For Better or For Worse

The war in Vietnam was the longest, and perhaps the most brutal, war in American history. There have been countless books, movies, and songs made in honor of the soldiers who lost their lives in Vietnam. In one particular novel called The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, the reader follows a platoon of soldiers throughout their service in the Vietnam War. It is through these accounts that the reader sees how huge of an impact the war had on everyone who was involved in it. In this particular collection of stories, the traumatizing events of the war caused radical changes of character in the soldiers who fought in it.

Change can first be seen in the novel when the protagonist, Tim O’Brien, is drafted to the war only one month after graduating from college. This causes him to undergo a change in morals and values. O’Brien initially believes that he is above the war, and says, “I was too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, too everything. It couldn’t happen. I was above it.” (41). Because of this mindset, O’Brien plans to evade the draft by fleeing to Canada. O’Brien has many issues regarding the war in Vietnam. For example, he also does not agree with the motives of America’s attacks on the Vietnamese people. He also thinks that the residents of his town do not fully understand the reasons for the war and therefore have no right to judge him on his decision not to go. Although, after an eye-opening stay with an elderly man that he meets on his way to Canada, O’Brien second-guesses his decision to run away. The man, Elroy Berdahl, shows him the meaning of honor and responsibility, which changes his whole outlook on what is right. O’Brien ends up changing his mind, not out of bravery, but out of “hot, stupid shame. [...

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...on the soldiers. We first see change in the main character, Tim O’Brien, when he humbles himself enough to go fight in the war. Although he changes out of shame rather than courage, he changes nonetheless. Next we see a radical change in Mary Anne Bell, a young and perhaps naïve girl whose eyes are opened by the rawness of the jungle in Vietnam. She trades in her pink sweater and innocence for an assault rifle and a newfound respect for the Vietnamese culture. Rat Kiley displays a change in mental stability when he begins to experience psychosis and paranoia due to the violence he witnesses. He slowly goes crazy, and goes to great lengths to remove himself from the service. Everyone must undergo change sometime in their lives, but these characters show how sometimes we do not have a choice. Sometimes we must change for our country, for our family, and for ourselves.