Analysis of The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien - Essay Example

?Introduction Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a fiction story based on the personal experience of war in Vietnam. It has many to dowith the construct of O’Brien’s feelings and suggestions on the topic of war and people involved in it. On the other hand, the theme of abstract versus concrete talking on the things and events in the story is especially highlighted throughout the book. It is done to imply the idea of what soldiers carried in Vietnam. In this vein, it is possible to suppose different equipment with them. However, a careful writer would point out features of immaterial nature that the soldiers carried throughout the ocean up to Vietnam. Those things of intangible nature are bigger than the things themselves (Bloom 27). Thus, along with grenades, canteens, and lice, Vietnam War made American soldiers carry their thoughts, dreams, emotions of love and fear across the battlefield. Evaluation The story of Tim O’Brien is a justification of how people coped with the war once they were trapped into the obligatory conscription. All characters in the story were quite young. However, all of them were sent in the hell of war and military conflict. Their hopes seem to fall in oblivion. However, the things they carried in their heart were too significant for them so that they could not just die. First of all, one has to pay attention to the Lieutenant Jimmy Cross who carried sweet memories of his girl Martha. In fact, he could get closer to her through keeping lots of letters of love with him. It was a so-called rite of devotion for Jimmy Cross. His carriage of love was too weighty and precious for him so he could not fail to fold it in plastic and place it on the bottom of his rucksack (O'Brien 1). He was one to take care of his state of heart and mind until the end of the war and final release to his hometown. Hence, Jimmy Cross knew what was of great importance to him at the moment despite of what was necessary to bring. As a matter of fact O’Brien notes that “the things they carried were largely determined by necessity” (O'Brien 2). All of the characters, Dave Jensen, Ted Lavender, Henry Dobbins and others, tried to put their eyes and minds on something unrelated to the war. Of course, they were scared, but they got accustomed with the reality around them as they knew they could not just escape. This is why they had to carry things of material and immaterial weight in order to survive. On the other hand, to carry things meant for everyone to take them on back and carry to the destination point. It goes without saying that all of the soldiers were to hump photographs of their close relatives or beloved girls which they had to carry through the burdens of jungles and traps everywhere (O'Brien 3). Henceforth, the author tends to underline a set of symbols in the story figuratively discovering the subtle side of each soldier’s soul. It is an alleged test for humane and morale in everyone notwithstanding they cope with violence, deaths, and losses of military friends. War had become a personal purgatory for the main characters of the story and, therefore, they had to survive for the sake of what they all believed in. The question is that O’Brien emphasizes the weighty ammunition each among the characters should carry through the battlefields of war. Notably, he even points out the exact weight of everything one could carry at the time. Their likes shared in normal life were also interrupting their duties of killing the enemy. It crossed their minds every now and then. Even Lieutenant Jimmy Cross had a thought of Martha when he was likely to be caught in a tunnel trap (O'Brien 11). It is about time to outline that the inner world of a man despite of the circumstances and situations he placed in is more powerful in action. Moreover, it was symbolically significant for everyone in the story that a kind of mascot should take care of them. It is all about superstition which comes additionally to a man’s professionalism and experience. In this respect Jimmy Cross carried a good-luck pebble, Dave Jensen with a rabbit’s foot in his pocket; Norman Bowker carried a thumb given by Mitchell Sanders (O'Brien 12). They all firmly believed in their luck due to the little things they carried. They were not so silly to refuse from their mascots. It was an additional hue of hope for everyone. With all that material stuff at their disposal, the main characters of the story carried their own lives (O'Brien 15). It was a sacrifice each among soldiers could pay for the ideals of the Vietnam War. However, it made everyone accurate and too persistent in surviving with no point on weakness and cowardice. All of them were patriots capable of doing what the country asked them to do. Here lies a metaphoric transition toward why the things they carried were not that heavy as the ideas which they believed in. Moreover, they could not stand against their natural feelings of friendship, devotion and coherence. It is especially seen on the example of Jimmy Cross who got trembling and crying immediately after he knew how Lavender died from Kiowa (O'Brien 15). This is one of the first evidences of the most precious thing the main characters carried throughout the war. To say more, it is an evidence of the most precious sacrifice with roots coming to the infinity of Lavender and others’ lives in heaven after they were trapped in hell. Everyone knew a possibility of being killed, but it was just a particular percentage relevant to a part of the army in Vietnam. The thing is that no one wanted to make his fear evident to the rest of the military fellows: “Some carried themselves with a sort of wistful resignation, others with pride or stiff soldierly discipline or good humor or macho zeal” (O'Brien 19). Normally, everyone knew about the threat of being dead in the battlefield, but no one could refuse from the ideals of brevity, courage, and compliance with the commands. Thus, the symbol of a joke stands for a travesty on a possibility to be dead in the story. All in all, the story of Tim O’Brien is about those directly involved into war. All of the characters were engaged into the ominous game called “War,” but their thoughts could drive them to a sort of little happiness and joy. In this respect one should understand the symbolism of why Lieutenant Cross burns out all photographs and letters of Martha. He realized that the war concerns with those who take direct part in it. Once, he realized that the image of his girlfriend would never be vanished out of his mind. Thus, material evidences (letters and photographs) do not really matter when the memories are always fresh. One of the main metaphors in the story is that the things the main characters and soldiers of Vietnam on the whole carries were mostly inside them. Outside ammunition and weapon they carried were all about the necessity and duty. However, everything Jimmy Cross, Ted Lavender or Dave Jensen carried inside them was possibly even heavier for them. Say, it touches upon the situation when Lieutenant Cross or someone else promised to be back, and such a promise should be kept by all means. Nonetheless, everyone in the story comes to the conclusion that the former world has nothing to do with the world of war “where men died because of carelessness and gross stupidity,” as Lieutenant Cross admits it (O'Brien 23). Got used with such a reality, one delves more and more into the state of affairs around the place of military conflict. The symbol of survival encircled into a vortex of dreams and hopes, though there are no grounds to nurture them when people die all around, is, perhaps, the pivotal throughout the story. It stands against the logic of survival in the fields of war. One of the most significant postulates of war is to never go upset or got in despair. In this respect complaints and quarrels go apart with the exact idea of what it means to be a leader and lead your group into the battlefield. Among the rest of the characters, Lieutenant Cross is likely to be the first to realize it: “But Lieutenant Cross reminded himself that his obligation was not to be loved but to lead” (O'Brien 25). It was of some axiomatic norm for him and a model to take by the rest of the soldiers. What is more, the symbol of luck which every soldier carried in his heart takes place almost on every page of the story. In this respect, with luck in heart, Jimmy Cross writes a letter to Kiowa’s father or when Morty Phillips used up his luck (O'Brien 165, 184). All these episodes show different coloring of the word luck as somewhat unrelated to the theme of war with massacres and spontaneous traps to death. Taking a gamble on their lives, the main characters evoke to the meaning of luck in their lives within the hell. Once again, the thoughts and the feelings they carried were higher than the pain of injury and loss. Henceforth, the idea of immortal and immaterial things carried by soldiers is the standpoint of O’Brien’s concept of the human soul placed within the inhuman setting. Needless to say, the war makes a shift in human minds and souls due to the ominous and ferocious scenes soldiers run into every single moment. One of the most explicit statements is that “the aliveness makes you trembling” (O'Brien 77). It is a fixed idea or a reason why the war results in broken lives of people participating in it long after it ends up. Tangible weight Cross and others had on them every single day was easier than intangible feelings they had to carry on. The feelings of love, passion, happiness contradicted the feelings of sorrow, pain, fear, despair, and loss of a friend. This is why, being of psychological and moral nature, it was hard for everyone to bear his own burden when the days became longer and the army service seemed to be everlasting. The abstract idea of what makes people human and how they can save their humane is under discussion in the story. Dealing more with the commands from the headquarters, soldiers are just to follow them. However, no one pays attention to what it feels like to get rid of the dreaming about homes evident for every ordinary Vietnam soldier. It is a rush from oneself for the sake of getting wiser under difficult circumstances of the war. Therefore, Tim O’Brien managed to write quite a realistic story out of the fictional plot and main characters. Admittedly, his goal was not to simply describe the Vietnamese war environment. On the contrary, he aimed at debating on the real gist of the things all soldiers carried while going to the Vietnam War. It cannot be challenged due to a clear vision of the moral part in every human being. In addition, Lieutenant Cross and other characters tend to make their feelings dampened by the call of duty which they were engaged into. Conclusion To conclude, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried points out the problem of what was weightier for soldiers during the War in Vietnam. On the one hand, there is a detailed description of ammo and other equipment to be necessary as a means of killing. On the other hand, it is all about the inner state of each soldier during the war. Thus, along with grenades, canteens, and lice, Vietnam War made American soldiers carry their thoughts, dreams, emotions of love and fear across the battlefield. It goes without saying that all those hopes and dreams seemed heavier for all, since it prescribed a portion of precious meaning of life for the sake of somebody or something. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Tim O'Brien's The things they carried. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing, 2005. O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York, NY: Broadway, 1998. Read More