“The Things They Carried,” written by Tim O’Brien, a Vietnam War veteran, reflects the experiences of a group of soldiers during the Vietnam War. By assessing the things that each soldier carried, both literally and emotionally, many things are revealed about the Vietnam War and the soldiers which fought in it. These objects they carried revealed the destruction which occurred due to the weapons they had, and show the pain and emotional baggage they carried mentally. The length of the war is a major factor to the amount of damage and pain that was acquired during the war. The Vietnam War was the longest war the United States has been involved in, lasting from 1954 to 1975 (Starr 241). The United States first deployed troops in 1961, making this war the second most expensive war to the United States, costing about 60,000 American lives and 170 billion dollars (241). O’Brien states, “It was another world, a place where men died because of carelessness and gross stupidity” (340).  This quote describes how being in the war felt, it was another reality in which men constantly died for what appears to be a meaningless cause as O’Brien uses the word “stupidity”. The effects of the war on American soldiers can be seen in O’Brien’s novel and reveal his message about the war. O’Brien’s novel conveys the message that the Vietnam War caused more damage than anything by harming the soldiers mentally and physically, through mental disorders, wounds, and deaths. 

The story mentions a Lieutenant Cross who carried letters from a girl named Martha. Cross could not stop thinking of Martha because he loved her. The narrator states, “He was just a kid at war, in love. He was twenty-four years old. He couldn’t help it.” (O’Brien 334) This quote reveals information that is better understood by looking at history. While some soldiers did volunteer, about two thirds of the combat troops fighting in the Vietnam War were forced into it through the draft (Seidman 46). The draft consisted of a televised lottery for males aged nineteen to twenty-five (46).  The majority of soldiers in the war were poor, working-class youth (Bergan 381). These youth were focused on their lives, and ended up having to enter into this fight. This leads into O’Brien’s point that most of the soldiers in the war were young and were not fully focused on the war itself. As O’Brien states, Lieutenant Cross was young and is shown to be thinking of Martha almost the whole time, which is understood since most soldiers were working-class youth. His longing of Martha can lead the reader to the point that he was not focused on the war which may show that he was forced into the war, as many soldiers were. The soldiers who were forced did not want to be there as they are seen longing to leave and the rest who volunteered may have been too young to realize what they were getting into as the deaths of fellow soldiers lead them to the reality of the war. This is significant because it reveals that the soldiers did not did like being in the war, and through the history it’s understood that this is because many were forced. O’Brien also states, “It was what had bought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive…just to avoid the blush of dishonor” (338). This quote regards why some soldiers may have volunteered, as to simply seem courageous. Men were supposed to appear strong and ready to fight and serve for their country. Men at the time were embarrassed to not participate somehow due to this idea. There is also an image regarding how a soldier should be in culture, during any time, and especially during a war. This image is that soldiers are strong and fearless. Once a soldier, the men had to fight and kill in order to keep a good reputation for themselves in the war and at home. Becoming a soldier was hard, it forced them to kill and bury their emotions to appear strong in front of other soldiers and in front of their families. 

Even though the soldiers maintained their posture and fought, O’Brien shows that they did not feel as though they had a purpose in what they were doing. He states, “They had no sense of strategy or mission. They searched the villages without knowing what to look for, not caring” (O’Brien 335). This quote shows that the soldiers felt as though they fought without a purpose and even suggests that they did not know what they were doing and simply followed orders. They died, were wounded, suffered from infections and diseases, such as malaria and dysentery, for this war which they did not see a purpose to. During the 1960’s, the time of the war, the black power movement and antiwar movement were in motion and Americans seemed to be in the spirit of rebellion towards the government and politics (Seidman 47). While, O’Brien does not mention these movements, by showing that the soldiers thought this way about the war it reveals this rebellious spirit within the military. These movements allowed for a sense of purpose to develop, however, not to the war itself but to stopping the war because it did not have an obvious purpose. The war was controversial to many Americans, with polls showing that two out of three Americans thought it was a mistake (Starr 241). Soldiers faced harsh conditions and guerrilla warfare in which they could not distinguish between soldiers and civilians. All of these issues lead to the start of the antiwar movement in 1968, which was largely led by soldiers and veterans (Seidman 49). Some soldiers rebelled by appearing to follow fighting orders when they were not, in order to avoid punishment (Seidman 53). While the soldiers O’Brien mentions do not participate in these activities, they do engage in similar thought as soldiers in the antiwar movement and reveal the lack of motivation to fight. There is evidence of this as O’Brien mentions, the soldiers did not care about or see the purpose of the war, and they simply followed orders. The antiwar movement during this time period allows for the thoughts and contexts of the novel to be better understood.

The war’s negative effects went further than wounds and diseases. With the death and destruction that was seen during the Vietnam War, many soldiers suffered mentally. O’Brien states, “They imagined the muzzle against flesh. So easy: squeeze the trigger and blow a toe away. They imagined it.” This quote is describing the things soldiers thought of doing in order to be evacuated from the war site. The conditions and deaths seen by the soldiers were so difficult that they imagined harming themselves just to be able to leave. He shows that all of the soldiers thought about doing it, but the ones that actually did were seen as cowards by other soldiers, even though they were envied by them. This is significant as it reveals the difficulties that the soldiers endured and the lengths to which they went to, while also reminding the reader of the image the soldiers had to maintain for themselves. The soldiers had to choose between enduring the war conditions and maintaining their reputation or losing their reputation and being injured to leave the war site. This dilemma lead many soldiers to indulge in marijuana, heroin, and smoking. Drug use was a big issue during the war, with illegal drugs being readily available to soldiers in Vietnam. Some even speculated that these drugs were a method of sabotage from communist’s countries, to inhibit American soldier’s abilities (Kuzmarov 125). It’s estimated that drug use of Americans in Vietnam was much higher than drug use in America (122). O’Brien makes use of these facts in showing a soldier, Ted Lavender, carrying and constantly using “tranquilizers” and drugs to calm himself, until he is killed. Lavender is consistently described as being fearful and uses a tranquilizer drug right before he died, shot right in front of the other soldiers. The rest of the soldiers in the novel are also constantly seen smoking. These drugs are significant as they provide a way for Lavender and the other soldiers a way of coping with their fears of fighting in the war. The mental states they were in led them to use drugs, to be able to keep fighting, and to maintain their image as a man and a soldier. The issue of drug use during the war brings explanation to these elements of the novel. After the war, many soldiers had addiction issues and upon returning to the states, did not have drugs as widely available to them as in Vietnam. They also had many anxiety disorders and PTSD. These issues lead many soldiers and veterans to depression, violence, and suicide (Bower 197). O’Brien’s novel does not discuss what happened to the soldiers when they returned home, however the death and destruction they saw during the war is mentioned. O’Brien states “Imagination was a killer.” This quote exhibits how the harsh things they saw affected them to where it was worse inside their heads to imagine what could happen. Through these facts about soldiers’ mental states after the war, an understanding of the horrors and drug use mentioned in the novel effected the soldiers can be gained, because the drug use and harsh realities they faced lead to the many mental disorders the soldiers developed.

By following a group of soldiers during the Vietnam War, “The Things They Carried” displays the negative effects of the war on soldiers and does not show any positive aspects to have come out of the war. The soldiers each carried things from their past and from the war, conveying how the Vietnam War changed each soldier throughout the novel. The impacts of the war on the soldiers is detrimental, with soldiers being forced into fighting without seeing a purpose, addiction, and mental disorders emerging. O’Brien states that the soldiers dreamed of freedom birds, referring to the planes which carried soldiers home or just to safety. In 1973, they received their wish, the United States withdrew from the war, but the damage was already done. Not all the soldiers returned and the ones who did return, came back with many problems, mentally and physically. The impact of this war is still seen up to today as they are still showing through the war veterans. The war still lives in their heads and haunts them. A war such as this can easily occur again today, impacting more youth. This brings up the question of whether a wars benefits are worth the trouble they cause. As seen in the Vietnam War through the novel and history, the war greatly impacted the whole nation. The negatives of the war, greatly outweighing the positives, if any positives exist. 
