Final Thoughts

This interesting as well as final unit of English 1A covering Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" changed my thoughts on war. Before this unit in class I considered war a necessity that was on the large front patriotic, but always justified. With Vietnam being the subject matter, I learned again that some small research can change one's mind.

Vietnam I always knew was a defeat, but now I know that it was the beginning of a public discussion on mental defect, as well as physical, being things soldiers sustain during fighting. I still believe war a necessary but primal thing that we humans have to resort to when other venues have been exhausted.

This English class has taught me in a good atmosphere how to articulate my thought better and enjoy debate more than ever before.

Thank you.

A misleading start

One of the most helpful phrases I learned in philosophy class is:

"If you start with a false premise, you can only come out with a false conclusion." One may argue that Vietnam was a mixed bag, that is: we went in with good intentions and messed up the operation, or we went in with bad causes and we still messed up the opportunity. One might attempt a feeble just war defense of the Vietnam War.

The United States President of the time, Richard Nixon, famously a paranoid man, created for the United States a conflict untenable which gladly resulted in retreat / surrender. Because of the unrighteous start it was impossible to win.

May we not repeat with the same mistakes being repeated.

A common trial

Tim O'Brien shared with the world that he has indeed contemplated suicide. In the New York Times, he is attributed to have gone down that path from personal challenges but in another article it becomes clear that he made the decision to go on and continue to make a voice for those whom see Vietnam as "a subject almost too painful for Americans to bear."

I take solace in the fact that Tim O'Brien, among other veterans, continue to take courage and still live with us.

The Heart of the matter

In a New York Times article "Asking the Whole Country to Embrace a War Story" we learn finding what's what can be difficult. Knowing the difference between the enemy and friendlies creates huge dissonance for the soldier:

In comparing Vietnam to current wars, O'Brien is quoted:

“Obviously there are differences,” he said, “chief among them the absence of the draft. But there are enough similarities. These are wars in which there are no uniforms, no front, no rear. Who’s the enemy? What do you shoot back at? Whom do you trust? At the bottom, all wars are the same because they involve death and maiming and wounding, and grieving mothers, fathers, sons and daughters."

Recently, people have gathered to do "Big Reads" for "The Things They Carried." People have the chance to read aloud parts of the story one at a time, in order to see the story in a different light.

This too could be a helpful activity for yourself and others.

After Effects

Tim O'Brien sparks for many veterans of the Vietnam conflict as a successful writer: someone able

to communicate some of the trauma sustained in war. But in an article showcased on The New York Times entitled "Wrestling With War And Love; Raw Pain, Relived Tim O'Brien's Way" Tim O'Brien still has his work cut out for him. It's easy to understand that some echos of th epast return for a person who survived Vietnam. Looking back on "The Things They Carried" it seems one must indeed make peace instead of just writing it down.

The 'American' War

People in Vietnam, as of 2010, seem largely uninterested in Tim O'Brien's and Americans storytelling of the U.S. war in Vietnam. Partly due to censorship, but also to other factors such as Vietnam being the winning side, it becomes hard for Vietnamese people to identify or even understand the sadness included in O'Brien's work.

Fortunately, something that the Vietnamese seem to be interested in is surrealism - not being real experience. Maybe with Tim O'Brien being published in local language his view can be known.