One of the great stories about the Vietnam war is “The Things They Carried”
by Tim O’Brien. It was published in 1986 and describes the lives of seventeen
American soldiers, led by Lt. Cross, fighting for their survival(Fiction 667). Tim
O’Brien as a veteran of the Vietnam war, depicts all the events of the story similarly
to his own experiences in the battlefield. In other words of contemporary criticism
article “O'Brien explores the nature of courage and the writer's interest in
transcending reality to represent the truths of experience”(Gale Database). And
although the story is fictional, the narrative of it had creates a true image of what was
happening. The story itself portrays the cruel truths behind the lives of American
soldiers in Vietnam. And the constant psychological trauma that they interact with, on
the battlefield, often results in developing of three major symptoms of Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or simply PTSD, according to authors of
National Center for PTSD web site “is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following
the experience or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat,
natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or violent personal assaults like
rape”(The National). It is one of the major psychological problems that almost every
soldier meets during and after the tragic event such as witnessing death of people
around. PTSD has three symptoms: reexperiencing, avoidance and hyperarousal. And
“The Things They Carried” is a perfect example showing all the symptoms of PTSD
in story’s characters.
Reexperiencing is the first symptom that influences soldiers in combat. It
makes a person to undergo through flashbacks from past psychologically painful
events(Encyclopedia). These flashbacks can also be triggered by things that are
unrelated to war but somehow remind a person about it. On the other hand, a person
can have such recurrence of these memories just because the person had a really
disturbing image of the event. For example, Kiowa, one of the soldiers in Lt. Cross’s
squad, had seen the death of Ted Lavender and described it as “…it was like
watching a rock fall, or a big sandbag or something…”(Fiction 670). Death of one of
his soldiers had also influenced Lt. Cross blames himself for this loss, because he had
the responsibility for every one of the soldiers getting back home safe “Lt. Cross felt
the pain. He blamed himself”(Fiction 670). Furthermore, lieutenant thinks it his fault,
because he could not stop thinking about the girl he loves “…thinking he loved her
more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because he
loved her so much he could not stop thinking about her”(Fiction 670). These feelings
of guilt and shame is another indication that Lt. Cross is under influence of PTSD.
They also can be interpreted as “…having survived when others did
not”(Encyclopedia 250).
Second symptom of PTSD is avoidance. It is described as “reduced emotional
responsiveness to the external world…”(Encyclopedia,249). In the story it is
represented in Lt. Cross’s daydreams about Martha. He uses those thoughts to run
away from the cruelty and stress of the situation around him. Moreover he does it
subconsciously, without understanding that those thoughts influence his duties as a
commander of a squad “Lieutenant Cross gazed at the tunnel. But he was not there.
He was buried with Martha under the white sand at the Jersey shore”(Fiction,673).
Also the fact that Lt. Cross doesn’t communicate with other soldiers leads to
alienation and further increase in the effect that horrible events cause to his
psychology. And finally leading to continuing avoidance. In addition using drugs is
another way to avoid the cruel and deadly situation that the soldiers are in. For
example: “Ted Lavender carried six or seven ounces of premium dope, which for him
was a necessity”(Fiction 668). Smoking marijuana was the only way for him to forget
about disturbing memories and the surrounding world of death.
Third symptom of PTSD is hyperarousal. This symptom includes: “difficulty
of falling or staying asleep, irritability or outbursts of anger, difficulty
concentrating….”(Encyclopedia 249). This symptom may also cause anxiety and
aggression which are widely expressed in the story “The Things They Carried”. In
fact, one of the soldiers from the squad, Mitchell Sanders. He shows a really inhuman
behavior towards dead corpse of a Vietnamese boy “He put his hand on the dead
boy’s wrist…and used Kiowa’s hunting hatchet to remove the thumb”(Fiction 674).
This is a true indication of the changes that this character goes through, during his
mission in Vietnam. Besides this outburst of anger is involved in soldier’s behavior.
Lt. Cross, after the death of one of his soldiers, burns all the letters that he received
from girl he liked. Martha was her name. He does that because thinking about her
made him weak as a soldier and a leader “he hated her…he was now determined to
perform his duties firmly and without negligence”(Fiction 679). This was the final
thing that he did to ensure he would stop dreaming because it was unreal.
O’Brien wrote this story to show the reader the sides of human psychology
that can change the personality of an individual. Story’s characters play a big role in
representing one of the main themes of the story – fear of death. At the same time Tim
O’Brien in his story tries to distinct all of the characters by their psychological
symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. For example: both Lt. Cross and Ted
Lavender try to avoid the reality of the world around them by dismissing the it with
any means they can. Such as dreaming about future and using drugs to suppress the
feelings. Mitchell Sanders shows the aggression and inhuman behavior to compensate
for his fear of dying. Kiowa is stressed out, because after watching Ted Lavender die
and doesn’t feel sorry for him. At the same time, Norman Bowker was aware of what
has happened to Ted Lavender and also he felt sorry for both, the victim and his
commander LT. Cross. Because he knew that “ the lieutenant’s in some deep
hurt”(Fiction 676). Furthermore all of these characters represent the memories of real
Vietnam War veteran – Tim O’Brien who devoted his after war life to commemorate
all the victims of a brutal, pointless war.