
“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a literary work set during the Vietnam War in which the author places himself as the protagonist in stories loosely based on his real life experiences throughout the war. This text entails Tim O’Brien’s fictional company which is comprised of characters that had different mindsets, as well as different burdens they each had to carry with them both physically and emotionally. Each soldier in the company carried different items depending on what they needed in order to make the journey through hell. Some required comfort, others required protection, and some both comfort through protection; these men clung to anything that could help make their situations better in order to cope with war. They also had to carry burdens such as responsibility, loss, and fear. Emotions that could weigh on a soldier more than their equipment. Factors that could not be taken off even after returning home. Vietnam was an unkind war and traumatized many men. Soldiers came home and had difficulties with living an everyday life and suffered from PTSD. These men dealt with great difficulty in carrying out even ordinary jobs; many would end up homeless, depressed, and mistreated. Vietnam was a detrimental decision for many and could’ve been prevented if it were not for President Richard Nixon’s decisions at the time. This would have saved countless lives of many soldiers that died in Vietnam, and equally as important, it could have saved the ones that survived Vietnam. 

America went into Vietnam in order to prevent a communist government from taking over. This began with bombings of the communist’s strongholds and the sending in of troops by Lyndon B. Johnson. Nixon was elected on his promise to end the already very much hated war by the American people. This promise; however, would not be followed through as Nixon soon made clear that he “had no intention of becoming "the first president of the United States to lose a war." To him, that meant that he had to sustain the anticommunist government in Saigon at least through his own term in office. On the other hand, the Vietnamese communists, north and south, who had fought a nationalist and a revolutionary struggle against the Japanese, the French, and the Americans since the Second World War, would not abandon their cause.” (Fitzgerald p. 57). It raged on for an arduous seen years with the steady pull of troops back home while expanding the war into areas such as Cambodia. This unwanted war drafted many young men into the army who were then sent off to fight for an unknown cause. Many tried to avoid the draft and would even go to lengths of injuring themselves before heading to a country that was rumored to be a living hell. O’Brien himself even had plans to escape to Canada to avoid the draft, but at the last second, he managed to summon up the courage to stay—a choice that ultimately resulted in his being drafted. Vietnam was a nightmare, and no one wanted to be sent there. The war ended only when the country was over taken by the enemy; “America slowly pulled out of Vietnam after several peace treaty attempts and were finally forced out when the communists and rebels took the capital of Vietnam and the last American chopper took off from the US embassy” (Fitzgerald p. 57). 

It was popular for soldiers to take something that was easy to carry with them—something to remind them of home, loved ones, or just to remind them that there is more to their life than war. Soldiers would carry things in general to feel more protected and secure to ease their minds, as unfocused and paranoid soldier isn’t a good soldier. In The Things They Carried O’Brien bases each character on a certain types of soldiers he saw while in Vietnam. His character Tim O’Brien is a basic narrator and loosely based on himself. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is the leader of his company and must struggle with the responsibility of keeping his men safe while also struggling with his personal life and emotions. Other characters like Ted Lavender represent the scared soldiers that relied on drugs to be able to function in the jungles of Vietnam. Religious soldiers, soldiers that acted tough and mean, and soldiers that reflected the personalities of many men that were actually there in Vietnam are all represented in O’Brien’s novel. Each character has their own inner conflicts and learns to try and carry these while trying to fight a war. They carry objects that make them feel safe and things that help to comfort a man in hell. Objects range from bibles to condoms, extra guns and a radio, letters from home and photographs. Many carry dope to calm themselves and deal with the reality of war in their own way. Whatever they carry, they have something to keep them motivated and moving. Physical objects can provide comfort, and that comfort is irreplaceable in a situation that could easily end a life. That constant fear of dying is a palpable source of tension—one that can drive a man insane; in turn, these physical objects focus the soldiers upon their humanity and their connection home. The lack of understanding of the actual reasons driving them to war caused a lot of soldiers to fall into a rhythm of apathy—carrying out the same routine every day, which was patrolling around the country just looking for rebels to shoot. A war cannot be won if nobody thinks it can be, and a healthy-minded group of soldiers is not a situation that arises from this thought process. In many ways, Vietnam was hell, and objects made it a little easier for the soldiers to cope with it. 

Emotional burdens can make or break men. Cross carries around the death of his men and blames himself for not doing a better job at protecting them. He blames it on his love letters from a girl he went on a couple dates with back home. He carries them with him to ease his mind, and he believes that his imaginary relationship and daydreaming caused him to get distracted and not have his guard up. While his guard is down, Ted Lavender gets shot in the head after returning from a bathroom break. As a result, Cross burns the letters that he carried releasing the weight of uncertainty about whether a girl loved him or not. This weight is only lifted temporarily, and it is soon after replaced with the heavier burden of guilt and grief. While this new burden he carries eats him up, it also allows him to stay focused and to do a better job of protecting his men. Just as each soldier carries something different, each soldier has a different reaction to Lavender’s death. Some cope by making jokes,, others cope by not talking about it at all. Some cope by using Lavender’s own stash of dope. Lavender’s death his carried by all of the men even after the war. They carried their experiences and stories after the war and found it hard to confide in individuals that would even understand. Norman Bowker carries his psychological burdens alone and eventually ends up hanging himself. One of the most important characters is also the author—it becomes clear that O’Brien copes by sharing his stories that he carries with his readers.

After the war, many soldiers came home to a very different environment than what they were used to for a long period of time. Their mental state had been completely rearranged. First the unwillingness to enter war was not healthy for soldiers who did not want to fight at all. Wars are won with people who are willing to fight and serve to accomplish what needs to get done. For the Vietnam War, America did not have that edge. Not exact objective in the first place made fighting even more difficult. One cannot simply capture and defeat a rebellion. A rebellion is more like a movement and an idea for change, and too many people believed in their cause in Vietnam while American soldiers were just wanting to go back home. The Vietnam war was a compilation of severe weather in a jungle like environment making it hard to trek through, and the southern rebels were unidentifiable making almost anyone they encountered into an enemy. They couldn’t interrogate civilians, and since the rebels were mostly civilians, it gave soldiers a disadvantage and created paranoia for most soldiers. Combine these facts with exposure to combat and death of fellow men, and what occurred was a severely negative impact for the soldiers who survived Vietnam; this led to, what they called at the time, Post Vietnam Syndrome. PVS was characterized by “combat related nightmares, anxiety, anger, depression, alcohol and/or drug dependence, and poor responsiveness. The term post-traumatic stress disorder was not used in the DSM until the DSM-III was published in 1980 under anxiety disorders. Prior to that this condition was viewed as stress response syndrome, which was a type of gross stress reaction.” (Beggs). And once they did come home where they were supposed to be accepted as American war heroes, they were rejected by society and were labeled as murderers. Before Vietnam, veterans were encouraged to tell their stories and were looked up to by the American people, but the war was hated so much by society that civilians took it out on the soldiers who fought it. Because of this prejudice, vets kept their stories to themselves and never got the opportunity talk about it with other people which often times led to a breaking point and onset of PTSD.;“ onsets [of which] can be triggered by something reminding the individual of the stresses of combat like loud noises. Other ways to trigger traumatic feelings from war are with other feelings of stress. If a Vietnam veteran had some trouble adapting to civilian life and many years later he experienced life changing events, usually for the worse, it might trigger some PTSD symptoms.” (Beggs). Vietnam veterans have been through hell both in Vietnam and in the United States and deserved better than the hand they were dealt. 

The Things They Carried helped people understand what a soldier went through in Vietnam and how they had to cope with being forced to go because of the draft, which caused stress and anxiety. It showed the burdens they carried—whether it was physically or emotionally during and after the war. Both history and this text show that veterans need to share their stories and talk to people about their experiences so that their burdens they carry can be lifted and shared.  
