Ignorance In The Things They Carried: An Analysis

The role of ignorance in the novel, The Things They Carried, pertains around the idea of life and death and the way the soldiers become affected by certain events. Most notably, Azar is ignorant of his surroundings. He views Vietnam as a game, as he is always messing around and being immature. For example, “Azar shrugged. After a second he reached out and clapped [Tim] on the shoulder, not roughly but not gently either. ‘What’s real?’ he said. ‘Eight months in fantasyland, it tends to blur the line. Honest to god, I sometimes can’t remember what real is’”(O’Brien 204). Mentioned in the chapter, “Ghost Soldiers”, Azar explains to Tim why he justifies the two of them scaring Jorgensen. Through this quote, we are able to see the “positive” ignorance that is displayed.
He sees his role in the Vietnam War as the same as one of us playing a shooter game. Unlike wise, there also exists “negative” ignorance. Displayed in the article, “The Return” by David Finkel, one of the veterans in the mental treatment center reveals that “ [He] told [his] wife some of [his] stories about [his] experiences and her response to [him] was ‘You knew what you were getting into when you signed on the dotted line, and I don’t feel sorry for you’”(Finkel 4). This is categorized as “negative” ignorance. It is categorized so because the actions of the wife reveal negativity towards the experiences that affect her husband. The wife not being able to be compassionate about the subject makes the recovery and environment for her husband, slow and hostile. Mainly, ignorance deprives of compassion and