War Theme in O'Brien's The Things They Carried Essay Example

“War does not determine who is right - only who is left.” - Bertrand Russell, a British Mathematician and Philosopher, summing up WW1 and all the chaos created. War is the embodiment of physical and mental struggles that are so immense, it could tear anyone apart, and is vividly expressed in “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien; which presents the tangible and intangible weight that soldiers have to carry. From rifles and supplies, to love and guilt; all the experiences a soldier endures could bury them alive. However such struggles in the moment can bleed far past a war, and that’s experienced in “A Veteran Wonders: How Will PTSD Affect My Kids” by Brooke King; a traumatic retelling of a an Iraq veteran who happens to be the mother of two children, this mother's PTSD has caused immense changes to the families daily life. This form of guilt is similarly displayed in the poem, “Facing it” by Yusef Komunyakaa; the somber retelling of a veteran who is suffering overwhelming guilt from the death of his other comrades. These three pieces of literature demonstrate the quote, “All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory,” via suggesting that soldiers experience immense physical burdens and mental burdens during war that ends up lasting a lifetime.

During war soldiers sustain insufferable physical loads and trauma which could create massive blacklashes later in their life. These colossal endeavors are best exemplified in “The Things They Carried” specifically the enormous lists of materials one on the battlefield must carry, “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity … Together, [the necessary] items weighed between 15 and 20 pounds,” (O’Brien 2). The basic necessities that one needs to survive in such dangerous fields is already weighing down each soldier by 15-20 pounds. That’s a huge load for anyone to carry, especially these soldiers where they must walk countless miles on their feet, and are constantly being weighed down 15-20 pounds every step and every push. The addition of specialized equipment such as specific weapons, medication, and ammunition continues to add upon ones already physically draining weight. Such specialized equipment however is no paper weight, “Henry Dobbins carried the M-60, which weighed 23 pounds unloaded … Dobbins carried between 10 and 15 pounds of ammunition,” (O’Brien 6). These specialized equipment vary widely however the one commonality between all of them is the immense weight each exude. The roughly 33-38 pounds of specialized equipment on top of the 15-20 pounds of necessities, one’s looking at about 48-58 pounds weight that one has to carry. If one were to ever wish to acquire or carry other belongings, it’s an addition to 48-58 pounds of weight, and one feels this burden with every step they take. Not only does this quickly drain one's stamina but it’s also a bolder that drastically slows one's movement down to a brisk walk. Additionally the amount of excess weight that’s being applied onto one's ligaments, bones, and tendons is something that is extremely new to one's body. This shock or prolonged stress on any part of one’s body could cause serious damage, from pulling of muscles and ligaments/joint issues, to full on fracture. The immense amount of struggle one has to endure isn’t painful at the moment, but could cause long lasting issues that no one wants to see. And such sluggish movement could create some nasty scenarios especially if one’s already drained and is in the middle of combat; the irony is that these weights are both the things that could kill a soldier and keep a soldier alive. Thus, the physical burdens that a soldier must endure during war could cause serious damage not only to one's body in the moment, but more dangerously could cause immense side effects in one’s later years, for aging causes everything to deteriorate.

On the other side of the spectrum, is mental strain; although physical burdens are tough and seriously dangerous, one’s mental health is far more important. These traumatize soldiers experience something like no other and is best expressed through the story “A Veteran Wonders: How Will PTSD Affect My Kids” specifically in the way the veteran interacts with her kids, “I remember Zachary coming up to me when he was five years old, telling me that he had a nightmare about a man trying to shoot him. Though my son has never been exposed to violent behavior,” (King 13). This Iraq veteran has not only had her children witness her in the middle of her suffering from PTSD, but also now gain these symptoms and ideas that are nothing like what a toddler should be thinking of. And are now constantly fearing and confused as to where these experiences are coming from and why they're feeling this way even though they’ve never experienced it. This could be boiled down to the mother and her PTSD, specifically the way she bursts forth during her spontaneous attacks, from talking about something completely irrelevant, to acting out some sort of physical violence, or just some form of holler. The mother and the way she’s reacting due to her immense trauma from fighting in Iraq has caused her to lose sight of herself and since her children are so young and impressionable. These sad and traumatic out bursts will seem normal to these kids and they’ll get a really twisted form of reality. Additionally the poem “Facing It” also expresses a similar concept in which a veteran has suffered some form of guilt or trauma from fighting war, and now they’re experiencing this guilt over and over again in phases. And this is expressed through the somber way this veteran looks at this memorial, “ A white vet’s image floats closer to me, then his pale eyes look through mine,” (Komunyakaa 25). Prior to this semi-hallucination this veteran was looking at these visitors and feeling immense guilt, from the seeing that he’s alive but not their beloved makes the speaker feel all the more guilty. And on top of that the tears that follow also adds the guilt that this veteran feels. However this hallucination that this veteran is seeing is extreme proof that this veteran has sustained so much trauma that caused him to see things, things that make him think of his old comrades, the people he didn’t want to see dead. But ended up 6 feet under which could make the lives of anyones into an immense guilt fest. These two pieces of literature both create this similar idea of how war causes insanity of the highest degree, from spontaneous actions to hallucinations; war has caused these veterans to relive their time in battle and relive the pain and guilt felt that was derived from war.

When it comes to the quote “All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory,” it suggests that war causes immense physical and mental strain on one's person and body, that it’s practically like reliving the war over and over again. The physical burden one must go through is colossal, for the weight one must carry slows down every part of their body, causing slow movement which is dangerous and causes immense stress to be placed upon joints and limbs. The mental trauma one goes through causes crazy symptoms to occur, and these symptoms end up creating immense emotions from guilt to sadness, and even suicidal, whatever the symptom; the emotions one experiences post war is eat someone alive.