The Things They Carried 2
The Heaviness of the Vietnam War
In all wars, whether justifiable or not, whether there is a moral benefit or not, or whether unavoidable or not, there is always human suffering on all parties involved. A war affects everyone involved in the conflict either directly or indirectly. Frequently, the horrors of war directly affect noncombatant civilian populations surrounding the areas of military campaigns. Always, family units are indirectly affected by having family members in the Armed Services with the military volunteers or draftees returning in body bags or never returning. However, at the very least, for soldiers in the battlefields, directly involved in the hostilities, the ...
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this, Tim O'Brien in his vignette, " The Things They Carried," which is about a platoon of soldiers and their experiences and emotions brought by the controversial Vietnam War, shows how soldiers become desensitized to the death of others, and acquire an induced violent nature while also making an effective anti-Vietnam War statement.
In his narration of the story, O'Brien consciously juxtaposes the emotional burdens the soldiers carry, as they march through the Vietnam jungle, with descriptive passages of the weaponry, its weights, and accouterments of war, in order to bring a sense of weight and focus to the wearing down of emotions that results in drastic changes to their psychological makeup. This contrasting narrative style is effective in emphasizing the tangibles and intangibles. To emphasize this emotional burden, O'Brien uses subjective diction such as, "The pressures were enormous. They all carried ghosts. They carried their own lives,"
O'Brien continues his theme by ...
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"The Things They Carried 2." Essayworld.com. October 20, 2007. Accessed June 21, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Things-They-Carried-2/72990.
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