How Does War Affect The War Essay

War changes everyone involved in one way or another. For some it physical changes them because they get physical deformed, but for most people, war changes their mental state. War changes people’s mental state because of the duties that they have to perform and the experiences that they have to see. Tim O’Brien shows how the characters mental states changed throughout the book, because of the war. In the story “How to Tell a True War Story” Bob “Rat” Kiley loses his best friend, Curt Lemon, right in front of him because of a landmine. Rat Kiley is very sad because he lost his best friend, “And then the letter gets very sad and serious. Rat pours his heart out. He says he loved the guy. He says the guy was his best friend in the world. They …show more content…

In the story When Mary Anne first gets to Vietnam she is your typical American girl at the time. She was innocent, pure and full of energy, “At times she gave off a kind of come-get-me energy, coy and flirtatious, but apparently it never bothered Mark Fossie”(O’Brien, 95). Mary was this way because she didn’t know anything about the war so she didn’t think that the war was that bad. After awhile she wanted to learn more about the war and the land because she thought it was fascinating, “The war intrigued her. The land, too, and the mystery”(O’Brien, 96). She wanted to learn more because it peaked her interests. Further into her stay at the hospital she started to help when casualties came in, “At the end of the second week, when four casualties came in, Mary Anne wasn’t afraid to get her hands bloody. At times, in fact, she seemed fascinated by it”(O’Brien, 97-98). She was fascinated by it because she liked to have hands on experience. Towards the end of the story Mary has gone full soldier. She goes out with the Green Berets on their patrols and their ambushes, “Ambush. All night long, man, Mary Anne’s out on fucking’ ambush”(O’Brien, 102). She goes with the Green Berets on their patrols and ambushes because she feels the need to see what the war was like and not just have stories of what it is like. By the end of the …show more content…

Norman makes up these scenarios about what he would say to someone regarding how he almost got the silver star. He makes one up for his father, and Sally Kramer, who was an old friend. He makes up the scenarios because it is how he copes with the war and the time where he could of gotten the silver star. The thing that changed the mental state of Norman Bowker and that made him drive in circles around the lake was the death of one of his friends and fellow soldier, Kiowa, “He pulled hard but Kiowa was gone, and then suddenly he felt himself going, too”(O’Brien, 149). This death changed him more than the rest because he thought that he could save him, but he couldn 't. Norman felt responsible for Kiowa’s death because Norman couldn 't pull Kiowa out of the