Dear America Analysis

Throughout the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and the documentary “Dear America: Letters Home to Vietnam” the central feelings of fear and trepidation were prominent. As a reader, or viewer, I was able to take the feelings of the soldiers during the Vietnam War and translate it in a way to relate it to my own life. During Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and the documentary “Dear America: Letters Home to Vietnam”, I experienced many different emotions that were brought on by the situations presented. From the very beginning of the novel where O’Brien listed off the things they carried, I felt uneasy. What started off as a simple list of tangible items they literally carried, morphed into emotional or mental baggage that weighed each of the men down in different ways. “They carried all the emotional baggage of men who
We all carry things with us that no one else can see. This is relatable not only to those who have fought in war, but also to the everyday person. The Greek Philosopher Plato once said “… everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle”. Whether this is a literal battle or an internal conflict invisible to the human eye, we all have something to carry. From the chapter “The Things They Carried” I was able to construe that there are some things that others can help us carry, like our back pack or a gun. On the other hand, there are also things that we must carry ourselves, like the feelings of fear, love, uncertainty, and ostracism. As I saw the progression of these insubstantial troubles creating more and more weight upon the backs of these soldiers, I began to think about how in my own life there are feelings that can create a sort or weight, even though it may not be in such an extreme circumstance as the Vietnam War. Yes, there are things that make me afraid, sad, embarrassed, and numerous