The They Carry By Tim O Brien Summary

The Psychological lens further examines the behavior and mindset within a story's text to unveil the deeper meaning. In “The they Carry” the leading character of the story, Tim O'Brien gives the audience an insight upon his traumatic experience in Vietnam. As well as the memories he recalls ; hence, before being drafted into the military. Focusing more on his suffering from confusion, guilt, anxiety, as well as his shame. When on the Psychological Lens, what was the state of mind of the author while the text was written? Focusing our former knowledge about the main character of the story, we find how often his perception switches and transitions into different scenes, reflecting emotions and experiences upon O'Brien.
Towards the beginning of

‘On A Rainy River, O'Brien expresses his confusion and frustration upon being drafted into the war, after only a month of graduating in 1968. He explains the hate he has for the war, even though he was just twenty-one and was naive when it came to politics. His only agreement was his “moral confusion” as he began to question himself about the outlooks of the Vietnam War. “Was it a civil war? Who started it? And when? Why? (Pg. 41-42, O'Brien)” He believed there needed to be a reason to fight. Especially when someone's life is on the line. Thanks to the government, O'Brien did not have the opportunity to decide either or not he wanted to be involved with the war. His only choice was to risk his life, and fight for reasons nor him or the government could even comprehend. O'Brien's common conviction indicated how the war might have not been fought assuming the ones supporting it had to be involved in it physically. Referring back to the text, he states: “If you support a war, if you think worth the price that's fine, but you have to put your own precious fluids on the line. You have to head for the infantry unit and help spill the blood. And you have to bring along your wife, or your kids, or your lover, a law, I thought (Pg. 42, O'Brien).”
He believed there needed to be a reason to fight, especially when someone's life is on the line. Thanks to the government, O'Brien did not have the opportunity to decide either or not he wanted to be involved with the war. His only choice was to risk his life, and fight for reasons nor him or the government could even comprehend. O'Brien's common conviction indicated how the war might have not been fought assuming the ones supporting it had to actually be involved in it physically. Referring back to the text, he states: “If you support a war, if you think worth the price that's fine, but you have to put your own precious fluids on the line. You have to head for the infantry unit and help spill the blood. And you have to bring along your wife, or your kids, or your lover, a law, I thought (Pg. 42, O'Brien).”
Likewise, I would also insist to mention the heavy opposition and disgust O'Brien reflected upon himself as he recalled working in the slaughterhouse before he began his service. Carrying the draft notice in his pocket, he spent his remaining days surrounded by death. The strongest interpretation I received from his isolation and disgust, was how he related this environment to his mere experience in the war. Not being able to get rid of the inevitable stains of blood, trauma, and death from him. “Even after a hot bath, scrubbing hard, the stink was always there like old bacon, or sausage, a dense greasy pig-stink that soaked deep into my skin and hair (Pg. 42, O'Brien).”This relates more to life in war in ways such as, once someone has experienced a traumatic event, or witnessing someone's death, they simply cannot UN see it. However, his mental dilemma begins to occur once he finds himself taking a ride in his father's car feeling paralyzed, and cornered. almost as if he is frightened for himself. As mentioned earlier, he felt as if he had been involved with fighting a battle with no purpose. This leads the audience into a transition of witnessing him standing his ground when it came to opposing the war, however now he begins realizing that disagreeing with the war was not enough to exempt the draft itself. He was scared, and for a moment he believed he was not capable of surviving the war by any means. “Beyond all this, or at was the raw fact of terror. I did not want to die. Not ever. But certainly not then, not there, not in a wrong war (Pg. 44, O'Brien).”He involved a fair amount of emotion as he emphasized how he did not want to meet his demise in an unjust war. At this point he is yet to understand the point of it all. O'Brien's main concern at the time was the mindset either of killing someone else, or being executed.
As time continues, O'Brien conjures up the idea to flee to Canada and stay hidden from his duties.

The urge he had to run and not ‘individual up' and face his responsibilities reflects his eventual guilt and anxiety that shapes him as he later meets Elroy Berdahl. In his mind, his motive was to hurry and live his life before he was forced to put it on the line.The drafting process comes with a huge amount of accountability. He knew if he reneged on taking this situation head on, he'd face the consequences of being criminally prosecuted, leaving his entire life, losing his parents respect, and ridiculed from his hometown where he recalls as ignorant for supporting the war in the first place. He cannot seem to balance his mortal fear and the shame and guilt he'd face from fleeing and being exiled. Referring to text, “Intellect had come up against emotion. My conscience told me to run, but some irrational and powerful force was resisting, like a weight pushing me toward the war. What it came down to, stupidly, was a sense of shame. I did not want people to think badly of me. Not my parents, not my brother and sister. I was ashamed to be there at the tip-top lodge.I was ashamed of my conscience, embarrassed to be doing the right thing (Pg. 52, O'Brien).”As Tim finally found a place to lie low for a while with the help of Elroy Berdahl, he realized how collected and quiet he was. Elroy gave O'Brien exactly what he compensated, which was time to reflect. He never bothered asking any questions, nor did he ever set him in a place that required lies or denials or a stance to contradict himself in any way. Instead, Elroy gives him the opportunity to look his choice in the face, to make it real and inescapable for him. This moment inspires O'Brien to reveal questions for the audience to emotionally show how they would react in his situation, such as; “what would you have done?” He wants the reader to encounter it the way Elroy made him face it. The shame does not come just

from what O'Brien sees a failure of masculinity or bravery, but of moral action. Eventually as he's close to the shore, he finally realizes his fate.His series of hallucinations begin with his childhood memories that rushed through his mind, as a reflection of his own immaturity. He compensated for his anxiety by falling back on the magic tricks he learned as a kid, by doing so, he never seemed to fully escape his childhood. Then, he began having more major hallucinations of his family, old teachers, his Wife, his unborn daughter, and his two sons. Voices in his head began calling him out as a traitor, which personifies his shame, and his inability of having to withstand what other people think of him. He couldn't handle or face the embarrassment of not facing the responsibilities that were in store for him. Morally, some decisions are not based on the “right” thing, but on what society demands and expectations. “All of those eyes on me— the town, the universe— and I couldn't risk the embarrassment. It was as quot; Times audience to my life, the swirl of faces along the river, and in my head I could hear people screaming at me. I couldn't take it. I couldn't bear the mockery (Pg. 59, O'Brien).”I believe the force of his imagination, and the power of the embarrassment this brought upon him, convinced him that his life was worth risking as well as killing others just to avoid shame.
In conclusion, the happy ending eludes irony which reveals how the pressure of war can transform a person. O'Brien survives the making of what he believed would be an agonizingly petrifying decision by facing his own judgment upon himself. The hallucinations he had could have been his own demons and his guilty sub-conscience suggesting that he either fight or flee. The portrayals of not wanting to face your fears can be just as frightening as taking them head-on. O'Brien experiences this by being motivated by shame, and letting his social grievances get the best of him. “It's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war (Pg 61, O'Brien).”The reality of the story is being told in his point of view, therefore the majority of the events that occur are in his mind. Relating to the psychological lens, he lends the audience his mental breakdowns, as well as in previous chapters his thoughts upon love, rejection, and grief. More or less, society alone has become influential when it comes to making everyday decisions. Whether that be leaving your life behind to serve your country, or giving in to social pressure that can guide you in either the right or wrong direction. All in all, the final decision comes down to the say of the person. How will it later affect the person? O'Brien gives us an idea of how his decision has deeply influenced his experience prior to fighting in Vietnam.