Everyone deals with certain types of situations in his or her own way. A person’s emotions and actions could also affect how he or she deals with their problems. In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien explains how the soldier’s emotions get the best of a person. Someone could also deal with their problems in a negative way. They could deal with their issues without help, which might make the situation even worse and may cause bigger problems. Someone might not know how to deal with a situation that is happening in their life. It would only make the “healing process” worse and not effective at all because they do not know what to do with the situation and the way it should be handled. Some coping mechanisms that a person attempts might be unsuccessful
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Returning back from a war could be difficult for many. A person who had a daily routine before the war, and because of being gone for so long, might make it tough to get back into that same routine. Many of the characters have their own ways of making themselves feel comfortable with certain situations. For example, when Norman Bowker returns home from the war, he has absolutely no idea what to do. He is lost within his own community. All Norman Bowker does is drive around aimlessly. He tries to get his mind off of the war and all the terrible experiences he has had with relation to the Vietnam War. (O’Brien 131). This was Norman Bowker’s way of dealing with the unfamiliarity of his town and not remembering his life before the Vietnam War. Norman Bowker’s way of dealing with the loneliness and silence was ineffective. Because of his mind being somewhere else at the time, Norman Bowker “hanged himself in the locker room of YMCA in his hometown in central Iowa” (O’Brien 149). The coping mechanism that he used was not helpful at all because he was “driving” away from his problems (O’Brien 150). Bowker was always by himself and suffering from all the guilt and sadness of Kiowa’s death. He needed to open up to someone and was too afraid to do anything about his issues when he returned from the
Returning back from a war could be difficult for many. A person who had a daily routine before the war, and because of being gone for so long, might make it tough to get back into that same routine. Many of the characters have their own ways of making themselves feel comfortable with certain situations. For example, when Norman Bowker returns home from the war, he has absolutely no idea what to do. He is lost within his own community. All Norman Bowker does is drive around aimlessly. He tries to get his mind off of the war and all the terrible experiences he has had with relation to the Vietnam War. (O’Brien 131). This was Norman Bowker’s way of dealing with the unfamiliarity of his town and not remembering his life before the Vietnam War. Norman Bowker’s way of dealing with the loneliness and silence was ineffective. Because of his mind being somewhere else at the time, Norman Bowker “hanged himself in the locker room of YMCA in his hometown in central Iowa” (O’Brien 149). The coping mechanism that he used was not helpful at all because he was “driving” away from his problems (O’Brien 150). Bowker was always by himself and suffering from all the guilt and sadness of Kiowa’s death. He needed to open up to someone and was too afraid to do anything about his issues when he returned from the