The Things they carried
O’Brien’s story depicts a platoon of soldiers during the Vietnam War. The soldiers carry equipment, rations, weapons and personal items with them. Some of those items are a necessity such as the P-38 can openers, heat tabs, dog tags, ammunition, C-rations, guns and cigarettes. These are physical objects with a real measurable weight. O’Brien narrates the events and paints a picture of the burdens we do not see. Those invisible burdens the characters carry, are the emotions and feelings they experience. “In one of the most scathing passages, the story suggests that waste and destruction are inherent features of an American culture devoted to material abundance (Clarke 2013, 140)”. Fear of the unknown, stress from exposure …show more content…
“It can’t happen, Sanders said. Nobody ships his honey over to Nam. It don’t ring true. I mean, you just can’t import your own personal poontang”. Rat shook his head. “I saw it, man I was right there. This guy did it”. (Barden 2010, 9). Again, symbolism! Mary Ann Bell, Fossie’s girlfriend, is the personification of ignorance. She portrays the average American at home who thought the war could not be so bad that it would phase them. She stands for the people who believe this is a quick war, fast to win and it will be over with. All the personal artifacts the characters carry around with them represent part of the characters personality. A bible represent morals, as long as the character owning this bible is alive, morals are present as well. When Kiowa dies, he drowns and disappears in a sewage field. This symbolizes the disappearance of morality, which submerges in a “field of brown swamp”. The field of brown swamp is an image of the sea of all the faceless and nameless dead people. Each soldier in the platoon carries his own personal artifacts alongside the mandatory objects of soldiering gear. What really stands out is the great amount of psychological burdens they all carry. These mental burdens have driven countless soldiers insane and until this day the majority of veterans from the Vietnam War are still carrying these things with them. This generation of men continues to feel shame about showing emotions and admitting fear, guilt or the fact that this unwinnable war brought out the worse human traits in them. Although this short story is fictive there is so much truth in it. The way O’Brien writes about the horrors and insanity of a war confirms my conclusion that war changes a man! Even when soldiers return home, take off the uniform, and return their gear, they are merely unloading the tangible burdens. They are
O’Brien’s story depicts a platoon of soldiers during the Vietnam War. The soldiers carry equipment, rations, weapons and personal items with them. Some of those items are a necessity such as the P-38 can openers, heat tabs, dog tags, ammunition, C-rations, guns and cigarettes. These are physical objects with a real measurable weight. O’Brien narrates the events and paints a picture of the burdens we do not see. Those invisible burdens the characters carry, are the emotions and feelings they experience. “In one of the most scathing passages, the story suggests that waste and destruction are inherent features of an American culture devoted to material abundance (Clarke 2013, 140)”. Fear of the unknown, stress from exposure …show more content…
“It can’t happen, Sanders said. Nobody ships his honey over to Nam. It don’t ring true. I mean, you just can’t import your own personal poontang”. Rat shook his head. “I saw it, man I was right there. This guy did it”. (Barden 2010, 9). Again, symbolism! Mary Ann Bell, Fossie’s girlfriend, is the personification of ignorance. She portrays the average American at home who thought the war could not be so bad that it would phase them. She stands for the people who believe this is a quick war, fast to win and it will be over with. All the personal artifacts the characters carry around with them represent part of the characters personality. A bible represent morals, as long as the character owning this bible is alive, morals are present as well. When Kiowa dies, he drowns and disappears in a sewage field. This symbolizes the disappearance of morality, which submerges in a “field of brown swamp”. The field of brown swamp is an image of the sea of all the faceless and nameless dead people. Each soldier in the platoon carries his own personal artifacts alongside the mandatory objects of soldiering gear. What really stands out is the great amount of psychological burdens they all carry. These mental burdens have driven countless soldiers insane and until this day the majority of veterans from the Vietnam War are still carrying these things with them. This generation of men continues to feel shame about showing emotions and admitting fear, guilt or the fact that this unwinnable war brought out the worse human traits in them. Although this short story is fictive there is so much truth in it. The way O’Brien writes about the horrors and insanity of a war confirms my conclusion that war changes a man! Even when soldiers return home, take off the uniform, and return their gear, they are merely unloading the tangible burdens. They are