Coping Mechanisms in Tim OBriens The Things They Carried Essay

During the Vietnam war, soldiers were non exposed to the traditionalistic coping mechanisms of our American society, as illustrated in Tim Obriens The Things They Carried. These workforce were forced to discover and invent new ship canal to deal with the pressures of war, victimization only their resources while in the Vietnamese jungle. It was not possible for all soldier to carry many items or burdens with them, scarcely if something was a necessity, a way was found to carry it, and coping mechanisms were a necessity to choke the war.     Anti-depressants, psychiatrists, massages...there are many different things offered in American society instantly to help individuals fight the stress of life. People are willing to cook up hundreds of dollars for medicine and treatments that promise to give them a better life. They will leave out hours of their time at a masseuse or a psychiatrist in constant search for relief from the lives they live. During the Vietnam War, however, soldiers were not exposed to any of these traditional coping mechanisms. Instead, these men were forced to discover and invent new ways to deal with the pressures of war, using only their resources while in the Vietnamese jungle. It was not possible for any soldier to carry many items or burdens with them, but if something was a necessity, a way was found to carry it, and coping mechanisms were a necessity to survive the war. Each soldier had a personal effect, story, or process that helped him wake up each morning and go to competitiveness once again, and it was these personal necessities that enabled men to return home after the war. focal point was caused by the war itself and the continual conditions of battle, as well as the fellowship and guilt of killing another ... ... could not help themselves, they were not passing play to be helped. If struggle were encountered, men had personalized ways to reconnect with the real world, and if a tr agedy were encountered which affected the entire company, they also found a unite way to cope with this pressure. The priorities of men during the war shifted greatly toward emotional connections to mickle and events other than the war, and it was these connections that helped them survive and return home. Coping with the stress and burden of war is not an easy task for anyone, yet in The Things they Carried, OBrien depicts men dealing and coping as much as they can, using only their pristine resources. They learn how to cope with the barest necessities in life, and they learn how to make use of the smallest opportunities to harbour the most relief and joy from every moment in life.