Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried, was published in 1990 and quickly became the ultimate testimony of the Vietnam war, and perhaps even more so, the American experience. Although America’s direct military involvement in Vietnam had been over for nearly two decades in 1990, the haunting clarity of O’Brien’s stories and their autobiographical nature quickly received critical and commercial praise. O’Brien’s work remains as an essential piece of literature in understanding the Vietnam war. Even after a quarter century, the novel remains a staple in today’s college literature and history courses. Written as a work of fiction, yet delivered as a memoir, O’Brien’s book is a compassionate effort to convey the feelings that American soldiers
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This analysis of The Things They Carried sets out to interpret O’Brien’s stories about specific soldiers and events as stories about the American experience. Interpretation of the stories on the grander scale is accomplished in two ways. First, by analyzing the intangible things the soldiers carried in connection with the burdens that the war thrust upon the nation. Second, by analyzing O’Brien’s description of the affects the war had on soldier’s post-war lives, in connection with the affects the war had on the American experience. Just as O’Brien’s book departed from the traditions of war literature, America’s perception of war transformed as well. The Vietnam war broke the nation’s spirit, just as the war crippled the spirits of …show more content…
The way in which he is able to describe the evil he felt inside himself is similar to the way Americans viewed what Vietnam had done. O’Brien begins by stating that he had returned from the war a different person, “a little cruel at times.” (200) Even more troubling is the realization that he faced, stating he felt “a deep coldness inside, something dark and beyond reason.” That sense of remorse and the indescribable feeling that he had his life stolen from him, although he really still had it, unlike some men from Alpha Company. O’Brien’s response to the war’s long awaited end was similar for America, in the way that it was not like the previous instance when troops came home. When World War II ended, soldiers came home victorious and the feeling of success infiltrated America and that became the American experience for the greatest generation. The sensation of superiority that Americans had in the post-World War II years was something of bygone days once the Vietnam war had run its course. The feeling of resentment was felt by soldiers and in some ways, by America. O’Brien described another soldier’s experience after returning from war, when he recited the letter written to him by Norman Bowker. In the letter, Bowker described his issues with finding a purpose for himself after the war. In the same way Bowker felt misplaced in his civilian life,
This analysis of The Things They Carried sets out to interpret O’Brien’s stories about specific soldiers and events as stories about the American experience. Interpretation of the stories on the grander scale is accomplished in two ways. First, by analyzing the intangible things the soldiers carried in connection with the burdens that the war thrust upon the nation. Second, by analyzing O’Brien’s description of the affects the war had on soldier’s post-war lives, in connection with the affects the war had on the American experience. Just as O’Brien’s book departed from the traditions of war literature, America’s perception of war transformed as well. The Vietnam war broke the nation’s spirit, just as the war crippled the spirits of …show more content…
The way in which he is able to describe the evil he felt inside himself is similar to the way Americans viewed what Vietnam had done. O’Brien begins by stating that he had returned from the war a different person, “a little cruel at times.” (200) Even more troubling is the realization that he faced, stating he felt “a deep coldness inside, something dark and beyond reason.” That sense of remorse and the indescribable feeling that he had his life stolen from him, although he really still had it, unlike some men from Alpha Company. O’Brien’s response to the war’s long awaited end was similar for America, in the way that it was not like the previous instance when troops came home. When World War II ended, soldiers came home victorious and the feeling of success infiltrated America and that became the American experience for the greatest generation. The sensation of superiority that Americans had in the post-World War II years was something of bygone days once the Vietnam war had run its course. The feeling of resentment was felt by soldiers and in some ways, by America. O’Brien described another soldier’s experience after returning from war, when he recited the letter written to him by Norman Bowker. In the letter, Bowker described his issues with finding a purpose for himself after the war. In the same way Bowker felt misplaced in his civilian life,