A good way to start the essay is to discuss what the psychological effects of war are on a soldier. Tim O’Brien wrote this novel in an attempt to come to grips with how war changed him and his fellow soldiers. He says, in essence, that if you send boys off to war, they will come back changed and never the same. This has been true in all wars; men come back psychologically altered. In...
A good way to start the essay is to discuss what the psychological effects of war are on a soldier. Tim O’Brien wrote this novel in an attempt to come to grips with how war changed him and his fellow soldiers. He says, in essence, that if you send boys off to war, they will come back changed and never the same. This has been true in all wars; men come back psychologically altered. In WWI, it was called, “shell shock,” in WWII, it was called, “battle fatigue.” It wasn’t until after the Vietnam War that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was diagnosed as a real psychological illness. Treatment today varies from psychiatric help to the use of dogs to help with stress in a returning soldier. So, giving some background on how soldiers are affected by war and why would be a great way to lead in to your thesis about the psychological effects of war on the soldiers in The Things They Carried.
Some ideas for your body paragraphs could be—
- O’Brien says that men fight and die in war because they are too embarrassed not to. The fear of blushing is powerful. How would this affect the soldier psychologically?
- What causes Norman Bowker’s suicide?
- What happens to Mary Ann that causes her to join the Greenies and become a cannibal? What is Mary Ann a symbol of?
- Why did Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo?
- Why did Azar take the North Vietnamese soldier’s thumb? Why does O’Brien stand and stare at the dead body for hours?
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