Weight of a War

Weight of a War

Weight of a War
In the early 1960’s, lawmakers in Washington made a decision that changed the lives of many young men.   America would go to war and those who would be in the trenches were the much smaller group of young men who were drafted.   The willing along with the unwilling were told when and where they would go to defend not only our country but South Vietnam; they were the unlucky who symbolized America.   In Tim O’Brien’s short story The Things They Carried, he associates each individual soldier with his own life by using possessions they took with them along with the many things those who returned brought home. Many soldiers cannot resume a normal life after living through the experiences of war; Tim O’Brien’s motivation to write about the Vietnam War was a way to heal his physical and mental wounds, to justify his own behavior and simply deal with his feelings.
Tim O’Brien is one of a select few who survived the Vietnam War, but in coming home alive he would be wounded with emotional trauma from war for the rest of his life. O’Brien uses his experiences to re-tell the story of many soldiers in an effort to heal himself. We hear that soldiers in a war environment witness and endured events that no amount of training or preparation can prepare you for.   In The Things They Carry, O’Brien tells appalling stories that leaves the reader astonished by the comments and actions made by his fellow soldiers. The Things They Carried is not a true story as O’Brien tells us…“in a true war story nothing is ever absolutely true” (O’Brien 82).   O’Brien reminds us that truth is relative to the individual who experienced it.   The stories that are told are based on true memories and emotions, but could vary in version depending on the storyteller or the person’s opinion who witnessed it. Truth is important, but in some circumstances is changed or magnified in an effort to cope with the outcome.   Coping is a survival skill used by the...