In The Things They Carried, each man in Alpha Company had particular objects that they brought with them. What is interesting is less what they carried with them during the war, but what they carried out of the war, those who survived, that is. Each person goes through times in their lives that leave lasting impressions. Marks or scars that they carry with them until the day they die, albeit physical or emotional. Vietnam is one of those occurrences that would leave lasting imprints on a person's mental and emotional state. Any thing so tragic such as war would do that.
This story really is a way for the writer, Tim O'Brien to give relief to those things that he carries with him. By reliving the experiences and telling them, it is his way of expelling some of those haunting memories. Some of the others don't do so well. Jimmy Cross continued to blame himself for the death of Ted Lavender while simultaneously carrying with him failing loving relationship with a girl named Martha. Norman Bowker remains guilty over the death of his friend Kiowa.
Terrible events such as these stay with men who are unlucky enough to have to endure them. My brother in law's father was a veteran of Vietnam. For the longest time he could not listen to fireworks without running to find cover. Even to this day he cringes when when blows off. This is something he will carry for the rest of his life, the memories that occur every time he hears that gunshot. In truth, we all carry such things around with us. Maybe not extreme circumstances such as war, but we still have our baggage and our guilt.
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It's amazing how by reading the same story we all get something different out of it. I definitely know where you're coming from when you talked about your brother in law, my brother in law also suffered from PTSD and when he came back from Iraq he would have these moments that he would daze off and begin to cry.
ReplyDeleteGood comment John.
ReplyDeleteGood reflections Tim. I like this that you said: "What is interesting is less what they carried with them during the war, but what they carried out of the war . . ."
This really was an excellent reflection and an understanding of the story that I never would have had. I cannot imagine seeing a family member going through PTSD - it really lent to an entirely different perspective on the story. I do agree with your last lines: "In truth, we all carry such things around with us. Maybe not extreme circumstances such as war, but we still have our baggage and our guilt." Its shocking sometimes that the slightest things can happen and trigger a mess of emotions because of a negative past experience we may have been through. I have worked with a number of students that have a number of defense mechanisms toward certainn actions or words because of a person that hurt them in the past.
ReplyDeletePTSD is something that many people forget about. It breaks my heart to hear what the soldier's carried with them after the war was over. This was the same for my grandfather. Thank you for bringing this to our attention because now I have an idea of what the soldiers carried after the war and the damaging effects.
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