Effects of War
People who serve in wars are affected by them for the rest of their lives. In the fiction novel The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, it is explained through stories how the war can leave long lasting effects on people. Everyone is scarred by the war, but some have better ways of handling the trauma than others. Wars can change who you are. The Vietnam War had the effect of taking innocent young men and making them unstable. Even though Norman Bowker left the Vietnam War, the memories of the war did not leave him. For example, when Norman is unable to save his friend Kiowa, he writes to O’Brien and says, “’That night when Kiowa got wasted, I sort of sank down in the sewage with him…Feels like I’m still in deep shit’” (156). He could not escape the guilt of letting his friend die. In addition, Norman is unable to express his feelings through writing, which is what O’Brien does to keep sane, so he suggests that O’Brien write a story about him and says, “’I’d write it myself except I can’t find any words, if you know what I mean, and I can’t figure out what exactly to say’” (157). Norman ends up hanging himself because …show more content…
Rat Kiley was the medic, and saved many of the others’ lives including Tim O’Brien. For example, when Tim O’Brien was shot and lying on the ground, he said how Rat Kiley, “Every so often, maybe four times altogether, he trotted back to check me out. Which took courage” (189). Rat starts to go a little unstable, and what once was a calm and good-humored medic was now a gory-minded man. For instance, he pictured things like, “how much the guy’s head weighed, like how heavy it was, and what it would feel like to pick up the head and carry it over to a chopper and dump it in.” (222) Rat decides to shoot himself in the foot to escape the thoughts war has brought him and how it has changed his
People who serve in wars are affected by them for the rest of their lives. In the fiction novel The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, it is explained through stories how the war can leave long lasting effects on people. Everyone is scarred by the war, but some have better ways of handling the trauma than others. Wars can change who you are. The Vietnam War had the effect of taking innocent young men and making them unstable. Even though Norman Bowker left the Vietnam War, the memories of the war did not leave him. For example, when Norman is unable to save his friend Kiowa, he writes to O’Brien and says, “’That night when Kiowa got wasted, I sort of sank down in the sewage with him…Feels like I’m still in deep shit’” (156). He could not escape the guilt of letting his friend die. In addition, Norman is unable to express his feelings through writing, which is what O’Brien does to keep sane, so he suggests that O’Brien write a story about him and says, “’I’d write it myself except I can’t find any words, if you know what I mean, and I can’t figure out what exactly to say’” (157). Norman ends up hanging himself because …show more content…
Rat Kiley was the medic, and saved many of the others’ lives including Tim O’Brien. For example, when Tim O’Brien was shot and lying on the ground, he said how Rat Kiley, “Every so often, maybe four times altogether, he trotted back to check me out. Which took courage” (189). Rat starts to go a little unstable, and what once was a calm and good-humored medic was now a gory-minded man. For instance, he pictured things like, “how much the guy’s head weighed, like how heavy it was, and what it would feel like to pick up the head and carry it over to a chopper and dump it in.” (222) Rat decides to shoot himself in the foot to escape the thoughts war has brought him and how it has changed his