Theme Of Grief In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

The Neverending War War will never end for the soldiers who are among the living, the ones who have seen the end are dead. The novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien tells what he and his fellow soldiers had experienced in the vietnam war, during and after, what they had to do and how they feel. There thought’s were not only just on the war, but on their family and friends. In the soldiers heads, they are constantly thinking of the past, mostly the war, and what they had to do. In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, shows the theme of grief and shame the soldiers experienced during the war and after the war, to them the war never ended. The theme of grief is shown in the chapter “The Things They Carried” when O’Brien …show more content…
“The guys cant cope. They lose it.” (O’Brien 71). This quote explains how the jungle, Vietnam, is affecting them, the grief of the jungle that was caused by the war, from families being forced away from their homes to people dying, is now hanging over them like a thunder cloud so dark none can look through it. It will never leave them, it will always be there, no matter how hard they try to forget the grief of the jungle will be there. This connects to the theme showing how grief can spread, it doesn't have to be a person it can be a place, and to them, that place is Vietnam. The grief of many, still linhes in the leaves of the …show more content…
O'Brien friend, Norman Bowker, but he sent one last letter to O’Brien explaining how they are still in the war. Before Norman committed suicide, a few months before he sent a letter to O’Brien, talking about how he read the book Speaking of Courage and how he liked it, but he notices that there are things missing the book that people need to know, and because this was his last contact with him before he died, O’Brien feels ashamed that he did not include those things. “In any case, Norman Bowkers letter had an affect. It haunted me for more than a month, not the words so much as its desperation.” (O’Brien 152). This quote tells how O’Brien was affected by the letter of his friend who committed suicide two months later on, it haunts him, and it will continue to haunt him for the rest of his life. This connects to the theme by showing how the shame affected O’Brien, how it shamed him that he did not include what really happen. The shame will stay with him till the day he