
When two groups or nations must settle a conflict that has moved from simmer to boil, war is too often the typical way to settle differences. War is the most violent and traumatizing experience known to man and can torment a veteran for a lifetime. There is nothing like war, and there is nothing that will carry a more lasting and horrific effect on a person. Among the millions of war veterans around the world, Vietnam War veteran Tim O’Brien decided to channel his mental struggles from the war into his novel The Things They Carried (1990). 

The author thoroughly describes many of the physical items that the Vietnam soldiers would carry on a daily basis, including the weight of each item. He also continues to dream of a girl, Martha, that is in America during his time in Vietnam. She is a fantasy, however, and although they are not even together, he imagines a loving relationship with her, and wonders whether he will be able to return to her. O’Brien proves that the weight that the soldiers carried both physically and mentally are what left the biggest scars after the war.  In order to understand the significance of O’Brien’s descriptions, the reader must have a better understanding of the background and horror caused by the Vietnam War. In O’Brien’s novel, the weight of the Vietnam War is shown both physically and mentally carried by the soldiers who gave everything they had for their country. In order to understand O’Brien’s novel, the reader should have background knowledge and a different perspective on what they think they know about the Vietnam War. 

 His story evolves around a girl that he knows he will never be with, but always carries hope with him that someday he will. Martha, his love that has no love for him, is idolized and always thought about while O’Brien is in Vietnam. The author also uses actual physical weight, and the amount of weight each soldier carries during the war, as a narrative tool. He describes what each soldier carries on his back from day to day.  He includes the exact weight of ammunition and other tools of the soldier’s trade. O’Brien purposely uses the idea of “weight” to emphasize the amount of pressure and stress soldiers carried during the war; and continues to use weight to and as a metaphor for the stress once they become veterans. Once a soldier enters a war, it will ultimately change him in both positive and negative ways. War can transform a boy into a man just as fast as it can scar a man for life. The after effects (such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD) of the Vietnam war continue to persist in the lives of many individuals who took part in the fight. 

The Vietnam War was a treacherous and difficult war for the United States due to unfamiliar local terrain and the location being halfway across the planet. Conditions were extremely tough, which is why it took a toll on many of the wartime veterans both mentally and physically. The article by Bruce Bower called Deadly Aftermath for Vietnam Veterans explains exactly how terribly the war effected soldiers, based on their experiences when they returned home from the war.  Bower states how the war veterans came home and resorted to violent and quick deaths to escape the terrors of their war scars. He says, “Violent deaths, including automobile accidents, suicides, homicides and drug overdoses, accounted for most of the difference” (Bower 117). The experiences that Vietnam war veterans have gone through are beyond horrifying; some were so bad that they were driven to insanity and chose to take their own life to escape the misery. 

The Vietnam War’s background and history is far more gruesome than most students learn in the classroom, according to Bower. He notes that the post-traumatic effects that the veterans endured were directly caused from on-foot combat during the war. He states that, “The researchers conclude that ‘the post service excess of traumatic deaths among Vietnam veterans is probably due to unusual stresses endured while stationed in a hostile fire zone’” (Bower 117). The factors that contribute to veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder are directly related to the combat of war. This direct effect leaves the heaviest weight of all on the shoulders of veterans even after the war. 

Tim O’Brien’s describes in his novel the weights of all the materials and equipment each soldier would carry, and continues on by expressing how he believes the war was not just a physical challenge, but also a mental burden that will affect them for the rest of their lives. 

He describes, “-3.5 pounds with its firing device. They all carried fragmentation grenades – 14 ounces each. They all carried at least one M – 18 colored smoke grenade – 24 ounces. Some carried CS or tear gas grenades. Some carried white phosphorus grenades. They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried” (O’Brien 331). The war was much more than just what they carried. The mental and emotional weight of the war itself was far heavier than the materials on each soldier’s back. The American soldier during the Vietnam War gave everything he had and put his own life on the line to protect his country. 

The second article I found was written from a quite different perspective. The author described an interview and recalled many statements students made about a course they took involving the history of the Vietnam war. Many of the students were blown away when the truth of how terrible the war had been revealed. One student stated during the interview, “The sudden thought of what is must be like to live in a non-democratic country made me put things in perspective. I then realized how good my life is. Over 58,000 people died for the democracy I live in. [As I] passed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial for the final time, I gazed at this magnificent symbol and said a silent ‘thank you’” (Edwards 55). After learning of the war time experiences and the emotional weight that the veteran soldiers now carry, the students were better able to understand and respect the situations and challenges that veterans experience every day of their lives. Viewing the war from a totally different perspective and putting yourself in the shoes of a veteran will completely change the view of the reader while reading O’Brien’s novel. 

Background knowledge and a better understanding of a situation can allow a person to think differently and view things with a different perspective. Tim O’Brien’s brilliant novel, The Things They Carried, is a firsthand story that gives the reader the insight and feeling of being a wartime soldier. He describes the weight and exact measurements of nearly all of a soldier’s equipment in Vietnam, which ultimately allows the reader to visualize being in their place. With an increased wealth of knowledge of the gruesome Vietnam war, an individual will likely look at veterans differently and with a newfound respect. Understanding O’Brien’s story is only accomplished if the reader is able to read with an open mind and think of the physical and emotional weights the soldiers carry from a different perspective. 
