Blog # 7

Rayne Chetram
English 102
Professor Vasileiou
May 4th, 2010

Connection to Criticism

Psychological criticism is “an approach [that] reflects the effect on modern psychology [which] has [been] based upon both literature and literary criticism.” (Padgett) Psychological criticism “focuses primarily on the characters, and on what psychological forces influence and shape them throughout the work.” (Carroll) In the short story, “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’ Brien relates psychological criticism to all of the men fighting in the war and he even relates the criticism to his personal past experience of war. Tim O’ Brien has a strong psychological factor when he was writing this novel because he based his work on what he saw and truly experienced in Vietnam. As you further read into Tim O’ Brien’s story, you can see how the war takes effect on individual characters and also see how they adapted to the situation put forth onto them. These men are drained both mentally and physical throughout the story and it has led them down some paths which they regret and wish they could undo.

One of the main characters introduced into the story is Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. He was a 24 year old sophomore in college and was growing up in New Jersey. Jimmy decided to sign up with the Reserve Officers Training Corps just because he could earn a few credits and also a couple of his friends were doing it. He really did not think much of the war and did not want to have the responsibilities of a leader. But that was the position he was given, Lieutenant. But Jimmy was not mature enough to manage his position and to lead his fellow man into battle. In the story, Jimmy was a young man in love with a girl who does not love him back, Martha. His whole focus while in Vietnam was about Martha. The item that he carries throughout his travels and battles in Vietnam were letters from Martha which he wished were love letters. In addition to the letters, Jimmy held “the responsibility for the lives of his men.” (394) Jimmy’s was physically present in the war but mentally he was in New Jersey with the girl of his dreams, living the life he thought he would have instead of fighting a war. Jimmy was not doing his job as a Lieutenant and was being more of a friend then a leader to his peers. On April 16, it was a day that Jimmy Cross had been damaged psychologically. He was the leader of the group; one of his men Ted Lavender had been shot in the head while peeing and was killed. After this event Cross took it personally by feeling so guilty that he was not doing his job right and his focus was elsewhere and not on his men like he should have had it. “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war.” (399) With the realization of Lavender’s death, Jimmy decided to stop losing focus and playing games and worked on becoming the Lieutenant that he was positioned for. He would not allow any distraction to come in his way of leading his fellow men. The death of Lavender made Jimmy realize that the war was not a joke and needed to be taking seriously and everything personal had to be left behind.

Tim O’ Brien is the narrator of the story and also plays a role in the story as the protagonist. O’ Brien uses his personal experiences about being in the Vietnam War to connect to the individuals he wrote about. O’ Brien was drafted into the United States Army, after he graduated college in 1968. He served as an infantryman in Vietnam, and had attained the rank of a sergeant and won a Purple Heart after being wounded by shrapnel. He original wrote the book “The Things They Carried” in 1986 and then was reissued in 1990 as a group of short stories. When Tim had entered the war he was a shy and scared young man. He was afraid that if he did not join the war he would bring shame to his family and himself. Tim leaves the war as a worn and old man who later tells and writes about some of the stories and experiences of the Vietnam War, because it was helpful for him to collect and order his painful memories. In the story, Tim is our guide through the pains and horror of the war which has affected him both physical and mentally. He shows how being in a war can change any civilized young man into a soldier that only knows how to kill and do unspeakable acts and become an illogical person. Tim as the protagonist of the story is been out of the war for over twenty years and he is still writing about his mistakes, and about the horrible things he witnessed and took part in. He believes that the stories he has been writing well help him understand who he is and what type of person that he has become. It links Tim back to his past. Also, with the writings being about Vietnam and his buddies, Tim can remember the love ones that have pasted on from battle, and in his works it makes him seem like he is bringing them back from the dead. His mind has been affected in many ways from his age to his life experiences of pre and post war. These factors and more all took part on him psychologically.

This short story “is a portrait of the psychological damage that war can bring.” (1399) These men have changed throughout their experiences of war. Mainly not for the good though. The difficulties and hardships that they had to go through; also the sights and sounds which were present took a huge total on the individuals’ mental state of mind.


Work Cited
Carroll, Joseph. Literary Darwinism: Evolution, Human Nature, and Literature. New York: Taylor Francis/ Routledge. 2004. Web

O’Brien, Tim. “The Things They Carried.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6th Compact ed. New York: Longman, 2010. 392 – 403. Print.

Padgett, John B. “Psychological Criticism.” http://www.olemiss.edu. January 15, 1997. Web.