Coping Mechanisms In O Brien's The Things They Carried

Submitted By reindiggydawg
Words: 756
Pages: 4
Open Document
Alexis Roberson
Ms. Dye
AP Literature
3rd Block
Coping Mechanisms in The Things They Carried The Things They Carried withstands one of the central themes of soldiers in the war carrying physical and unwanted emotional baggage. Consequently, it is questionable how the soldiers cope with the horrors of war. Throughout the novel it is shown that the soldiers use many mechanisms to manage this emotional baggage. This includes, but is not limited to, storytelling, humor and denial. Majority of the novel is a recollection of stories from the war. O’Brien states at the end of the novel that the stories are “Tim trying to save Tim’s life with a story.” (O’Brien 233). Yet, not all of the stories are entirely factual. The storyteller tends to exaggerate or obliterate parts of the stories. This is so that the soldiers can forget things that they do not want to remember, keep in mind things they do want to remember and focus on more positive aspects of the war. In doing so, this helps the soldiers cope with the horrors of war by neglecting negative aspects. For example, in “The Man I Killed”, O’Brien goes into detail on the man’s physical characteristics and possible life story, and neglects his presence in the actual situation. By doing so, he isn’t focusing on the fact that he feels guilty for killing the man or the fact that he killed the man in general. Also, in “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, it is unknown whether that story is true or not but it isn’t a horror war story or death war story. It is a story that took focus off the negative things in war, and put focus on a lighter subject. Another coping mechanism that is seen in The Things They Carried is humor. Whenever a tragic incident occurs, jokes are always made in order to make light of the circumstances. For example, when the soldiers go looking for Kiowa’s body, Azar makes jokes of the irony within the situation. He says “Man, talk about irony. I bet if Kiowa was here, I bet he’d just laugh. Eating shit- it’s your classic irony.” (158). Azar is focusing more on the irony of the situation rather than the fact that he lost yet another friend. If they didn’t find a way to cope with these frequent horrors they would go mad and most likely become suicidal. The soldiers have to make light of situations in order to prevent themselves from going insane. Humor essentially functions as the means of their emotional stability during their time in Vietnam. Instead of the soldiers grieving on the deaths of their fellow men, they find the humor in the situation and laugh it off so they can continue on their journey. Denial is another big coping mechanism when it comes to the horrors of war. Throughout the soldier’s journey in Vietnam all the coping mechanisms they use cause them to be in denial of reality. Using humor to cover up horrors, and
Show More

Related Documents: Coping Mechanisms In O Brien's The Things They Carried

Jimmy Cross Vietnam War

country’s population; an estimated two million Vietnamese died during the Vietnam War. The conflict in Vietnam was far less devastating to the American militia, claiming the lives of fifty eight thousand and wounding two hundred thousand United States soldiers. The Vietnam War was the most unpopular war with American citizens. One of the contributing factors was media; with media coverage in Vietnam, Americans…

Words 2452 - Pages 10

Essay on Discuss How Sherriff Presents Human Weakness and Frailty in Journeys End

Discuss how Sherriff presents human weakness and frailty in Journeys End Journeys End was written with the intention of “letting the war speak”. The lives of the officers on the front line during 1917 are examined. A key theme that is explored throughout the play is the reactions of the mind and body, under the stress of the war. Each character represents the weakness of the human being in an individual way, but the character on which frailty is mainly focussed is Stanhope. Stanhope is the topic…

Words 2200 - Pages 9

Military Reform In Australia

military reforms in nearly every jurisdiction cannot go unmentioned. In Australia there has been attempts to reform the military justice system. In its 2005 report on the effectiveness of Australia's military justice system, the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee recommended the creation of a military court that would comply with the constitutional requirements for a federal court. To that point, military justice in Australia was administered by military tribunals within the chain of command…

Words 1160 - Pages 5

Child Soldiers Research Paper

What is Child Soldiers ? Military use of children also known as child soldiers, is anyone under the age of eighteen who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity. There are approximately 250,000 child soldiers in the world with 40% of them being girls. Most rebel groups use child soldiers in order to fight the government however some governments also use child soldiers in armed conflict for their own benefit. Child soldiers are not only used as fighters…

Words 1961 - Pages 8

Social approach psychology unit 1 Essay

society. They give up their free will and decision making and do exactly as being told to by someone in authority, even if this means harming another human being (destructive obedience, real life example: Hitler (authoritative figure) and the German soldiers in the Holocaust (agents)). 2. The effect of being within groups in society The social approach assumes that people live within a certain culture and society and their behaviour is influenced by the experiences within a society, where they're…

Words 1718 - Pages 7

Tattoo In The Outlaw World

dishonoured and consequently, was used for making ‘‘Others’ within Greek culture, such as criminals and slaves.’ This association was then transmitted to the Romans, in which tattooing was used and refer to, by Gustafson (2000), as a state of control mechanism. Romans could easily have control on criminals and slaves’ movements; by emitting these indelible symbols, their bodies would act as representatives, by reflecting their social status (Fisher, J.A.,…

Words 1252 - Pages 6

An Introduction To Psychology

aims for perfection, strives to act in a socially appropriate manner; opposite of the ID Ego – Sees the reality of the world & tries to balance the needs of the ID & Superego, our personal ideas of how we should behave & what we want long term Defence Mechanisms Rationalization – excuse to explain failure, loss or bad behaviour Did poorly on the test because the teacher hates me Displacement – releasing our withheld anger for someone/thing onto someone/thing else I am mad at myself but I take my anger…

Words 1410 - Pages 6

United Nations and World Order Essay

Cyber-warfare - a cyber-attack can direct a carefully engineered packet of data towards systems that control essential infrastructure, such as power stations, dams, airports, hospitals, electricity grids or financial systems. It can affect: Internet nodes Defence systems Networks and computer systems Telecommunications infrastructure The stock market nuclear power plants Critical infrastructure such as electricity grids Water supply Transportation systems Health infrastructure Cold war - the cold…

Words 4007 - Pages 17

History Notes Essay

CHC2De Review World War One Causes Nationalism: a feeling of deep loyalty to one’s people and homeland Extreme nationalist movement People would go to war just to promote support of their homelands Especially intense in Serbia Austria-Hungary took Bosnia, where many Serbians lived Serbians were angered, and the “Black Hand” terrorist group was formed to unite Serbians Members threatened to kill Archduke Ferdinand if he entered Bosnia Austrians were also expressing nationalism, and strongly…

Words 5857 - Pages 24

Social And Social Life In The Nazi Party

24294129 | GERMANY: NAZISM IN POWER | SOCIAL AND CULTURAL LIFE IN THE NAZI STATE: ROLE OF WOMEN, HITLER YOUTH AND RELIGION | 24294129 3/26/2013 | Research Component 1. Identify the identity responsible for the implementation of this policy. What was the scope of his responsibility within the party? Hitler was the identity responsible for the implementation of the Volksgemeinschaft. Hitler established the idea in his book, “Mein Kemp as he spoke about a “saviour” that would resurrect…

Words 2972 - Pages 12