A main theme for The Things They Carried by author Tim O’Brien, is that shame and guilt can be one of the hardest emotions to overcome. When dealing with shame and guilt in a time of war, it can be hard for soldiers to look back and cope with their actions. This being said, the novel explores many times where shame and guilt indulged with young soldiers lives like the protagonist Tim O’Brien himself. The novel is set in a time where the Vietnam war was going on which happened between the years 1955 to 1975. Although, the years in which the setting of the book took place is unclear. One internal conflict takes place in a chapter “On the Rainy River” where the protagonist receives a letter stating his draft to the Vietnam war. Meanwhile,
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For example, in one part of the chapter “they carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die”(O’Brien 21). The external conflict shows the battle between soldiers and presence of war. The author shows the reader that many troops were too shameful to show they were ever scared to die or wonder in enemy territory but instead soldiers would all carry each other's emotions and support one another because all of them were in the same war together and know how it feels to be fighting a war they did not know what for. Another example is when the protagonist states that “A true war story is never moral”(O’Brien). In the novel many times soldiers who were fighting the nature of war had to disregard their morals because killing someone is no one's ideal moral to go by. The story’s told are never moral because the war itself wasn’t moral. Many believe war itself and the killing that is inflicted is not the way to settle disputes between one country or another. The war also inflicts externally on soldiers. For example, when soldiers are are freshly put on duty “you come over clean and you get dirty and then afterwards it’s never the same”(O’Brien). Many times soldiers like the protagonist are put into situations where morals cannot justify protecting yourself or members of your
For example, in one part of the chapter “they carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die”(O’Brien 21). The external conflict shows the battle between soldiers and presence of war. The author shows the reader that many troops were too shameful to show they were ever scared to die or wonder in enemy territory but instead soldiers would all carry each other's emotions and support one another because all of them were in the same war together and know how it feels to be fighting a war they did not know what for. Another example is when the protagonist states that “A true war story is never moral”(O’Brien). In the novel many times soldiers who were fighting the nature of war had to disregard their morals because killing someone is no one's ideal moral to go by. The story’s told are never moral because the war itself wasn’t moral. Many believe war itself and the killing that is inflicted is not the way to settle disputes between one country or another. The war also inflicts externally on soldiers. For example, when soldiers are are freshly put on duty “you come over clean and you get dirty and then afterwards it’s never the same”(O’Brien). Many times soldiers like the protagonist are put into situations where morals cannot justify protecting yourself or members of your