Fiction

The concept of “The Things They Carried” is quite similar to Tim O’Brien’s other books. Gender roles play a very important role in his stories. Both of the gender have an equal role to play in the society but during the Vietnam War, men had more responsibility then women because they had to go to war and fight for their country. Men are mostly the focal point of Tim O’Brien’s stories. The story “The Things They Carried” is about the war in Vietnam and it shows that war is not what it looks like from the outside. The story goes on to explain the feelings of the soldiers at war. Men are supposed to be brave and strong, both emotionally and physically. The soldiers in the story are all scared for their lives and everybody is hoping to get out as soon as possible. They can’t show their emotions and their inner fear to the other soldiers for the fear of embarrassment. For example, “He tried not to cry. With his entrenching tool, which weighed five pounds, he began digging a hole in the earth. He felt shame. He hated himself” (488). This quote shows that Lieutenant Cross is scared to cry in front of his men because he does not want to show them his inner emotional feeling and he wants to put up a strong front so he will be able to lead them. Tim O’Brien reveals that all men should convey a strong image in society.

The society has the perception that men are stronger physically and emotionally. Men are supposed to be the strong ones in the two genders but it is not the case in “The Things They Carried”. Elisbaeth Piedmont-Marton, a critic, states that “All of them carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide.”(Marton). This means that they all had something in common, which was being scared for their lives. They were barely showing it because of the embarrassment they would feel by the other soldiers but if they had a chance to they would either run or hide. This just shows that men are not always strong and tough and that they also have this inner fear which is buried inside them. Most of the men like to convey the strong image in the society because most of the leaders of the world are men and they can’t show weakness because they have to lead people. Nobody would want a weak and scared person leading them so that’s why it’s really important for men to convey the strong image.

Men in society would try to hide their emotions and inner feelings from the rest of the people because they will be insecure about the feelings other people will have towards them. Men will hide their emotions because they don’t want anyone to think that they are weak and that they have a soft side to them. Men always try to act tough and brave even though they are scared and frightened. For example, according to “The Overview: The Things They Carried”, Tim O’Brien states that “They try to remain tough, and in the end, the heaviest weight they carry is the emotional baggage of men who might die. (O’Brien). This shows that men do try to act tough even in the worst circumstance such as the war. They suffer from the emotional damages because they are not fully trained to deal with the emotional stress that comes from the war.

Men are not all brave and tough like they show themselves to be. Even the men in Vietnam weren’t brave and happy because of the war. They were all scared 19 years old boys who were drafted in the army. A lot of them though did feel it was their duty to serve their country in the time of crisis. They felt obliged to go to war because that is what was in their heart, even though they weren’t trained well enough to handle the emotional stress the war has on people. Most of the soldiers were not happy to be stuck in between the politics. For example, critic Josiah Bunting states in his article “Vietnam, Carried on”, that “They carried no political sensibility or outrage”. (Bunting). This means that the soldiers did not want to be involved