
In the short story The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, he talks from experience on the Vietnam War. We meet a character named Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and follow him throughout the book. Through his time struggling with the mental aspect of war, to him wishing the woman he loved back home loved him the way he loved her. This short story shows a side of war and the effects war has on the soldier’s mental status. It also brings the Vietnam War to light. Which is a war that is not vastly talked about in today’s society. The title brings a double meaning to the war. It not only shows the physical things the soldiers carried, but also showed the mental weight the soldiers had on their shoulders. 

Tim O’Brien published The Things They Carried in 1990, around 15 years after the Vietnam War ended. This was to show the world what it was like. What he experienced in Vietnam, and then wanted to share this with others. The American population, for the most part, did not know much about the war. People were confused about why we went to war, and what happened while our soldiers were over there fighting. This story was written to bring all these things into light. Along with many other topics. Society now could read this and see the effects war has on the minds of the people fighting. “By and large they carried these things inside, maintaining the masks of composure.” ( O’Brien, 339) This shows that everyone hid their emotions inside. This is what causes PTSD. It mostly comes from the things they have seen over there fighting. The images they cannot get out of their head, and the sounds they cannot erase. It is often said by veterans suffering from PTSD that it is like having split personalities and not being able to control it. Vietnam remains one of the wars most affected by this harmful mental disease. “The Vietnam War was such a catastrophe. Although precise statistics are not available, the incidence of psychiatric illness is thought to have risen more sharply among Vietnam veterans since the war than among veterans of previous conflicts such as World War II.” (Forman, Havas, Vol. 105, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 1990), pp. 173). This shows the vast effects that this war had on the people involved, it also shows the lack of knowledge and treatment during this time. Now, we have more advanced treatment options for this horrible mental disease, but still do not know the full effects this disease has on people. This is why this piece has significance, and this is why this piece is important. It brings more attention to this awful disease that affects so many across our nation and so many others. 

This is historically significant as well because this brought more attention to the treatment and awareness of this awful disease. New statistics show how devastating this war was to our soldiers. “In numbers, this new rate means that 236,000 veterans currently have PTSD from the Vietnam War, an enormous long-term emotional and human cost of war.” (Science, New Series, Vol. 315, No. 5809 (Jan. 12, 2007), pp. 184) Before people with PTSD were just written off as “different” after they returned from war. With pieces like this the disease is more vocalized and therefore it is more advertised as a real issue.  “The return home to a community which often treated the veteran with indifference or even open hostility contributed to lingering problems that the veteran had to deal with after discharge from military service.” ((Forman, Havas, Vol. 105, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 1990), pp. 174). This shows what the soldiers had to deal with after returning from Vietnam. This article goes on to say that soldiers were often more likely to obtain PTSD in Vietnam due to the youth of the soldiers, the rotation of combat, and the guerrilla warfare the soldiers had to experience. This put so much stress on them along with seeing death all over the place. Some of the soldiers just could not shake the images or thoughts that would race through their minds. However, with pieces like The Things They Carried it allows this disease to be seen and maybe somehow start advancement in recognition and treatment for the disease. This is how this is significant to the time. This shows a war that is not vastly known about and a disease that also was not vastly known about into the front and center. 

With this knowledge on PTSD in the Vietnam War, it also brings about overall knowledge on the Vietnam War. It allows us to take a look into what the soldiers saw over there, and what they experienced. It shows us what life was like. Why they clang so hard to items such as pictures, or anything that remotely gave them memories of home. This is simply because things were horrid there. Soldiers wanted to come home so badly, and carried anything with them that reminded them of home. Soldiers often carried pictures of their families or girlfriends in their helmet to remind them of home. In this short story O’Brien talks about Lieutenant Cross and his relationship with his pen pal back home named Martha. The letters she wrote was one of the things that he carried. “They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack. In the late afternoon, …… unwrap the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending.” (O’Brien, 328). This just shows the meaning of these items to the soldiers. Even though he was hoping they would be together, he kept them wrapped in plastic just to savor them. Just to savor any memory from home, and to have something to remember in such an awful place that was so unfamiliar to him. These letters were home to him, and any chance he could put his hands on them or read them he was back home. 

This short story also allows us to see what the war was possibly like through the eyes of a soldier. What their daily routine was, what they dealt with, what it was like fighting the enemy, and what Vietnam was like. O’Brien shows us through Lieutenant Cross what a solider might feel or what he might experience during his time in Vietnam. It shows a mentally tasking operation of fighting an enemy that you cannot see half the time. It shows the draining effects of seeing death everyday. Whether it be the enemy or your fellow soldiers. It shows what it is like to miss home. What it is like to miss someone, and wish you were with them every second of every day. It also shows that some people loved the thrill of killing others, that others wanted to be there. That they had no remorse for killing the enemy and even mistreated their bodies after dead. This is what the media saw. This is why there became riots and protests in America. They saw some soldiers having too much fun killing the Vietnamese and even mistreating their dead bodies after they had killed them. This was the particularly scaring part of the war. The bad side of the war that no one deserves to see or no one should even participate in. It happened though. It happened because there is a constant presence of evil in the world, and some people may have mental issues before the war. These people are not scared with PTSD, but scared with a sick mental illness that allows them to receive pleasure from mutilating a dead corpse. O’Brien shows this side of the war when a solider cuts off a boys thumb and keeps it as some sort of good luck charm. “He was quiet for a time, as if counting a pulse, then he patted the stomach, almost affectionately, and used Kiowa’s hunting hatchet to remove the thumb.” (334) This shows the sick individuals that sometimes get placed in war, and cause this type of trouble within the ranks. This also fuels the media back home. They have more to show the audience, and therefore this infuriates more people. The media then sees that the public loves it so they want more, and so it keeps going further and further until most everyone sees every soldier as a savage. 

When these soldiers arrived back home they often were not greeted with open arms from the American citizens. People often questioned why the Americans were over there fighting a war that was so deadly. These protests came a lot from this being the first war that was broadcasted on television. So people back in America saw all the violence that was going on and immediately had a problem with it. They saw soldiers having to shoot kids or mothers because they were threatening to kill them with bombs. This caused an outrage in America, and came with riots and nationwide protests. When these soldiers returned they were not always welcomed. They were met with protestors calling them baby killers and such. While this was going on, there were also soldiers returning that had PTSD. These soldiers were met with the same negative attention. Only making their memories come back and making their mental illness worse. This is happening because people had no idea about this terrible mental illness and did not know that people severely struggle with it. So these protestors bringing these memories back was not helping these soldiers at all. Even though they were protesting the war, little did they know that the majority of soldiers never wanted to be there in the first place. Either that or they wished that they were home as soon as they arrived. 

The Things They Carried opens up many conversations about the views of the Vietnam War, and what it looked like from the view of an actual soldier. It shows us the affects it had on people, and the life the soldiers lived while over there. It also gives us insight to the troubles they will have when they arrive back in America. Whether it be with the protestors, or whether it be from a far more serious issue now known as PTSD. This short story shows us what it was like to be a million miles away from home, and cling onto the things you have from home just to remind you of what home is like. These soldiers knew they had a job to do, but sometimes that job was blurry. A lot of confusion surrounded this war. Often even soldiers questioned why they were even there. This caused more frustration along the front, and it also caused more soldiers to want to go home. This created vulnerable mindsets, and doubt to creep in. This causing more room for PTSD to become a factor. PTSD comes about with people who are not in a stable mindset or under a tremendous amount of stress. Both of those qualities are exemplified in the soldiers in the Vietnam War. These were kids fighting an enemy they knew nothing about in a place that they knew nothing about. These kids were under the most stress of their lives. This is where this disease lies. So know that we know more about this disease we can maybe prevent it in the future. War times are a very stressful time for everyone involved, but it can be managed with proper care to our soldiers and people on the front lines. Mental illness needs to be one of the main focuses of our country over the next few years because mental illness literally affects everyone. Not just PTSD but all mental illnesses. We all know someone who is affected by these horrible diseases and the time is now to do something. This is the main point that The Things They Carried brings to the table. It shows that not only did these soldiers carry around things from home but they also carried around things on their mind. Things that were not good. Things that needed to be taken care of. 
