The Vietnam War had major repercussions due to the actions of soldiers and events that took place. The two major consequences of the war were how the soldiers were affected and how the image of the United States changed. The soldiers of the war suffered from mental illnesses such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety due to tragic experiences. These experiences that haunt soldiers include death of others and actions taken that are now regretted. The mental illness acquired by the soldiers cause them to suffer socially. Veterans of the war had trouble finding jobs due to how mental illnesses affected them. The regrettable actions of soldiers also were what caused the perception of the United States to be changed for other countries. Soldiers of the war were accused of certain misdeeds during the war. These misdeeds were described as soldiers killing innocent women and children. Whether these actions were intentional or not they still caused the United States image to change. Two stories that support the awareness of the Vietnam War are the short story “The Things They Carried” and the movie “Forrest Gump”. Both of these pieces take place around the period of the Vietnam War and revolves around the war influences people. Through observations of the similarities and differences of “The Things They Carried” and “Forrest Gump”, the audience can see that the Vietnam War had significant effects on the soldiers involved in it.

There are many similarities between “The Things They Carried” and “Forrest Gump”. Both stories use similar methods to portray a message about the Vietnam War. They both use a main character and their experiences to show the physical and psychological effects that soldiers obtained from the war. “The Things They Carried” uses Lieutenant Jimmy Crooks along with other soldiers to represent what the Vietnam War was like. Jimmy was more unique because of how he was effected differently from the war than others. Jimmy went into the Vietnam War with an emotional influence. An emotional thought is not a good to carry when going into war. Emotional thoughts along with war experiences can cause a person to obtain a mental illness.  Jimmy went into the war with a crush on a girl named Martha. He also brought photos of her into the war and wrote letters for her. Jimmy had these items to remind himself of Martha. The constant thoughts of Martha along with war experiences are what can cause the development of a mental illness. Jimmy notices that it is not good for him to keep fantasizing about Martha so he decides to burn the photos and letters.