The Things They Carried Essay
Shame is a reoccuring theme throughout The Things They Carried. Shame makes people do things they don’t want to do just so they can get rid of the fear of shame. It drove soldiers to do acts they would’ve never done. Many of the characters have shame as a primary motivator. It leads them to war and it keeps them there. It is the one thing that keeps them from shooting themselves in the foot so that they would be discharged from the army or some similar such act. But some characters, like Curt Lemon, think that shame impels them to heroism, not stupidity. The feelings of shame and guilt consume the soldiers, and make them do irrational and crazy things. Shame motivated men to go to Vietnam.
A factor that contributes to their shame is being shamed in front of their peers. Also coming back from war perfectly fine and intact was a contributing factor because it lead some soldiers to shoot themselves in the leg or something so they at least had something to show they fought hard in battle. They felt that there were people dying around them and getting injured, and that if they came back home with nothing done to them they would be looked at as a coward. People would think that they didn’t fight their hardest to protect their country and instead ran away or stayed hidden.The social acceptance among all the men in Vietnam was a factor to their shame. They didn’t want to seem like a coward in front of the men they were they were fighting along with either. The soldiers fear and loathe weakness, so in order to keep their friendships intact, they need to protect their reputations.
In O’Brien’s story in “On the Rainy River” it tells how he didn’t want to fight in a war he thought to be unjust, but the fear of being thought of as a coward led him to go anyway. He had the chance to flee to Canada and what stopped him wasn’t patriotism, it was his concern for what his family and friends would think of him if he didn’t go to Vietnam to fight. O'Brien has also said that
A factor that contributes to their shame is being shamed in front of their peers. Also coming back from war perfectly fine and intact was a contributing factor because it lead some soldiers to shoot themselves in the leg or something so they at least had something to show they fought hard in battle. They felt that there were people dying around them and getting injured, and that if they came back home with nothing done to them they would be looked at as a coward. People would think that they didn’t fight their hardest to protect their country and instead ran away or stayed hidden.The social acceptance among all the men in Vietnam was a factor to their shame. They didn’t want to seem like a coward in front of the men they were they were fighting along with either. The soldiers fear and loathe weakness, so in order to keep their friendships intact, they need to protect their reputations.
In O’Brien’s story in “On the Rainy River” it tells how he didn’t want to fight in a war he thought to be unjust, but the fear of being thought of as a coward led him to go anyway. He had the chance to flee to Canada and what stopped him wasn’t patriotism, it was his concern for what his family and friends would think of him if he didn’t go to Vietnam to fight. O'Brien has also said that