Tim O’Brien’s The Things they Carried is a collection of war stories that O’Brien gathered from his experiences during Vietnam War. These stories contain fragments of truth, but there is an underlying lie that deserves closer examination. It is possible to uncover the truth once you have removed the lies. These stories are a reminder that not all things can be accurately and realistically described. It is used so that the fear and dehumanization shown in the book are close to the truth but also far from the truth. Truth can be bent and twisted or even made completely irrelevant.
Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, is a story in which he twists the truth to portray emotions or feelings that are not obvious. O’Brien uses untrue storytelling to explain emotions and feelings. O’Brien states in the chapter “Good Form” that he wants you to feel what he felt. I want to show you why sometimes story-truth can be more accurate than actual-truth. This chapter is a collection of nods to the notion that stories can be true or false. It may have been more difficult for the reader to grasp the happening-truth than the stories-truth. O’Brien even made up his “daughter”, Kathleen in one chapter. Kathleen was a part of an elaborate story O’Brien wrote about his return to Vietnam to visit his daughter. This was the same place where Kiowa, his best friend died. He uses Kathleen to help him answer a question he feels he can truthfully answer with two contradicting answers. Kathleen is able to tell the truth. “Did anyone ever get killed?” You can be honest and say that I have never killed anyone. Or, I could honestly answer ‘Yes’. O’Brien lies about Kathleen and uses his fake daughter to pose questions that he believes could be answered. The questions could only give one answer to someone who is not there for the truth. O’Brien claims all the faculties in his book at “Good Form” beginning with the statement, “It’s time for me to be blunt… long ago, Quang Ningai Province was foot soldier.” The rest of the inventions are almost all invented. It’s not a sport. It’s an art form. Now, right here, as I invent my self, I think of everything I want you to know about the book. O’Brien directs in this quote that he wants readers to know the truth. Although you may not believe what O’Brien is telling you, his explanations will make you feel exactly the same way that he did.
Fear is the glue of the novel. It shows the commonality between all the soldiers in the platoon by revealing a shared feeling no one wants to admit. All soldiers feel fear. Fear is a natural feeling. This novel shows soldiers trying to distract themselves. They even make jokes about the situation as they watch an airstrike destroy an entire village. They came up with jokes. They found jokes to tell. They used humor to escape the harsh reality of their situation. Each soldier came up with a different method of dealing with fear. Jimmy Cross pulled out his foxhole to look at the photo of Martha, his hometown girl. Ted Lavender used tranquilizers to relax until he was shot in the middle of April outside Than Khe. The average Lavender carries 6 to 7 grams of premium cocaine. To relax and calm himself after days of fighting and air strikes, Lavender used drugs. They did their best to keep themselves safe from fear. Ironically, they all feared to express a feeling they felt.
Dehumanization does not happen overnight. It’s a complicated process that involves many traumatizing experiences that eventually leads to dehumanization.
Nearly every soldier featured in the book experienced a trauma at some point. Rat Kiley’s death was caused by Curt Lemon, his best buddy. He retreated and shot the animal through his right front knee. The animal didn’t make any sound. The animal fell hard and then rose again. Rat carefully aimed and fired off one ear. It was hit in the back and hindquarters. It was shot twice from its flanks. It wasn’t intended to kill but to inflict pain. He raised the rifle’s muzzle towards his mouth and shot at it. Nobody spoke much. The entire platoon watched, felt all sorts of emotions, but it wasn’t hard to feel pity for the baby buffalo. Curt Lemon had died. Rat Kiley’s best friend had died. Kiley was then forced to leave the water buffalo, where he died slowly and painfully. His best friend died, along with an innocent water Buffalo, and Rat Kiley’s humanity. Later, platoon personnel mentioned that Kiley was gone after Curt’s death. However, the death of the baby water buffalo isn’t the only victim to this dehumanization. A traumatized and suffering man was also able to incentivize a puppy. “Like Ted Lavender’s puppy was thrown away by Azar. “What’s the fuss about? Azar said. “I mean Jesus Christ, I’m just your boy.” This is likely due to the dog’s upbringing, which may have led to him becoming desensitized to being strapped to a mine.
Time O’Brien can seem like a fool who makes war look serious by making up stories and falsifying facts. O’brien uses this writing style to communicate other themes like fear and dehumanization as well as to help readers better understand Vietnam War veterans’ feelings. Even though the stories may seem fictitious or ill-informed, they have a purpose. This book is meant to help someone experience something they have never experienced. Fear was a feeling that all soldiers felt. This book shows that fear and traumatizing war events have taken away parts of these soldiers that cannot be replaced or put back together. Anger and hatred are two of the ways that dehumanization can be demonstrated. Not just for the victims of the conflict, but all who are caught up in it.
