vietnam War. They face much adversity that can only be encountered in the horrors of fighting a war. The men experience death of friends, civilians, enemies and at points loss of their rationale. In turn, the soldiers use a spectrum of methods to cope with the hardships of war, dark humor, daydreaming, and violent actions all allow an escape from the horrors of Vietnam that they experience most days.
The Things They Carried is a collection of stories about the Vietnam War, but in reality, the book centers around the relationships the men make, their connections to the world they left behind and the connections that they formed to Vietnam. The stories are not war stories, but stories about love, respect and the bonds made between men when they spend day after day fighting just to stay alive.
In “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien brings to light the effects of war on soldiers, both physically and psychologically. The title of the story would lead the reader to believe the story is only about the provisions and apparatus a soldier would physically carry into war. After reading the entire story, it becomes evident that there are many burdens seen and unseen that soldiers face during times of war.
Modell, John, and Timothy Haggerty. "The Social Impact of War." Annual Review of Sociology 17 (1991): 205-24. Print.
Written by author Tim O’Brien after his own experience in Vietnam, “The Things They Carried” is a short story that introduces the reader to the experiences of soldiers away at war. O’Brien uses potent metaphors with a third person narrator to shape each character. In doing so, the reader is able to sympathize with the internal and external struggles the men endure. These symbolic comparisons often give even the smallest details great literary weight, due to their dual meanings. The symbolism in “The Things They Carried” guides the reader through the complex development of characters by establishing their humanity during the inhumane circumstance of war, articulating what the men need for emotional and spiritual survival, and by revealing the character’s psychological burdens.
Fuller, J.F.C. "Propaganda and War. The New Technique of Mendacity as a Psychological Weapon." Ordnance, Dec
King, Rosemary. "O'Brien's 'How to Tell a True War Story.'" The Explicator. 57.3 (1999): 182. Expanded Academic ASAP.
The Things They Carried is a collection of stories about the Vietnam War that the author, Tim O’Brien, uses to convey his experiences and feelings about the war. The book is filled with stories about the men of Alpha Company and their lives in Vietnam and afterwards back in the United States. O’Brien captures the reader with graphic descriptions of the war that make one feel as if they were in Vietnam. The characters are unique and the reader feels sadness and compassion for them by the end of the novel. To O’Brien the novel is not only a compilation of stories, but also a release of the fears, sadness, and anger that he has felt because of the Vietnam War.