The Vietnam War lasted from 1954-1943. The United States suffered thousands of deaths and countless injured soldiers. Unless a person is involved in the war, the ability to understand the pain the soldiers suffer is tough. The Things They Carried written by war veteran Tim O’Brien, provides the reader with a taste of war through his fictional stories. O’Brien writes stories dealing with the constant shame that hangs over soldiers heads. Shame is a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior. One may argue shames role in positively and negatively influences a man’s decision. Shame causes men emotional distress causing them to make irrational decisions. The theme of shame plays a significant
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O’Briens story, “On The Rainy River”, portrays the idea of shame. The story begins with O’Brien explaining how he never told this particular story to anybody before. O’Brien struggles with the decision to go to war or to flee. O’Brien feels a physical rupture in his chest over the decision so he makes a trip to the Tip Top Lodge on the border of Canada (O’Brien 45 ). He feels if he makes the decision to flee he will receive hate for being unpatriotic or unmasculine. He decides he simply could not bare the social embarrassment of fleeing. He feels he will lose the respect of his family and community. O’Brien feels shame about going to war against his principles. O’Brien displays the emotional side of being drafted into war. The decision the conflicts his morals with demands of his country. The only way O’Brien can avoid shame is by going to war which causes him shame as …show more content…
The story revolves around O'Brien's first time killing someone. He feels such shame over the occurrence he even writes the story in third person. He negotiates his confusion and feelings by creating a fantasy. He copes with the shame by imagining the man's life as is he never died. O'Brien imagines the Vietnamese soldier is a student like him, has morals such as he does, just going to war to please to country and fulfill a patriotic duty.(O’Brien 121) Author Catherine Calloway writes, “…and who, like the narrator, perhaps went to war only to avoid "disgracing himself, and therefore his family and village" (142). [ 5] "Ambush," the story immediately following "The Man I Killed," provides yet another kaleidoscopic fictional frame of the incident, describing in detail the events that lead up to the narrator's killing of the young soldier and ending with a version of the event that suggests that the young man does not die at all.” Calloway elaborates on the shame O’Brien deals with. The presence of shame is almost impossible to avoid. O’Brien visualizes tiny blue flowers by the victim's head perhaps to see the beauty in a gruesome scene. The flowers and butterfly represent nature contrast to war. O’Brien releases life goes on although he may always feel shame when thinking about the man he
O’Briens story, “On The Rainy River”, portrays the idea of shame. The story begins with O’Brien explaining how he never told this particular story to anybody before. O’Brien struggles with the decision to go to war or to flee. O’Brien feels a physical rupture in his chest over the decision so he makes a trip to the Tip Top Lodge on the border of Canada (O’Brien 45 ). He feels if he makes the decision to flee he will receive hate for being unpatriotic or unmasculine. He decides he simply could not bare the social embarrassment of fleeing. He feels he will lose the respect of his family and community. O’Brien feels shame about going to war against his principles. O’Brien displays the emotional side of being drafted into war. The decision the conflicts his morals with demands of his country. The only way O’Brien can avoid shame is by going to war which causes him shame as …show more content…
The story revolves around O'Brien's first time killing someone. He feels such shame over the occurrence he even writes the story in third person. He negotiates his confusion and feelings by creating a fantasy. He copes with the shame by imagining the man's life as is he never died. O'Brien imagines the Vietnamese soldier is a student like him, has morals such as he does, just going to war to please to country and fulfill a patriotic duty.(O’Brien 121) Author Catherine Calloway writes, “…and who, like the narrator, perhaps went to war only to avoid "disgracing himself, and therefore his family and village" (142). [ 5] "Ambush," the story immediately following "The Man I Killed," provides yet another kaleidoscopic fictional frame of the incident, describing in detail the events that lead up to the narrator's killing of the young soldier and ending with a version of the event that suggests that the young man does not die at all.” Calloway elaborates on the shame O’Brien deals with. The presence of shame is almost impossible to avoid. O’Brien visualizes tiny blue flowers by the victim's head perhaps to see the beauty in a gruesome scene. The flowers and butterfly represent nature contrast to war. O’Brien releases life goes on although he may always feel shame when thinking about the man he