A Different Point of View of the Vietnam War in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried

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Recommended: Impacts the Vietnam War Had on Soldiers

A natural behaviour for humans is trying to relate to other’s points of view, one thing most people do not realize is that when you actually experience the event, you will have a different point of view versus trying to relate to it. Tim O’Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, had a completely different point of view on war than others who just watched it on the news. The main character and the stories in the book resemble Tim O'Brien's life in many ways, one of which is how Tim and the main character both oppose the war but other’s point of view about the war makes them conform and go to war anyways. .The Vietnam war, which is the basis of this book, had two opposing groups like all wars. The first was the opposition to U.S involvement in Vietnam. This group viewed the war to be a complete waste; They strongly believed that there was no reason to get involved in others problems, and it was a waste of U.S resources and troops. However, the People in favor saw U.S involvement as a way to protect human rights and found the war to be beneficial to our economy. Tim O’Brien was a part of the opposition group due to his belief that the war was pointless unless it meant something or if it was for a greater cause. There were many who saw the war from his point of view and fled and then there were others who tried to justify the war and convince him. Tim O’brien however was swayed to go to the war instead of doing what he truly wanted to do. Throughout the book O’brien will reproduce his experiences and try to show the effects of fear and why fear can be beneficial but could have consequences and how the war brings such fear on fearless men and how it affects them.

He opposed the war due to his fear, but he felt as if he had t...

... middle of paper ...

...ity there are no bugs but since it is nighttime and he doesn't know whats what, his mind will start to create the worst case scenarios and in his case its bugs, one of his worst fears. The fear of not knowing is probably the worst fear of all.

Tim evinces his fears about the war, unknown, and isolation throughout the book. However one of his biggest fears in my opinion is knowing that there will be future wars and there will be people like him who will oppose the war but they will succumb to society just as he did. His sole purpose for writing this book was to persuade people not to make the same mistakes he made. The fears he portrays in the book are the fears he has lived through from actual experiences and these fears are what lead many off the cliff of sanity. Fear is the mind killer, it is the little things that fear does that eventually bring obliteration.

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