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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 10 page research paper that examines the question as to whether or not Tim O'Brien novel of Vietnam combat experience, The Things They Carried, should be given to a soldier in the military right now. The writer argues that it should not precisely because O'Brien's stream of conscious narrative is so realistic that it could be demoralizing to a soldier facing combat conditions. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Page Count:
10 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khobviet.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
since so many people in the military are currently involved in a combat situation. The reason why one should not recommend this book to someone in the military is because
it recreates the experience of combat far too accurately, and does so in a way that mirrors the psychological effects of combat. While it is typical and expected that an
author writing a war story will relate the horrors of war, they usually relate these narratives in a linear fashion, that is, what happened, how the characters reacted, and so
forth. These authors relate the irrationality of violence in a rational manner. They help make "sense" of what the average soldier faces. OBrien abandons this format and offers a stream
of consciousness narrative that reflects the fractured thought processes of a traumatized mind. In order to stay sane, to cope with the daily fear, OBrien pictures his protagonist as thinking
in a jackrabbit fashion, with his mind darting from one topic to another. It becomes clear throughout the course of the novel that the protagonist (who is also named
OBrien) is trying to avoid traumatic memories that are literally more than his mind can bear. As this suggests, OBrien portrays war with frightening realism, devoid of any glorification, or
sense of purpose. An examination of this novel demonstrates that reading this novel would be, in all likelihood, totally demoralizing for someone in the military. From the beginning of
his novel, OBrien makes it clear that he is not concerned with relating precisely what happened. he asserts that a "true war story does not depend upon that kind
of truth" (89). The sole criteria that OBrien supports for telling a "true" war story is this: "It comes down to gut instinct, A true war story, if truly told,
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