Exploration 4- Bailey Price

The theme I noticed in The Things They Carried is paradox. This theme is seen throughout the whole book, and is important because it explains the parts of the book where things seem to contradict each other. For example when Tim O'Brien says,"I did not kill him. But I was present, you see, and my presence was guilt enough."(pg.171) When he says this he is contradicting himself because we, as readers, know he did kill that man. Tim O'Brien also says many times that true war stories don't have any deeper meaning when, in fact, all of the stories he tells us have deeper meaning. Paradox is a recurring theme for a reason. Paradox recurs many times because it shows how turbulent and confusing the war was. It shows us that we must seek out not only the facts, but the feelings and emotions and stories that people have to tell. This theme of paradox opens our eyes on the fact that there is more than one truth and that the truth is not all in the facts. Paradox in this book shows how people during the Vietnam War era were ignorant of how the soldiers felt when they returned home and how people did not understand the war. The paradox aspect of this book is a call to action that we each must take up by inquiry, discovery, and getting to know the stories of these fascinating people who served our country. It is a cry for inquisition and the hope for us to try to better understand what people then didn't understand, and then for us to act upon what we've learned.

Paradox is present in my life personally because sometimes things happen for a reason and sometimes they don't. There are always those things I don't understand and wonder why they happened, but they did anyways and so I have to accept that.

My research question is: What aspects of normal life are changed when service members return from a combat zone? This question intrigued me because Tim O'Brien only briefly talks about how it was when he got home from the war, and he talks about Norman Bowker and how he was after the war, but he never really goes into extreme detail about it. So how do soldiers cope when they return home and what aspects of their lives change? The first thing I learned is almost every service members who has seen combat returns with some kind of "side-effect", but not all of these "side-effects" mean that the service member has PTSD. Members of the military who have just returned home may have nightmares, flashes of anger, feeling of shame, hopelessness, and flashbacks. It is recommended that if a service member does not stop experiencing these symptoms that they seek professional help.

Here is a soldier actively serving.

Some aspects of normal life that may have changed is their sleep patterns, social life, and work habits. These military members may have also experienced a lack in personal hygiene, trouble focusing, they may be jumpy and nervous, and they may have aggressive driving habits. After returning, veterans may feel as if they have to avoid certain situations. It is also, in some cases, hard for military members to cope with being with family again. They may have to do tasks they are not yet ready to take on, and they will have to rebuild intimacy and relationships with people close to them. The biggest change they would probably have to make is to try and not to rush things. In our society we tend to want results quickly, and these people need to take their time figuring out how to cope with our civilian world. Service members can cope by pursuing hobbies, planning time with family, exercising, and sharing their experiences in their own time.


Ptsd.va.gov. (2018). Return from War - PTSD: National Center for PTSD. [online] Available at: https://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/PTSD-overview/reintegration/index.asp [Accessed 25 Sep. 2018].