Professor Cline
English 102
23 September 2010
My Response To: The Things They Carried
I was excited when I learned that, The Things They Carried was on our reading list for this English class. My teachers in High School didn’t teach us anything about Vietnam; they never mentioned it at all. I’ve always wandered why the Vietnam War was never taught to us. Most of the information on Vietnam has come from the movies, and from talking really briefly to a few guys that had served in Vietnam. I’ve always been hesitant to ask about the details of the war, because all I’ve ever heard is “soldiers can’t go there mentally, because of all the crazy and f***ed up things they have seen.”
This has led me to choose the chapter; “How to Tell a True War Story.” The paragraph that I’m about to quote is related to what I wrote above. “In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It’s a question of credibility. Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness.” ( O’Brien. P.71).
Even though this book is a work of fiction, I can see the realism in these stories. I truly believe all of the craziness, like the story about the baby water buffalo (which is on page’s 78-80) which is really hard to quote word for word, because it’s so grotesque. The story is about a soldier finding a baby water buffalo which he brings back to camp, and persists to shoot the buffalo’s body in several different places. As a life long animal lover I’m repulsed by the story, but I also understand that war screws up people’s minds.
I have to ask, “Why have we heard over the years that the soldiers that made it back from Vietnam, are more psychologically messed up than the soldiers from WWI & WWII?” “In every war the soldiers kill and witness death, so what was the difference?” I hope to find the answers to these questions someday, and who knows, maybe I will find answers as I finish reading this thought provoking book.
Works Cited
O’Brien, Tim. (1990). How To Tell a True War Story. The Things They Carried. New York. Broadway Books.
This has led me to choose the chapter; “How to Tell a True War Story.” The paragraph that I’m about to quote is related to what I wrote above. “In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It’s a question of credibility. Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness.” ( O’Brien. P.71).
Even though this book is a work of fiction, I can see the realism in these stories. I truly believe all of the craziness, like the story about the baby water buffalo (which is on page’s 78-80) which is really hard to quote word for word, because it’s so grotesque. The story is about a soldier finding a baby water buffalo which he brings back to camp, and persists to shoot the buffalo’s body in several different places. As a life long animal lover I’m repulsed by the story, but I also understand that war screws up people’s minds.
I have to ask, “Why have we heard over the years that the soldiers that made it back from Vietnam, are more psychologically messed up than the soldiers from WWI & WWII?” “In every war the soldiers kill and witness death, so what was the difference?” I hope to find the answers to these questions someday, and who knows, maybe I will find answers as I finish reading this thought provoking book.
Works Cited
O’Brien, Tim. (1990). How To Tell a True War Story. The Things They Carried. New York. Broadway Books.
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