Psychological Impact of the Soldiers in the Things they Carried by Tim O’Brien

Tim O’Brien’s story The Things They Carried, explores the psychological hardships soldiers underwent while taking part in the Vietnam War. The author goes ahead to list some of the items these soldiers carried as they were sent there. They are young and inexperienced, and this is seen with the help of the items they carried. Their leader Lieutenant Cross is 22 years old and this also shows how young the soldiers were. The author lists the items they carried to show the physical burdens they had.. These tangible items allow the author to explain how they led to intangible weight, the psychological impacts of the Vietnam War that burdened the minds and hearts of the soldiers https://advanced-writer.com/.

Having been in the war at a young age, the soldiers changed completely. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was the leader of his team in the war. He carried binoculars, maps, compasses and a caliber pistol fully loaded. He was responsible of his team and his obligation was to lead it in the right way to defeat the enemies. The story shows the emotional items these young and inexperienced soldiers carried. Mitchell Sanders carried condoms, Norman Bowker carried a diary and Rat Riley carried comic books. This does not only imply that each soldier was unique, but also each had emotional weight that could not allow them to concentrate fully during the war.

Psychological impacts are clearly seen when Ted Lavender, one of the soldiers, dies. O’Brien writes various paragraphs about the impacts that Ted’s death brought to the other soldiers. The death brought the feelings of guilt to them since they felt that they did not do their best to protect a friend. This feeling of guilt affects the team leader, Lieutenant Cross who feels that he failed to do his work effectively. He feels that his lack of concentration during the war is because he always daydreamed about Martha. The love he had for the girl affected him psychologically and he could not work well to protect his team. However, he decides to change and be disciplined as the war ends.

The emotional burdens of the war such as love, longing, terror and grief also resulted to failure. Even with the effective equipment needed, the soldiers’ emotional burdens had more mass than the tangible burdens. The fear of death made soldiers fight for their life by destroying their enemies. It is this fear that made them carry the safety equipment such as bandages that was kept in the helmet for easy access. Bandage was used during injuries to relieve pain before one is transported to the hospital. The feeling of longing was due to the families these young soldiers had left at home. They wanted the war to end so that they can be with their families again. These emotional burdens affected the performance of the soldiers as they instilled worry in them rather than courage that would help them face war with no fear.

Men that survived at the end of the war had psychological burdens that they had carried from the war. They carried confusion and grief that had impacts in their life. For instance, Norman Bowker’s confusion and grief after war affected the way he drove. He promptly drove aimlessly in his hometown lake. Some soldiers never felt right after the war and the loss of their friends brought sorrow. They blamed themselves for the death of their colleague who was shot when he was returning from the bathroom. Their guilt and confusion added pressure on the soldiers. This was emphasized with a quote in the story; Imagination was a killer. It implied that soldiers’ thought of getting shot and killed in the war may have instilled them with confusion and fear that would kill them.

In Vietnam, the soldiers got fearful psychologically and this made them lose the sense of justice and morality. The death of their friend made them angry and hardened. They were also forced to adapt to jungle life so that they can survive. Some of the soldiers in Vietnam also disappeared in the jungle. Ray Riley narrates to Tim that a soldier’s girlfriend who had joined the war in Vietnam disappeared in the jungle together with some documents. This story is linked with superstition in Vietnam and this created more fear to the soldiers.

Some of the soldiers cannot forget the brutal and cruel acts they did during the war. The events affects are still fresh in their minds. For instance, Tim remembers how he killed a Vietnam soldier with a grenade. He still remembers how the face of that soldier exploded. He also has fresh images of the girl he killed as she was dancing in a village. These are frightening images that affected the soldier mentally. Norman, a soldier and Tim’s friend returns home with terrible memories and knowledge. He feels he cannot tell anyone since they will only judge him instead of listening. These memories caused psychological disturbances that made him shoot himself to death.

In the story, Rat Kiley also kills himself after losing his mind. He thought bugs wanted to kill him and excludes from the war by shooting his foot. The war was too much for him and he felt he could not handle it anymore. Tim tells the story to his friend to encourage them and see that the dead friends are still with them. This helps the other team go on with the war.

The Things They Carried is a story that gives readers a clear picture of events that occurred during the Vietnam War. Readers are able to understand the psychological impacts of the war. The author explores the emotional burdens that affected the soldiers during the war and their impacts on their performance. The story makes people understand the problems soldiers face during wars, including the young and inexperienced soldiers.