Innocence And Life In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried, comprises twenty-two individual fictional war stories. Although a war novel, the stories don’t focus on guns, grenades, blood, or gore. It focuses on the “human heart.” O’Brien’s novel teaches us that the “human heart” is fragile and the negative impacts of war can break it. Innocence and life are effected in return. Young men enter the war clenching onto they innocence. Unknowingly, they will be stripped from it. Mary Anne Bell—a significant character— is a symbol of innocence in the short story “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong.” At only seventeen, she is invited to the camp by her boyfriend, Mark Fossie. She arrives as an innocent girl, but that progresses to curiosity. She would ask many questions …show more content…
She is no longer the sweet innocent girl she was when she first came to the camp. Mark Fossie can’t even recognize her because she abandoned all interest in her appearance. She cut her hair short, stopped caring for hygiene, and stopped wearing jewelry or make-up. She gained knowledge on “how to disassemble an M-16, how various parts worked and from there it was a natural progression to learning how to use her weapon” (O’Brien, 94). She also starts to go on ambushes with Greenies. When she disappears for three weeks, Mark Fossie finds her inside a hootch. He sees her wearing a necklace made of human tongues and standing near a decapitated leopard. As stated by Rat Kiley “she’s already gone”(O’Brien, 107). She is not the same person. The war has changed her and she will never regain her old-self …show more content…
They can finally return to their life —home, job, family, and friends. Many veterans did just that without any drawbacks. But a few like Norman Bowker, came back home still “humping” the emotional baggage. They couldn’t make the transition from war to life. Bowker returned home unhappy, unsatisfied, and lifeless. It is clear he couldn 't find purpose after war. He tried multiple jobs —non of which lasted longer than ten weeks— and the poor guy even tried college, but dropped out and explained it wasn 't for him. Bowker tried so many things to keep himself satisfied, happy or even occupied. We can see how badly the war effected him. I don 't think Bowker has ever tried to cope or attain closure after the war. Instead, it seems like he was trying to abstain from his past memories and keep his mind occupied and busy with other things—jobs and college. He wanted to communicate to other people about his experiences at war but just didn 't know how to. Truly