The Vietnam War is infamous for the controversy it brought upon the United States between the people and the military about whether the war efforts were worth the devastating effects it produced. Many people pushed for the war to take place; however, others fought for peace and the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. During this time, gender roles were prevalent, as men were made to go forth and serve the nation, while women were to stay in the states, tend to the households and send hope and love in the form of letters to their men overseas. Gender roles are usually implemented and reviewed as a general look into society at a given point in history as they provide a basic blueprint of the societal standards. By distorting these images of women and fellow soldiers in his novel, The Things They Carried, O'Brien challenges the reader's concept of the stereotypical characteristics assigned to men and women based on the society in which they live.

Unlike today's society, in the 1950's-1970's men and women had certain duties and behavioral qualities that were expected of them. Typically, the man was supposed to provide for and protect the family, while the woman was supposed to keep the household and support the family. When the Vietnam War arose, the common conception of gender roles remained the same, with the exception of women supporting men through letters and items of sentimental value that served as reserves of hope for the men overseas. 

In the excerpt presented by The Carolina Reader, O'Brien reflects greatly on the relationship between Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and Martha. Martha is painted as the average women of the period as she is portrayed as delicate and able to conform to the common housewife expectation. Though Martha is not romantically involved with Lt. Cross, her character is a representation of the how the female gender role was perceived during war because she remains at home to tend to her everyday life, but sends hope and support to Cross in various forms. Martha is described as a young college girl that infatuates Lt. Cross, so much that he keeps all of her letters "folded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack" and just thinking of her gives him hope for the future (O'Brien 303). Martha's letters indirectly lend support by providing Lt. Cross a mental outlet to escape the horrors of war. Later in the novel, Lt. Cross receives another item, a pebble, from Martha that soothes and comforts him as he, "[carries it] in his mouth, turning it with his tongue, tasting the sea salt and moisture" that reminds him of home (O'Brien 307). Not only does this pebble represent the love Cross carries with him, but also the burdens of war from which he is trying to escape through thoughts of home and the girl he loves. Though Martha does not send these items as tokens of affection, Cross places sentimental value in them simply because he loves her and views her as his support from home, again implying that the role of a female was to support the male and give him something to fight for.

Mary Ann, another female character, is the opposite of Martha in that she contradicts the common female role during the war. Though Mary Ann is not discussed in the excerpt from The Carolina Reader, she is featured in the original text, The Things They Carried. When Mary Ann is first introduced, she is made out to be your average female that plays to the common gender roles of war, but this image is quickly twisted when she enters the war zone to visit. Mary Ann challenges the common female gender role by breaking the rules of society and venturing off into the war zone with a squadron of Green Berets. The mere act of going into the war zone sets Mary Ann apart from the idealistic woman because it challenges the image of women being "pure" and "innocent". In the academic journal, The Role of the Ideal Female , it says that, "women who never go to war are not innocent so much as ignorant of their own capacity for violence", posing the idea that once women are free from the limitations of society and their given roles, they are free to become instinctive and show their true potential (Smiley 604). The war brings out the side of Mary Ann that is primitive and violent in nature, again contrasting to Martha who follows the societal standards of being prim and proper instead of challenging them with such behaviors. These characteristics oppose the gender role of the female because instead of purity and innocence, they radiate male behavior and contradict the image of the defenseless "damsel in distress"; in a way these characteristics show that women can play the same role as men, breaking the barrier of gender roles. 

Not only does O'Brien challenge female gender roles, but he also highlights the contradictions that war creates for the male gender roles. During the period of the Vietnam War, young men were supposed to willingly go overseas to fight for their country. Men were perceived as strong and valiant, but contrary to popular belief, not all men were excited to go off to war. With the war came the revelations of weakness, with each friend shot and killed another piece of the fighting soldier chipped away. Many men died in the Vietnam War and in the excerpt from The Carolina Reader, O'Brien tells of the death of Ted Lavender, saying that, "after the chopper took Lavender away  Kiowa explained how [he] died, [and] Lieutenant Cross found himself trembling" (O'Brien 311). Looking at this account, it is clear to see the emotional toll that is placed on a soldier during war, with the loss of a friend, Cross tries to hide his emotions but can only cover so much. Where men are depicted as strong and capable, O'Brien reveals the truth, showing the pain and raw emotion in his accounts of war that the common soldier is challenged by each day during the battle. In the war stories, men are shown to be afraid, they struggle with, "a kind of emptiness, a dullness of desire and intellect and conscience and hope and human sensibility" (O'Brien 310). The male gender role is challenged by the many male characters in The Things They Carried because they are shown as vulnerable instead of invincible.

In times of conflict, gender roles are often challenged as new elements are mixed into everyday life. During the Vietnam War, gender roles for both males and females were supported and refuted, as half of the population conformed where the other half rebelled. By distorting the common concept of gender roles in war-time society, O'Brien was able to challenge the ideal of gender roles for both males and females during the Vietnam War, posing the question of whether or not certain behaviors and characteristics can really define the role of a person based on their gender. 

