The Subconscious Mind In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

It can be said that physical objects own you, but it is what is in the heart that breaks you. This idea conveys the truth that abstract qualities exceeds those of the physical. Therefore, it is asserted that intangibles such as the psychological wellbeing of an individual is more important than the physical being of that individual. Like an emotional dream that never leaves the imagination, emotional burdens never leaves the brain. In his book, The Things They Carried , Tim O’Brien says that the subconscious mind plays a bigger part in war than the actual actions that occurs in war. He says ”they carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing—these were intangibles, but the tangibles had their own mass

The soldier’s fear came from their imagination, wanting to be courageous at times and at other times watching their friends die. During O’Brien’s portrayal of tunnel duty he repeatedly ask many questions such as “Will your flashlight go dead? If you screamed, how far would the sound reach? Would your buddies hear it?” (11). Viewed as odd questions by O’Brien himself, these questions, however, serve to infer the idea that like the endless, long tunnel the possibilities of what could happen to a soldier while at war were endless, but the main thing the men tried not to think about was death; even though they knew death was unavoidable. The questions served to cover up-the soldier’s fear of thinking about death. According to O’Brien the soldier’s also “carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing” (21). The soldier’s fear of being seen as an embarrassment was one of their greatest fears. They killed not because they wanted to, but to save their reputation. Their insides scorched when they would think that they would die as a a dishonorable soldier and also as one who failed to impress their fellow comrades. In an attempt to pee Ted Lavender was shot in the head and as Kiowa describes it was “like watching a rock fall, or a a big sandbag

Jimmy Cross was responsible for all the men lives and actions. In reference to his last name Cross, he was like God. He was to watch his men and take care of them. However, he unintentionally allowed one of his soldiers Ted Lavender to get shot while peeing due to his negligence of once again daydreaming about Martha. In an attempt to accept the blame he “crouched at the bottom of the foxhole and burned Martha’s letters. Then he burned the two photographs”(23), however, shortly he fully accepted the blame. He noticed that “Lavender was dead. You couldn't burn the blame”(23). He further learned that he had to forget about Martha which only took away his elated feelings and caused more internal grief. In another careless mistake, Jimmy Cross allowed his men to set up next the shit field which eventually cobbled up his soldier Kiowa. Through this experience he learned that “you could blame the war. You could blame the idiots who made the war”(177), but the blame was on everyone. Everyone felt some type of emotion which weighted on their hearts. In the chapter “Ambush” Tim O’Brien reflects on the man he killed and noted that “when I'm reading a newspaper or just sitting alone in a room, I’ll look up and see the young man coming out of the morning fog” (134.) Though he accepts the responsibility for the man he killed, like many of the soldier’s he