Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Current War Conflicts in The Things They Carried by Tim O'brien

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The novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is based in Vietnam during the Vietnam War in the 1950’s. Though most of the novel is just a flashback to the Vietnam War, there are some events that occur well after the war. Looking back at their place in time during the Vietnam War, Jimmy Cross and some of his old fellow war vets use some of the objects they carried with them in Vietnam to remember those events that caused their lives to drastically change. The most significant event that changed Jimmy Cross’ life was of watching fellow platoon member Ted Lavender die right next to him. Cross does not go a day in his life without blaming himself for Lavender’s death. Throughout the novel Jimmy is torn between the love of his life, Martha, who does not feel as affectionate towards Cross, and by his actions in the War. In the novel, the author/narrator Tim O’Brien is also a protagonist in the story. He is first presented as a nervous, young, soldier who is in the Alpha Platoon. Because of O’Brien being the author of the novel, he can strongly use imagery to his advantage when he writes of stories he confronted in his point of view. The two main topics of current war and PTSD which are illustrated in the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien can be compared and contrasted with three relevant articles: “Al Qaeda tries to recruit Americans in Syria,” “Ukraine orders Crimea troop withdrawal as Russia seizes naval base,’ and “Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder.”
The article “Officials: Al Qaeda tries to recruit Americans in Syria” is about how Al Qaeda is encouraging fighters in Syria to prepare them in the case that they will return home to carry out attacks. They are prepared to send the fighters home by train. There...

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... platoon member’s everyday lives. Also it shows how relative the Vietnam war is to modern day war conflicts. The fact that Tim O’Brien lived through those events taking place in the Vietnam War, help guide him to go farther in than most other authors to describe in first person detail of what occurred during that war, and how the Vietnam War is in relation to current wars.

Works Cited
Milanova, Boriana, and Victoria Eastwood. "Ukraine Orders Crimea Troop Withdrawal as Russia Seizes Naval Base." CNN. Cable News Network, 5 Mar. 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. New York: Broadway, 1998. Print.
"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)." NIMH RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
Starr, Barbarra. "Officials: Al Qaeda Tries to Recruit Americans in Syria." CNN Security
Clearance RSS. CNN, 21 Feb. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.

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