
We as humans always tend to write in a way that reflects our culture, and ourselves but our writing doesn’t stay the same throughout our lives. As we live and move through different historical and cultural movements we are changed and thus our writing is changed. This change in our text can be anything from the style used, to the values we uphold, and what we focus our overall writing on. In The Things They Carried, we can understand more about the people and their culture based on the multiple elements used throughout the piece. 

The Things They Carried is a novel depicting the events of the Vietnam War, and is very successful in showing the readers what the war was really like, and the affects it had on everyone. It is also just as successful in showing the culture and certain cultural changes within the text. This is brightly shown in the novel through the use of many stories, contrasts, and descriptions of what each soldier carried with them. In the very beginning of the book, the author simply lists out all what they carry. It is mostly just military gear and such, but as he goes on the list grows. The gear just piles onto the shoulders of the young men. This massive weight can very simply symbolize the burden that they carry with them everywhere throughout the war. O’Brien even says, “They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried”(O’Brien 4). What they carry is nothing but death and destruction, which has a lot of metaphorical weight, and there is no one else other than himself or herself to carry this burden. Living this way can affect anyone drastically, because all they want is to be free, at home, in peace where they belong, and yet their government has sacrificed their life and cast them into war. This feeling is what changed their ideas towards the war and their government, and is part of what lead to the anti-war culture.

In addition to the gear they carry, many of these soldiers carried things that aren’t for necessity. They carried everything from salt, rations, and cards to pictures, letters and weed. These were often carried to bring them away from the horrors of death and war, for example lieutenant cross carries letters from his girl back home. He reads them to take his mind off the fighting, and to find happiness. Most authors wouldn’t dare do this but at one point O’Brien tells us of Crosses love for her and her utter beauty, and then in just snap, he jumps straight into a gory death scene. He describes Cross before by saying “He was buried with Martha under the white sand at the Jersey shore. They were pressed together, and the pebble in his mouth was her tongue. He was smiling.(O’Brien  6) and then jumps straight into “Right then Ted Lavender was shot in the head …”(O’Brien 7) By moving straight from a detailed love dream into the violence of war, the author gives us a contrast of before the war and during the war. In this instance the contrast within the text is what helps the readers to understand how Crosses culture has changed and why. His culture and the world around him made such a shift that to him it probably felt just as quick as it was said in the book. He uses this contrast in the text to show us the soldier’s emotion, and how it changed their views and ideas, and thus their culture as a whole. 

Just like the soldiers on the front, the war affected people back home as well. People had some of the same ideas as the soldiers in that, it was a pointless war and is not worth fighting in. people wanted their soldiers back and the war to be over, but not everyone felt this way. Some felt that this war was necessary to protect America’s interests, and needed to be fought. These strong and differing ideas split the nation in two, and created our own battle at home. A battle over the importance of the war and its overall worth. Many American youth were involved in this heavily as well, by initiating the anti-war movement and using riots and rallies, songs and poems to push their hate for the war. Part of the reason for their aggressive responses were because they felt that the soldiers had no voice and thought it was their job to help. It was these actions that brought forth the change in American culture, much of which was shown on television and in songs. An article by the L.A. times says “This new pop culture sensibility embraced a provocative anti-authoritarianism that offered a clean break from the sunny optimism of most films and music in the 1950s and early 1960s. The war sparked an era of distrust, paranoia and cynicism among musicians, filmmakers, novelists and comedians. It could be heard everywhere, but especially in pop music”(L.A. times 2). Much like how we could see the cultural change in the soldiers through the text, we can also see the same cultural shift on the home front because of the songs, shows, and more. 

Understanding that this time period had a huge historical and cultural impact on the people is very imperative to understanding the writing in this text. Even in the beginning of the story the author simply lists out the things they carried, they mean nothing to us. However, when he goes in depth about the soldiers and why they carry what they do, he gives us meaning behind it and brings us in on what he is trying to reflect to culture, his opinion and us. It is because of this that we can see a direct connection between an artist’s text and an artist’s culture in this novel and in any text.
