Kara Conlan

April 18th, 2016

Phillips 

English 101

The Negative Effects of the Vietnam War Exemplified Through The Things They Carried

As one of the greatest defeats in U.S. history, the vietnam war proves to be remembered as a great turning point morally, politically, and economically for America. Beginning in 1955, due to a dubious attack on American ships in the Gulf of Tonkin, president Johnson and his administration acted upon the situation rashly, bombing all of North Vietnam (Proctor 2011). This decision sparked a war that would result in the drafting of 2 million plus Americans, the financial loss of $350 billion, and most importantly, the loss of 58,000 young soldiers over the course of twenty years (Small 1999). The large opposition of U.S. involvement for an unknown cause provoked large discontent around the nation, especially for those who were involuntarily drafted at a very young age. With little information being communicated between Johnson's administration and American civilians, along with the attempted downplay of the escalation of U.S. involvement, the anti war movement evolved (Proctor 2011). Tim O'Brien, an American novelist and Vietnam war veteran, applies the use of verisimilitude and storytelling in his novel, The Things They Carried, to provide a personal perspective of soldiers fighting in the Vietnam war. Throughout the text, he describes the physical military equipment and personal items that are carried along with the mental "baggage" they carry both during and after their serving time. The great effects of the exposure to both violence and death in an unfamiliar environment is shown to take a drastic emotional toll on the men as they "bite the bullet" of their assigned duty. Research on the ambiguity of the Vietnam war, the draft, and its long-term physical and mental effects (such as PTSD) on veterans influences O'Brien's storytelling perspective in The Things They Carried; further enabling readers to fully understand the intense burdens men were forced to carry to their grave. 

Throughout O'Brien's text, the discontent in the draft as well as the lack of reason for the war is shown through the narrator's experiences, thus proving the idea that the war was all a mistake. Not only did the vietnam war raise concern due to the large amount of debt it would cause, but the lottery draft system had threatened "blue-collared" men everywhere (Small 1999). After the bombing in North Vietnam as well as the numerous bombings of the Tet Offensive, half of the population had opposed escalation of U.S. involvement in the country, however, thousands of young men were still forced to leave their normal lives and loved ones behind to face a traumatizing world. The Tet Offensive was the turning point in the war where the death of thousands of U.S. troops and South Vietnamese Liberation Forces during a truce influenced the emotions of those back home (Office of The Historian, 2009). Due to the media coverage of multiple phases of bombings that murdered many loved ones in South Vietnam, those on the home front became aware that a victory was not imminent, causing more discontent in sending more troops (Office of The Historian, 2009). The main character in the novel, Lieutenant Cross, offers readers an insight on his thought process amidst the violence. As he is awaiting the return of one of his fellow soldiers from a tunnel, he finds himself thinking of the girl he loves back home. "Lieutenant Cross gazed at the tunnel. But he was not there. He was buried with Martha under the white sand at the Jersey shore" (O'Brien 308). It is clear that Cross's mind is elsewhere, showing that he has no true interest in what is going on in the war. O'Brien uses the narrator's love for the girl Martha to demonstrate the overall innocent intentions these young men still have as well as the lives they left behind. In the narrator's free time, he continues to daydream and "He could not bring himself to worry about the matters of security. He was beyond that. He was just a kid at war, in love. He was twenty-four years old. He couldn't help it" (O'Brien 308). Knowing that during this time young teenagers were being taken to battle helps aid in the understanding of this young man's mindset. O'Brien emphasizes the absurdity of the draft when he writes "He was just a kid at war," because it proves that those forced to enter the battlefield were still young and innocent men who essentially have no idea what they are doing. 

The ambiguity of the vietnam war can be interpreted through the soldier's lack of mission and objective while overseas. O'Brien continues to prove the pointlessness of the war when he writes, "They had no sense of strategy of mission. They searched the villages without knowing what to look for, not caring, kicking over jars of rice, frisking children and old men, blowing tunnels, sometimes setting fires and sometimes not, then forming up and moving on to the next village, then other villages, where it would always be the same" (O'Brien 310). The lack of direction these soldiers experience further demonstrates the reasoning for opposition on U.S. involvement in Vietnam. O'Brien is able to convey the emotions that were felt on the home front through the soldiers innocent intentions and cluelessness. The overall confusion on their purpose in Vietnam can also explain how half of America was confused at the time as well. Due to the absence of motivation that most soldiers had during this time, most had wished, more than anything, to return home, where everything was more simple and safe. "At night, on guard, staring into the dark, they were carried away by jumbo jets ... [to] where there were no burdens and where everything weighed exactly nothing- Gone!" (O'Brien 314). The jumbo jets mentioned represent the aircrafts that take away wounded soldiers. The narrator mentions how some soldiers would purposely wound themselves by firing the gun at a foot in order to take the coward's way out, however those who did this were deemed as weak. Although most men had masked their emotion, deep down most of them wished to leave the inescapable hell, known as Vietnam. O'Brien's storytelling technique introduces readers to the burdens the young American men faced as a result of the draft; stripping them of their adolescence. 

As a result of the unforgettable tragedies these American men had to face, many of those who returned described bodily illnesses including chronic fatigue, headaches, dizziness, and most importantly, PTSD (Doherend 2006). Post traumatic stress disorder is a condition of constant emotional and mental stress due to a shocking event that has occurred. In the 80's, the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment conducted a study where the results showed that 30.9% of veterans who served in the Vietnam war had experienced symptoms of PTSD at some time after their service (Doherend 2006), astonishingly higher rates than any other war thus far. The data gathered from the study conducted showed a strong correlation between the severity of exposure and stress levels, proving that the war had a great effect on the lives of soldiers both during and long after their exposure to violence (Doherend 2006). Throughout the text, it is clearly evident that the soldiers are forced to deal with tragic events that those back home would never have to deal with. Reading the tragic events through a storytelling perspective is highly effective in capturing the emotions of readers. Life-like stories along with the thought processes of soldiers offer a full demonstration on the specific sights soldiers had to bear in war and the mental and emotional damage it leaves behind.  Although the soldiers try to stay strong and keep their pride and poise for the sake of their country, it is clear that they are slowly being deteriorated by the horror that surrounds them. 

Throughout the novel, Tim O'Brien uses the word "carry" to demonstrate how the things that are witnessed as well as the sad memories gathered from their experiences in Vietnam will never leave their mind. "They shared the weight of memory. They took up what others could no longer bear" (O'Brien 310). Along with heavy weight of war materials necessary for battle, soldiers were also incapable of shedding the memories of those who were injured or killed. "They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing- these were intangibles, but the tangibles had their own mass and specific gravity.."(O'Brien 313). As a result of witnessing their brothers pass right before their eyes due to explosions and gunfire, many soldiers experienced anxiety. Even years after the war, veterans remained on constant alert; scared and anticipating their imminent death. However, these emotions were all held in on the inside, leaving them with an emotionless surface where violence was normal. O'Brien shows the emotional strength soldiers were expected to maintain and the "acts" they put on. "It was the burden of being alive. Awkwardly, the men would reassemble themselves, first in private, then in groups, becoming soldiers again. They would repair the leaks in their eyes" (O'Brien 312). Containing their emotions also proved to be very damaging because it trained soldiers to hold their thoughts due to fear of being considered weak and cowardly. After the results of many psychological studies have been released over the years, it is evident that PTSD continues to have a large influence on the lives of veterans, even decades  after the end of the war. Knowing this huge long-term effect of the vietnam war influences one's interpretation of O'Brien's novel because the text is able to show, first hand, what soldiers had to face and the emotional baggage they had to carry after the war. 

With the aid of historical context, the interpretation of any text can be altered and made more significant. Specifically in The Things They Carried, the storytelling perspective allows readers to understand what soldiers at the time had to witness, their actual thought process, and the enormous pressures of staying emotionally strong that they constantly faced. This knowledge along with knowledge of the opposition to the vietnam war, for reasons including the draft and the harmful effects of PTSD (that still continue to influence veterans), force readers to form an opinion on the vietnam war. O'Brien offers a new perspective on an event that most Americans began to dismiss as only a mistake and something that the veterans should be blamed for (Dohrenwend 2006). The author shows readers that the war is something that will never leave their minds for the rest of their lives. Although the vietnam war ended years ago, the horrific memories continue to be relived every day by these poor men. By using storytelling, the novel offers an elusive truth that shows how unfavorable the draft was, especially at such a young age. Also, through the thought process of many of the soldiers, readers can also understand the soldier's truest desires, such as returning home.

Works Cited

Dohrenwend, Burce P., et al. "The Psychological Risks of Vietnam for U.S. Veterans: A Revisit with New Data and Methods." Science 313.5789 (2006): 979-82. Print.

O'Brien, Tim. "The Things They Carried." The Carolina Reader. By USC English Department. Fall ed. Plymouth, MI: Hayden-McNeil, 2015. 303-16. Print.

Proctor, Pat. "MESSAGE VERSUS PERCEPTION DURING THE AMERICANIZATION OF THE VIETNAM WAR." Historian 73.1 (2011): 88-112. Print.

Small, Melvin. "The Domestic Course of the War." The Oxford Companion to American Military History (1999): 1-3. Print.

 "U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive, 1968 - 1961 -- 1968 - Milestones - Office of the Historian." U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive, 1968 - 1961 -- 1968 - Milestones - Office of the Historian. Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs,, 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2016. 
