Loss Of Civility Analysis

The Loss of Civility In Combat No rules and knowing death is near, a known feeling between combat veterans among the ages. This feeling turns men and women into uncivilized, tribal beings. Tim O'brien describes these changes multiple times throughout The Things They Carried and If I Die in a Combat Zone Box Me Up and Ship Me Home. Throughout The Things They Carried there were multiple times where Tim’s group will fiddle around with corpses. Tim O'brien aso describes these feelings in If I Die In a combat zone, such as with Mad Mike. Tim O'Brien illustrates the loss of civility in men during war through purposefully placing individual vignettes that express this theme. The knowledge that death is near has corrupted many of the mind of Alpha …show more content…
Rat Kiley tells a story to O’brien about one medic named Mark Fossie who brought his girlfriend Marry Anne to Vietnam. She was a stereotypical fresh out of high school blond. They both originally had the same normal civilized thoughts of getting married having a few kids and later dying in eachothers arms. Marry Anne would dance to Kiley’s portable tape deck, play volleyball with the rest of the guys, be flirtatious the things we would consider normal in a civilized person in society. She then got adventurous and curious like most people do; started asking questions and even visited one vietnamese village. Her first sign was possible her overwhelming curiosity and ignorance of the dangers around her. In reality if someone told an individual that if they swim in that river that they have a high chance of getting shot or killed. Most likely someone won't take that chance but Mary did. Later she hopped in and aided the medics helping four wounded soldiers. She went into the blood and the grit not afraid, “plugging up holes,” clip arteries, pump up a plastic splint and shoot morphine. Even Flossie noted that sh3e was a, “different person” (O’Brien, The Things They Carried 94). She, “Fell into the habits of the bush,” No more cosmetics, cut her hair short, and cared little for hygiene. She was accepting the ways of the bush starting to accept the ways of war. Day be day …show more content…
He showed them through the vignettes of pain and suffering, and through those feeling civility died within the minds of the soldiers. Mercy became a distant memory and everyone became an enemy. This was shown through history, but one of the worst was the My Lia Massacre. American soldiers went into a village known as Pink Ville and massacred every civilian in sight and were not ashamed, but understanding to their actions. These soldiers lost their civility, were blinded by fear and couldn’t distinguish civilian from soldier. This is something that happens in every war some worse than others but there is always a story of soldiers who surrendered or civilians getting murdered without just cause. In these situations who is write and who is wrong? We consider ourselves civilized and hold ourselves above the uncivilized, but when it’s killed or be killed what is the right answer? Civilization can’t hear the bullets flying by, their close friends screaming their blood choking cries, to smell the stench of death filling the air and having to pick up the blood soaked remains of their brothers and sisters in arms. Even so, making innocents die for something they had no part of, to make them feel that pain done with another man's hand turns the victims into the monsters that they wish to protest and kill. Yet I ask the same question who is write