The True Tragedy of Vietnam - a Look into Tim O’brien’s Emotional Anti-War Message

The True Tragedy of Vietnam:

A look into Tim O’Brien’s emotional anti-war message

The Vietnam War was a war of great ambiguity. Flowered up with the illusive ideas of heroism and triumph, millions of America’s innocent youth were drafted to fight a war in Vietnam. The consequences for this war were grave and dire. Millions from both sides lost their lives for a seemingly unreasonable cause. In his novel “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’Brien changes the glorified way in which media and textbooks portray war, telling gruesome stories illustrating the irreparable damage war inflicts on the lives of young soldiers. The “things” the characters carry both concrete and emotional. Woefully, the ladder catapults the men into a lifetime of struggling to cope with the crushing weight of guilt, grief, and haunting memories that cannot be unloaded.

Despite the uncertainty of the legitimacy of the war, there spread the traditional message that defending one’s country is a man’s greatest purpose and honor. Fighting for a cause one passionately believes in is certainly heroic and admirable. The tragedy of the Vietnam War was that the soldiers were not risking their lives out of patriotism. Merely in their teens and early twenties, the naпve soldiers entering the war did so fearing the embarrassment of not fighting. “It was what brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor.” (O’Brien 21) According to O’Brien, among the heaviest “things they carry” are feelings of guilt and shame for their cowardice. Upon receiving his draft notice, O’Brien is conflicted. He considers crossing into Canada in an effort to avoid participating in a war he does not believe in. However, he abandons his political position and goes to Vietnam because he does not want his family, peers, and community to view him as a coward. Ironically, he notes, "I was a coward. I went to the war."(O’Brien 61) Out of fear, O’Brien escapes being labeled a coward by performing a cowardly act. During the war, he carried the burden of feeling like a coward for abandoning his beliefs. For the rest of his life, he carried the burden of shame and disappointment in himself.

This novel is especially effective in that it focuses on the impact of the war on individual soldiers instead of the statistics of the war itself. Upon entering Vietnam and being exposed to an inhumane war, the men acquired more emotional weight on their shoulders. While O’Brien is digging deeper into the experiences of the young soldiers, he describes the various tactile things the men carry. In doing so, he instills in the reader the realization that despite being incredibly heavy and difficult to carry, the burden of the materialistic load is trivial compared to the burden of the emotional load. For instance, the men were fraught by the stress of protecting their friends. “He carried a strobe light and responsibilities for the lives of men.” (O’Brien 5) The responsibility for the lives of men leads to what is perhaps the greatest burden of all, eternal guilt. While it is normal for 18-22 year old boys to be love stricken and allow their minds to wander, on a battlefield their natural inclinations could mean the death of another. When Ted Lavender was killed, “Lieutenant Cross felt the pain. He blamed himself…Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her (Martha) so much and