The Weight of War: Tom's Account in The Things They Carried - Essay Sample

Introduction

Tom gives a detailed account of the war experiences in "The Things They Carried" and the experiences encountered by the soldiers in the long distances that they covered. Most of the references are on the things that they packed in their bags which include ammunition, grenades, pictures and love letters. The items held by each of these persons helps the reader to know their character and the situation they are in at a given moment. The heaviest weight that they carried was not in physical form, but rather, it was their emotions that are in the form of grief, love, and terror.

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Setting

The novel makes a compilation of different episodes that the author experiences in life and this is an indication that the setting various based on space and time. A significant amount of the stories happen in Vietnam, and this was in the late 1960s. There is also a relation of memories about his life in Massachusetts, and this was before the war began and when it ended in 1980.

Vietnam Jungles

When the Vietnam War was happening, O'Brien was part of the group that was fighting in the Vietnam jungles, and this was against a fighting unit that was called the Viet Cong forces. The rebels had a great understanding of the jungles than the Americans. O'Brien had a real-life experience on the sections that the group was fighting, and this enabled him to write stories as highlighted in The Things They Carried. It seemed that there existed booby-traps and the fighting area seemed to be hostile to the Americans. The setting of the fighting issue led to the generation of an intense feeling of paranoia among the soldiers that are described by O'Brien in the stories that are set in the jungles. They have a complete understanding that death can strike any time considering that they are witnessing their colleagues getting killed while they are also striking their enemies dead. The tension proves too much for some of them as they run away, and others get crazy. There is a soldier that shoots his leg so that he can escape. The jungles creepy nature and the war is completely different from the life that the soldiers will encounter when they get home.

The other setting of the book is in America as O'Brien gives stories of activities happening there before and after the fighting and the situation was completely different from the instability experienced in Vietnam. Before they left for war, the people in the O'Brien unit are used to the American way of life, and when they come back from war, they are completely changed by the happenings in Vietnam. After the war, they are used to a constant state of fear, unpredictability, and paranoia (Chen 78). They have stayed in a fighting setting for long, and this makes it difficult for them to live in a stable American environment.

Language

The language used by the writer in this story is critical to the written passages, and it relates to the passage themes. At the beginning of the story, the author gives the story of Curt Lemon with Halloween ghost mask. O'Brien makes a description of the way that Lemon paints the body and the language and story of Lemon that makes a disguise, and this is a clear reflection of the way soldiers and Lemon disguise their fear. The author states that "They carried the soldier's greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment (O'Brien p.20)." The passages are supposed to be within a time that peace is supposed to prevail and create an image of people that are on vacation. However, the language that is used by the writer is one that evokes images of combat. The first part of the passage revolves around death, and there is a detailed use of words, such as death, torture, pain and blood. At the end of the passage, there is the use of words, such as shot, killer, and monster and the language enables a reader to understand the situation of the prevailing setting. All the language used is an indication of war and its shows that in the mind of a solider, at the time of peace, it never registers any stability (Calloway 249). Language is used to show how the people that are involved in the war are affected to the extent that even when they are not fighting, their mind is wired to think of combat.

Tone

The tone used in this story by O'Brien changes from emotional to clinical status. It gets manipulative and ends into being epic though the one adopted in storytelling remains constant. It seems that the writer is close to the subjects and absolutely familiar to them. He has a lot of confidence that the story he is telling is true, and he is right in what he is stating. Based on the tone he is using, it seems that he has a great understanding of his subjects in and out. The town could not talk nor listen, yet he states "How'd you like to hear about the war?"(p.32). He states that the town only blinks and shrugs.

Conclusion

The collection of the stories "The Things They Carried" is devoted to giving a detailed account of the life of American soldiers when they were part of the Vietnam War. The author has relied on different elements, such as tone, language, and setting to give a detailed account of the activities that happened during and after the war. The setting is in the war jungle and the American environment. The tone used throughout shows that O'Brien has a great understanding of what is happening. The language used shows a theme of sadness as the terms used shows death, pain, and injuries.

Works Cited

Calloway, Catherine. ""How to Tell a True War Story": Metafiction in The Things They Carried." Critique: studies in contemporary fiction 36.4 (1995): 249-257.

Chen, Tina. "Unraveling the Deeper Meaning": Exile and the Embodied Poetics of Displacement in Tim O'Brien's" The Things They Carried." Contemporary Literature 39.1 (1998): 77-98.

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. Mariner Books/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1990.