War In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

“The Things They Carried” demonstrates the effects of war to someone both physically and mentally. The story takes place with O’Brien and Alpha company during the Vietnam war. He goes through and tell the reader what each character is carrying and also helps shed some light on each character's conscious thought. Some characters who dealt with these mental struggles really show to the reader some of Freud and Jung’s theories. These examples are Freud’s theory on a person's shadow, and Jung’s maiden and child archetype. One of the parts of Freud’s theory that takes place was the shadow. The first character is Ted Lavender who joined the Alpha company as a “grunt.” He became afraid of the enemy and carries tranquilizer to calm him. Ted’s fear of the unknown possibility of death during the war …show more content…
Jimmy Cross goes into the war not very experienced and kind of afraid much like a child do something new for the first time. After Ted's death, he falls into depression and thinks of what he could have differently to save Ted. He learns from these mistakes and shortly after starting a new beginning for him in the war and removes everything Martha related to focus more on his men. "When a man died, there had to be blamed. Jimmy Cross understood this. You could blame the war… A moment of carelessness or bad judgment or plain stupidity carried consequences that lasted forever." “The Things They Carried” demonstrates to the reader Feud’s shadow theory, and Jung’s maiden and child archetypes. The novel reveals to the reader the hardship of war, both physically and mentally. Some say the mental percussion from war is far worse the physical. With Freud’s and Jung’s theories brought together. Someone reading can see their theories in Tim O’Brien’s novel. With Ted’s fear of death and the enemy. Martha’s deceitfulness towards Cross during his time in Vietnam and Cross’s reform during Vietnam, the beginning of his new view in