The Things They Carried
What is it that really helps troops survive war? It is said that faith in humanity and religion are known to fizzle amongst times of wars; therefore almost every man will tell you it was the hope of coming back to loved ones and family. Ask any man that has been to war what it was like, what was going on inside his head, what he felt when he smelled death, what he felt when he caused death. The answer, inevitably, will be one that could never be put to words, an answer that you or I could never fathom. In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien illustrates the mindset of the soldier through what he brought with him to the war-zone, and more importantly, what helped him get out of that war-zone. What he carried with him night and day, what he kissed every night before bed, what he must carry to survive, what he held with him while he was in hell, this is what helped him survive. There are very few experiences as devastating to the human spirit as war, and though these things can never capture the human spirit, The Things They Carried certainly gives us insight as to what helped soldiers keep hope and survive war. One of the ways that troops in the Vietnam War often escaped the reality they were in or simply kept motivation to
Mentioned many times throughout The Things They Carried were the things that soldiers carried for physical safety and for emotional safety. O'Brien brings another factor into play: the illusion of safety. This is how he refers to soldiers carrying a twenty-eight pound mine detector. "With its headphones and big sensing plate, the equipment was a stress on the lower back and shoulders, awkward to handle, often useless because of the shrapnel in the earth, but they carried it anyway, partly for safety, partly for the illusion of safety." Even if the soldiers were not safe, the illusion of safety gave them courage to go on. Amongst all the things that soldiers carried with them throughout the war, perhaps the thing that they remember most, was the pride of The United States at their back. Yes, it took more than this for them to survive in the jungles, but many veterans credit the government for support, regardless of how the American public was torn apart in this time of war. Without the government at their back many soldiers believe that there would have been more casualties than there already were. Every single thing that these men carried with them held great significance. Whether it be for protection from the enemy, protection from the cold, protection from the rain, protection from lonely nights, or protection from losing hope all together, the things and thoughts that soldiers carry with them in war are for more than just killing the enemy, but also saving themselves and giving them hope for waking up the next day. There were many things that stood in the way of soldiers, but as the following describes, this adversity just made them stronger. In the time of the Vietnam War was the controversy of equality amongst blacks and whites in the United States. Many black soldiers were sent to war, and fo
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Approximate Word count = 1239
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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