The Things They Carried: Jimmy Cross - Book Report/Review Example

al Tittle Unfortunately, despite the evident intellectual evolution of humanity wars still remain a current issue. In our planet, when people at some moment in time decide to reallocate resources and lands or simply to demonstrate their power, these moves most often provoke the initiation of a military conflict with terrible outcomes such as hundreds, thousands, millions of deaths. For instance, the XXth century was especially fruitful for such events: the map of Europe changed dramatically in the course of two World Wars and there were numerous of local conflicts which were inflamed all over the world- from Latin America to Asia. Additionally, the Cold War between the United States and the USSR caused numerous conflicts in the most remote areas of the planet, such as Afghanistan and Vietnam. Consequently, wars were and remain a mundane reality for many people. Besides, it seems that wars are an inevitable part of human civilization connected to our deep subconscious animal instincts and some incontrollable need for violence. What is undoubtful is that wars make people feel closer to death. During a peaceful life full of daily worries and troubles a human being tends to forget that he is mortal; however, while at war there is no time for irrelevant problems since any second one can be shot dead. So paradoxically wars teach people to value life, and think of it from another perspective. Therefore, it is certain that those who have seen the war will never be the same, sometimes these people are called “lost generation” after Hemingway invented this term for the veterans of World War I. This means that people who endured the death, brutality, and absurdity of war are lost for normal life. In this context “The Things They Carried” is truly a literary masterpiece because it gives readers a possibility to see the inside of war in opposition to official statistics or simple mentioning of winners and losers. This story shows how people’s perception of life can change dramatically within a short period of time in the situation of war which is almost impossible in normal life. And Lieutenant Cross can definitely serve as the brightest example of such quick and extreme transformations. In this story we see a man full of hopes and dreams about his life with his beloved girlfriend in the beginning and a grown-up man who refused from his illusions and accepted severe reality. And this incredible transformation happens within several days. Certainly, noteworthy mentioning is that the story “The Things They Carried” was written by a man who experienced this bitter sweet taste of military life, and managed to express his emotions and observations in the text effectively. Tim O’Brien is one of few writers who were able to create realistic, ironical, and terrific at the same time portrait of war from the perspective of simple soldiers, people like us or our relatives and friends, forced to take weapons in their hands once. But it is still interesting to know some more information to understand the motives and feelings of soldiers better. Who were these soldiers? What were they fighting for? How their perception of war changed throughout their service? The United States of America participated in the war in Vietnam most intensively during four years- between 1965 and 1969 deploying almost half a million of soldiers (Ford, 2008). Allegedly, there were numerous reasons of why the United States participated in this military conflict; perhaps it was a natural continuation of the events from World War II, and another stage of the Cold War that followed afterwards. For instance, the increasing power of Communism in Asia with China getting more and more weigh on the continent and the loss of Cuba to Fidel Castro forced America to protect its piece in Vietnam. By that time, the American society accepted the concept of war as a paradigm. And the participation in military conflicts became a standard against which the society was measuring itself (Bell, 66). On the other side of opposition there were 320,000 of Chinese recruits and more than 22,000 of Russians supported by South Vietnamese, which had serious advantage (Ford, 2008). So when young American recruits made choice to participate in the war miles away from their native land they were fighting for their own freedom and the democratic values, however, at that time they could not imagine that this fight would result in their personal transformation. It often happens that people are unable to separate their personal destiny from the destiny of their county, and in case of war in Vietnam the whole nation achieved the chance to become the participant and the driving force of the world history. It is noticeable that the troops composed of professional military men along with young and inexperienced recruits participated in their first operation. For example, in the U.S side “conscripts and not professional troops” were often used for the front line formation; as a result, this strategy was often criticized in the American press. Thus far, Americans troops had to use traditional methods of war tactics while their opponents the Viet Cong Army utilized guerilla tactics – attacking and moving back quickly. Moreover, the possibility of Viet Cong soldiers to wear as civilians and merge into village life easily was a serious advantage for the Northern Army. The men who were sent to Vietnam were mostly very young Americans (the average age of soldiers was 19) from lower social groups. Consequently, they had little or no experience, did not know the local language, and were unable to determine whom from the local population they could trust. This American front line troops were usually called “grunts” because of the sound they produced when sitting which was connected to the tightening of lugs with heavy backpacks (Trueman, 2014). The age and lack of experience of the soldiers in Vietnam is important because most young people still live in their dreams and illusions if not delusions. But the war, such an abrupt and tough period, serves as awakening for boys turning them into mature men who are able to stand by their goals and their country. Devastating psychological tension was another element of service in Vietnam as probably in any other place. However, Vietnam was different in many aspects for many young Americans (Werman, 2013). The reason is that Vietnamese jungles were exceptionally difficult locations to operate, and the recruits were maladapted to the exhausting Asian climate not taking into account that each their step could become fatal (Ford, 2014). O’Brien mentions that the land they were walking was literally and metaphorically covered with blood (Trueman, 2014). However, for soldiers the ability to pull oneself together in any critical situation is essential, that means that they need to cope with fear, anger, sorrow, and even aggression and act logically under any circumstances. Tim O’Brien recalls one of the most memorable episodes from Vietnam during which one of his fellow soldiers threw a pack of milk on a blind old man who was giving soldiers water from his well. The inexplicability and absurdity of this aggression shocked O’Brien for all his life and again proved that the psychological side effects of wars were impossible to measure (Werman, 2013). To understand the whole emotional load from seeing death and causing death, aggression, and blood all around I would like to refer to the evidence of an American photographer who returned from the war in 1969: “For nine years afterward, until 1978 I can honestly say that I was in an angry fog as a result of the war. I could function, but I had little direction or purpose. For several years I was very angry and could not talk to anyone about my feelings. I was hyperalert, slept with a knife under my pillow, had loaded weapons in my house, flew into instant rages, hated just about any bureaucracy, especially the U.S. government, had nightmares, felt emotionally numb, and exhibited other behaviors that are attributable to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In short, I did not belong anywhere, and I have been seeking my place – my dignity – for close to forty years” (Engelman, 165). In these circumstances it becomes evident why the main character in “The Things They Carried” was so paranoid and lost to the point that he could hold a stone sent by his “girlfriend” in the mouth. Even though, this gesture looks extraordinary for most people, for soldiers who are under enormous pressure of death and surrounded by inexplicable horror, anything can serve as an amulet, hope, and comfort (O’Brien, 471 & 473). Thus, for these yesterday children the war in Vietnam – a surrounding completely hostile and exotic, the experience of war was indeed shocking and unpredictable. O’Brien aimed to show what he once felt – that people who saw death so close will never perceive it as an abstract phenomenon because they changed somewhere deep-deep inside in some basic natural understanding of life (Werman, 2013). Also, it is not even important whether this is the death of a friend (though it is another story) or the death of an enemy- it brings reality back instantly. However, when people want to escape this reality they got into so brutally, they do all possible and impossible to do so. That is when it becomes clear how meaningful the things the soldiers agree to carry are to them. Surely, everyone in the story hides in the illusory word to avoid this enormous fear, grief, and sorrow he has to deal with. So everyone has got those things that help him personally to escape into better worlds: sex, religion, drugs, literature, and love after all. For instance, as stated in the story, “Until he was shot, Ted Lavender carried six or seven ounces of premium dope, which for him was a necessity. Mitchell Sanders, the RTO, carried condoms. Norman Bowker carried a diary. Rat Kiley carried comic books. Kiowa, a devout Baptist, carried an illustrated New Testament that has been presented to him by his father who taught Sunday school in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma” (O’Brien, 469). So, it can be inferred that while having a peaceful life people can spend years lying to themselves and pretending because they do not feel closeness to death and they are afraid. Since people believe that death will never come nor it will take someone else, it makes possible to leave everything for tomorrow: making dreams come true tomorrow, falling in love tomorrow, doing something real tomorrow. But while at war one can’t fool oneself because there is no tomorrow for a soldier, there is only here and now for at any given moment one can be dead. In this context the second sentence of the whole story that reads, “They were not love letters but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of rucksack” gains another important sense (O’Brien, 468). This sentence implies that Lieutenant Cross knew from the very beginning that Martha did not love him, and instead he refused to accept the truth and preferred living in his dreams: “On occasion he would yell at his men to spread out the column, to keep their eyes open, but then he would slip away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along the Jersey shore, with Martha, carrying nothing”. But the price people pay for escaping reality is exceptionally high especially at war that is what O`Brien aims to show in his story. Closeness of death, inability to postpone important things for tomorrow or change something another time return people to the present moments of their lives and present responsibilities along with present feelings. That is when people start feeling alive, really alive, smelling, touching, seeing, experiencing and enjoying things. This quote illustrates this moment of awakening in the best way: “He tried not to think about Ted Lavender, but then he was thinking how fast it was, no drama, down and dead, and how it was hard to feel anything except surprise. It seemed unchristian. He wished he could find some great sadness, or even anger, but the emotion wasnt there and he couldnt make it happen. Mostly he felt pleased to be alive. He liked the smell of the New Testament under his cheek, the leather and ink and paper and glue, whatever the chemicals were.” So for Lieutenant Cross the moment of awareness comes when one of the soldiers that he is in charge of dies because of his negligence, selfishness, and disregard for other people’s lives. As a result, this atrocious event forced the protagonist to finally face the truth, then he has to do the most serious and brave deed: take responsibility, refuse his illusions, and look at his fear straight in the eyes. Likewise, he then realizes that “his obligation was not to be loved but to lead” (O’Brien, 480). Such insights probably come when a person has nothing to lose anymore, and that is the most horrible thing that any war can teach. Works Cited Bell, David A. “When the Levee Breaks: Dissenting from the Draft.” World Affairs 2008: 59+. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. Engelmann, Ted. “Who Are Our Fathers?.” Journal Of American History 94.1 (2007): 163 – 171. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. Ford, Daniel. “Annals of Vietnam.” Vietnam: The Only War We’ve Got. Wardbird Forum, 1 Oct. 2014. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. O’Brien, Tim. “The Things They Carried.” Literature and its Writers: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Ann Charters and Samuel Charters. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2013. 468 – 481. Print. Trueman, Chris. “America and Vietnam (1965-1973).” HistoryLearningSite.co.uk. 2014. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. Werman, Marco. “Author Tim O’Brien on Hagel, Kerry and the Lasting Impact of the Vietnam War.” PRI’s The World 31 Jan. 2013. Literature Resource Center. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. Read More