Review of Novel "The Things They Carried"

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People are usually profoundly changed by their experiences in war. Choose three characters from the novel and examine how these characters were changed by their experiences. What conclusions can you draw from these examples about the effects of war on the human spirit?

War molds those who fight—the soldiers, the medics, the commanders, the pilots, the supply transporters; it doesn’t matter whom they are or how small their role, they are molded by war, whether the change be minuscule or major.

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Chaos infiltrates the mind, and war is chaos. It tears open the mind, leaving a wound which it festers in. And that changes people, as such a wound does not heal easily—it lasts for years, if not decades. Such examples of this can be observed in the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien.

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The Things They Carried is a mixed fictional/nonfictional work involving the Vietnam War, told in multiple different perspectives by Tim O’Brien. In the novel, O’Brien outlines both the physical and mental burdens carried by soldiers in the war, while also touching upon the idea that story truth—truth exaggerated for the purpose of better conveying the emotions felt—can sometimes be truer than real truth—real, factual happening. However, not only does O’Brien express this importance (or lack thereof), but he also depicts the festering of chaos; he shows how war leaves an unmendable tear in the flesh of man’s spirit, and how this tear leads to drastic alterations in the personality, morality, and emotionality of those it buries itself deep within.

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O’Brien conveys how war can make one suffer for eternity, obsess for eternity, and doubt for eternity. These byproducts of war stem not from physicality, but, rather, directly from the metamorphosis that the human spirit experiences under the baptism of immorality and closeness to life. These changes are not new additions, they are the result of absence—absence of parts that the human spirit once held. War is the grandest larcenist; it steals who one is; it tears not a hole in, but a chunk of, the human spirit away from any and all that come near.

In a way, everyone is a victim of war. Not a victim of those who fight in the war, for that is man; a victim of war—the chaotic, moralless, presence. Sometimes, or even most of the time, the harm they are victim to is minuscule, such as for someone who doesn’t even know of the war; other times it is so great it shall never heal, such as for someone who fights directly in the war. This also applied to the characters in the novel, most, if not all of which, were victims of great harm by war. One of such characters, who held the burden of having fought in a war, is Norman Bowker. Of all the characters, Norman Bowker could be considered to have been one of the most obviously changed. This is evinced by the various apparent symptoms of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) that Bowker exemplified. PTSD is a disorder involving recurrent and oftentimes overwhelming episodes of stress stemming from a previously occurring traumatic experience. People suffering from PTSD may oftentimes find it hard to cope with everyday life and to blend in with society, due to the nature of their distraught frequently making it difficult for them to talk about and/or properly explain in general, leaving them deeply distressed. Norman had expressed multiple of these symptoms, such as the deep distress he experienced due to his inability to properly convey his complex emotions stemming from the death of his and O’Brien’s friend Kiowa, who drowned in a sewage field. Furthermore, more than anything, he exhibited a profound feeling of alienation and loneliness, at one point stating that he felt that, “there’s no place to go. Not just in this lousy little town. In general. My life, I mean. It's almost like I got killed over in Nam” (O’Brien 99). This not only displays the characteristic feeling of alienation that comes with PTSD, but also touches upon another symptom, dissociation—a feeling of unfamiliarity with oneself. Both of these symptoms caused Bowker anguish and stemmed from his traumatic experiences in war, especially the death of Kiowa, thus showing that Bowker most likely had PTSD, a change caused by war. This is not the only change Bowker experienced, however, as things were not that simple for him. Another, even larger change Bowker experienced was a change in his will—his will to live, more specifically. According to O’Brien, he received a letter from Bowker’s mother saying that when he was, “playing basketball at the Y[MCA] . . . he went off for a drink of water,” and, “his friends found him hanging from a water pipe” via a jump rope (O’Brien 102). This expresses the idea that the war had affected Bowker in such a profound and extreme way that he had even resorted to suicide, once again expressing the depths to which war can change people. From these changes, it can be seen that war caused Bowker to lose a part of himself, feeling that “[he] got killed over in Nam;” he lost not only his feeling of belonging in society, but, even more importantly, after the war bored into his soul, it claimed from him something of grave importance—he lost his will to live. Thus, this shows that war steals purpose from the human spirit, as it left Bowker with nothing left to live for and no will to live in general—leading to his suicide.

While war leaves scars upon those whom it passes by, scars which can last forever, it is important not to forget the initial wound which left the scars; therefore, one must not only focus on the effects war has after it occurs, but also the effect it has during its occurrence. And Rat Kiley was a character who experienced a drastic change during the war. As a field medic, Kiley was driven to the point of insanity by the war. The reason behind this insanity stemmed from a change in sleeping cycles; he and the rest of his platoon were ordered to only travel at night. When the chaos and paranoia mixed with the darkness, further uncertainty and natural fear that came with night, it became too much for Kiley to handle; he began to exemplify symptoms of mental instability. One of such symptoms was overwhelming paranoia. Sanders, who was in Riley’s platoon, told O’Brien that Riley had started speaking illogically and rapidly, convinced that “[s]warms of mutant bugs, billions of them had him bracketed,” saying that they were, “[w]hispering his name his actual name all night long,” which was, “driving him crazy” (O’Brien 142). This shows that the war slowly tore away at his sanity, slowly degrading his mind. This, however, was not all; Kiley also developed habitual scratching of his bug bites, to the point of forming scabs, picking them off, and then making his new sores bleed by scratching them as well—he lost his care for his own wellbeing. The fact that he lost his concern for his own wellbeing is further shown by later in the chapter, when Kiley “put a round [bullet] through his foot.” (O’Brien 143) These two situations don’t only outline disregard of his own health, but, more broadly, a loss of rationality, as no rational person could easily execute such self-harm, as if it were nothing. Besides the paranoia and habitual scratching, a final symptom Rat Kiley developed was obsessive compulsions. Kiley was a field medic, and, as such, had gotten used to the gore around him; however, he began to have compulsive thoughts over all of the gore (e.g., his comrade’s organs, his organs, etc.). However, Kiley was deeply distressed, not by the gruesomeness of these thoughts, but, rather, by the fact that they didn’t, “scare [him]” or, “even give [him] the willies. More like curiosity.” (O’Brien 142) This apathetic indifference to gore and even curiosity for it shows that Kiley had begun to lose his natural emotions. All of these symptoms, these changes, caused by war shows that war had stolen from Rat Kiley three very important things—his sanity, rationality/care for his own wellbeing and his emotions. These very things, the things that make people human, even these are stolen. War dehumanizes those involved—Rat Kiley was just one of many.

While war can cause mental degradation, war is obviously not limited to it; otherwise, war would be purely a battle of wits, with no force involved—like a chess game. But that isn’t war; war is much more hellish. There is an outcome, one which happens very often in war; one which most people outside of war are very distant from. This outcome was experienced by Kiowa, the field medic—death. A change that could be said to be the biggest possible—death. A miserable death; a horrible, disgusting, violently sickening death. In the novel, Kiowa’s death was described by a close friend of his, saying that he remembered how last night they had huddled together under their Ponchosfor a long while they'd talked about their families and hometowns he'd been showing Kiowa a picture of his girlfriend. He remembered switching on his flashlight. A stupid thing to do [H]e remembered Kiowa leaning in for a look at the picture—'Hey, she's cute,' he'd said—and then the field exploded all around them. The flashlight made it happen. And as a result his friend Kiowa was dead.

He remembered two mortar rounds hitting close by. Then a third [and] he'd heard somebody scream it was Kiowa. He remembered trying to crawl toward the screaming and then another round hit nearby, and all he could do was hold his breath and duck down beneath the water. [W]hen he came up again, there were no more screams. There was an arm and a wristwatch and part of a boot [and] bubbles where Kiowa's head should've been. He remembered grabbing the boot pulling hard, but the field seemed to pull back finally he had to let go and watch the boot slide away.