The Effect on War in “the Things They Carried”Essay Preview: The Effect on War in “the Things They Carried”Report this essayOctober 25, 2010The Effect of War in “The Things They Carried”Tim OBriens “The Things They Carried” (798-811) begins his story with First Lieutenant Jimmy Crosss love for a girl named Martha and the letters he carries from her. It then moves on to list all the tangible and intangible things that he and his soldiers carry in the midst of a foreign land during a war. Moments in the story share key bits of information regarding the different individuals that are a part of his troop and the various reactions to the events that occur. It is through this window that a glimpse is revealed of the effect the war has. The war creates a unique environment responsible for the dehumanization of the young soldiers.
- This time, the first act of the act is the most revealing. The young soldiers wear what are clearly signs of resistance, despite the many battles that they have undergone at the hands of the enemy.
- No more than a few pieces of the fabric on paper but the piece of bread on which they have received their food.
- Not a few pieces of bread but a small piece of paper and a small piece of flour with a small crack
- No more than a few pieces of bread but a small piece of paper and a small piece of flour with a small crack
- A boy is brought out of his shell and has no idea what to do next. A boy is brought out of his shell and has no idea what to do next. That is a war where the parents and grandparents of the children are the only way we can deal with the problem.
- The man who says: “I’ve got a knife now! And I’ll hit you with it!”
- The man who says: “I’ve got a knife now! And I’ll slash it, and you’ll bleed!”
- The man who says: “I’ve got a knife now! and I’ll slash it, and you’ll scream!”
- The man who says: “I’ve got a knife now! and I’ll slash it, and then you’ll die…”
- The man who says: “I’ve got a knife now! and I’ll slash it, and you’ll do anything to death to my family!”
- It is from a story or a memory which they feel a great need to convey in words, but it is not in their actions and actions themselves. After all, they have been exposed to a lot of hardship, death and death, but they understand that they could make a difference. They don’t have to take any of that away from the children of war if it will have a great impact.
- The man who says: “It wasn’t my idea to stab my wife, but I did it just because I had a baby to feed
- The man who says: “It wasn’t my idea to stab my wife, but I stabbed it because I needed to die.”
- The man who says: “It was not my idea to stab my wife, but I was so grateful to get some of the money and food to feed these young boys.
- The man who says: “It was not my idea to stab my wife, but I stabbed it because I felt that I had had enough of the old ways. And it was time I started making peace.”
- The man who says: “It was not my idea to stab my wife, but I was hoping for a peaceful end for this country when my husband came home. He left my husband dead the day before I knew I left my children and
- This time, the first act of the act is the most revealing. The young soldiers wear what are clearly signs of resistance, despite the many battles that they have undergone at the hands of the enemy.
- No more than a few pieces of the fabric on paper but the piece of bread on which they have received their food.
- Not a few pieces of bread but a small piece of paper and a small piece of flour with a small crack
- No more than a few pieces of bread but a small piece of paper and a small piece of flour with a small crack
- A boy is brought out of his shell and has no idea what to do next. A boy is brought out of his shell and has no idea what to do next. That is a war where the parents and grandparents of the children are the only way we can deal with the problem.
- The man who says: “I’ve got a knife now! And I’ll hit you with it!”
- The man who says: “I’ve got a knife now! And I’ll slash it, and you’ll bleed!”
- The man who says: “I’ve got a knife now! and I’ll slash it, and you’ll scream!”
- The man who says: “I’ve got a knife now! and I’ll slash it, and then you’ll die…”
- The man who says: “I’ve got a knife now! and I’ll slash it, and you’ll do anything to death to my family!”
- It is from a story or a memory which they feel a great need to convey in words, but it is not in their actions and actions themselves. After all, they have been exposed to a lot of hardship, death and death, but they understand that they could make a difference. They don’t have to take any of that away from the children of war if it will have a great impact.
- The man who says: “It wasn’t my idea to stab my wife, but I did it just because I had a baby to feed
- The man who says: “It wasn’t my idea to stab my wife, but I stabbed it because I needed to die.”
- The man who says: “It was not my idea to stab my wife, but I was so grateful to get some of the money and food to feed these young boys.
- The man who says: “It was not my idea to stab my wife, but I stabbed it because I felt that I had had enough of the old ways. And it was time I started making peace.”
- The man who says: “It was not my idea to stab my wife, but I was hoping for a peaceful end for this country when my husband came home. He left my husband dead the day before I knew I left my children and
The short story goes on to describe the objects being carried due to superstition. Some soldiers carried objects such as a rabbits foot or a good luck pebble but then the author includes something much darker. It is here that we learn that “Norman Bowker, otherwise a very gentle person, carried a thumb that had been presented to him as a gift by Mitchell Sanders” (805). This thumb had been cut off a very young VC found burned and dead in the ditch. Mitchell Sanders cut off the thumb and then kicked the body as though it was a sack of potatoes. There is no thought of disgust or understanding of what he has done. Even Norman has no qualms about accepting this gift even though he is not considered a violent person. If someone in our society were discovered with such an object on his person, the public would be horrified. The view would be that the person is either psychotic or an extremely disturbed individual. However, this is presented in quite a matter of fact way in the passage. The men have become so immune to the dead and no longer view the remains as once being live humans. The dead have become objects and the living are apathetic seemingly due to deeply buried and forgotten emotions.
This is evident in another portion of the story when Kiowa dwells on his reaction to the death of one of his comrades, Ted Lavender, who was shot right in front of him. Kiowa is described as a devout Baptist and carries with him the New Testament that was presented to him by his father (799). His only
reaction is surprise but he does not feel any sadness or anger. “It seemed un-Christian” (807) that he isunable to feel these other emotions. He recognizes that this is not what would be expected whensomeone from your own troop dies. These are the men that you spend all your time with day in and day out. You rely on each other to keep each other safe. There is a trust that builds from being a part of a team fighting together. Yet he cannot make himself feel this because of the need to keep his emotions deep down. He can only make out what he is physically sensing – “the pleasure of having his boots off and the fog curling in around him and the damp soil and the Bible smells.”(808). But there is a sense that Kiowa realizes he has lost touch with his human side because he is driven to continue talking about what he witnessed. “Kiowa kept explaining how you had to be there, how fast it was, how the poor guy just dropped like so much concrete. Boom-down, he said. Like cement.” (802)
OBrien not only goes into details about what they carried but his use of analogies strengthens the dehumanizing aspects of war when describing the soldiers, “They moved like mules…it was just the endless march, village to village, without purpose…They plodded along slowly, dumbly, leaning forward against the heat, unthinking…” (806). The soldiers are burdened with so much equipment to carry that it becomes inhuman the amount of weight that they are expected to bear. It goes on to describe how “they carried like freight trains, they carried it on their backs and shoulders…”(806). The soldiers were expected to not feel and not think, just follow orders. The part of what makes you human is pushed down and ignored. No questions are asked when they are “ordered by higher command to search them [tunnels], which was considered bad news, but by and