
Time and time again gender and the expectations that go along with, or are associated with gender play a very significant role in the way things go in society, whether it be how society is run, or how the people of the society behave; gender associations affect the way of life of individuals in a copious amount of ways. In a short excerpt from the book The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, gender and it associations are shown to play a significant role in the actions of the main characters, who are male soldiers during the Vietnam War. Despite all the horrors and hardships that war and bloodshed have to offer, these men decide to stick with it and stay put in Vietnam instead of finding routes to get out and be out of harm’s way back in the United States of America. Some may argue that this motivation that these male soldiers had to stay involved with the war primarily stems from their devotion and love for their homeland. However, it can be contended that their motivation does not primarily come from devotion, but rather fear: the fear of losing their masculine image. 

Throughout the excerpt of The Things They Carried, the necessity of strength and will power to carry out the events is emphasized immensely and indicates that there was only room for “real men”. The author, Tim O’Brien, constantly puts emphasis on the physical loads that all soldiers must carry through extensive lists of items; this suggests that soldiers needed not only strength, but also the will power to push on. For example, at the beginning of the excerpt, the author talks about the necessities the soldiers are bringing with them. He elaborates with a litany consisting of “P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water” (328, O’Brien). To go along with the burden that came with carrying everything, the soldiers also had the burden of carrying and dealing with past memories and emotions; soldiers were forced to push aside all sentimental feelings and focus on war related tasks. “They all carried the emotional baggage of men who might die” (338, O’Brien). The soldiers all experienced these deep feelings of sentiment and longing, but could not express themselves for the sake of their manhood. “They all carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run, freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down… They carried their reputations. They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing” (338, O’Brien). This fear of blushing forced the soldiers to mask how they felt and continue with their lives on the battlefield.

Mustering up the courage and will power to fight in the infamous Vietnam War was not only difficult, but also unwanted. Even soldiers who loved to fight, such as the Chicano soldiers, deemed the war unnecessary. For example, Raul Mosqueda, a Chicano soldier and Vietnam War veteran, said “ ‘Was I really gung ho about the service? No’ ” (Rosales). The setting of the Vietnam War along with all the burdens that came with being a part of it was an overwhelming amount to handle. But, despite all of that, soldiers still has to man up and cope with these hardships. “The brutality of this environment often required a stoic and martial demeanor, and each individual was forced to find inner strength and personal fortitude” and forced to behave in a masculine manner (Rosales). This masculine behavior was driven by the fear of being afraid to die and the fear of being afraid of war. “They were afraid of dying but they were more afraid to show it” (338, O’Brien). 

Through this fear, the soldiers showed their apparent masculinity through the superiority that they achieved and felt through brute force and strength. There were these men on the battlefield had to appear rugged and tough despite what they were going through in order to achieve their objectives in battle. The soldiers pushed all buttons and mustered up whatever it took to complete their assignments. The immense workloads and tasks that soldiers had to endure showed the strength and persistence of the ideal man.  The soldiers did this so frequently and so often that eventually they went overboard with some assignment, showing no mercy in whatever they did, or remorse for what went on in battle. “During the Vietnam War, after battlefield preparation with artillery or aerial bombardment, VC, PAVN, and US soldiers would engage the enemy in firefights with automatic weapons. No phalanxes were necessary, but squads of men attempted to kill the enemy and overrun his position” (135-136, Milam). It reached a point where the notion of maintaining a masculine image overtook the soldiers. In the excerpt, the soldiers were proceeding to do heinous things and felt nothing of their acts. For example, “When someone died, it wasn’t quite dying, because in a curious way it seemed scripted, and because they had their lines most memorized, irony mixed with tragedy, and because they called it by other names, as if to encyst and destroy the reality of death itself. They kicked corpses. They cut off thumbs. They talked grunt lingo” (338, O’Brien). The soldiers essentially played the part of the ideal man and it overtook and consumed them to the point where maintaining this act or image was all that mattered.

These immoral acts that were committed and rugged behavior of the soldiers tell a different story than the actual experience. In the historical and cultural context of things, the Vietnam War and the actions of the soldiers during it are given the connation of atrocious and unjustifiable acts. Going into this text, the audience is expecting just a rerun of events and nothing more than that. The historical context shapes the text by enabling the audience to judge and develop a prejudice stance on the men that participated in the war. The acts recorded about the Vietnam War and the soldiers were too heinous to be accepted at face value. However, the text morphs this perception of the war and those who are in it. The text delves into the specifics of the experience and why things happened the way they did. The text serves as an explanation or justification for the events during the Vietnam War and the actions of the soldiers, giving evidence that these events and actions were driven by fear not by the desire to do them. The text explains that there was motivation for the soldiers to be a part of the Vietnam War and do what they did, but not what is expected when the events are just looked at by face value. The motivation that the soldiers have to stay involved with the war in Vietnam is primarily driven by fear, and this fear stems from the idea that not committing oneself to battle and the cause of the war ultimately stains one’s image and tarnishes their reputation as man in the world because of the fear to face the horrors of war.        
