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Example research essay topic: Made Them Feel Things They Carried - 613 words

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The fear of death and guilt play an important role Tim OBriens story The Things They Carried. The story deals with not only the physical risk of war, but also with the emotional effects if has on the young soldiers. Although death affects everyones behavior differently, death is the main driving force for behavioral changes in war. This awareness that the soldiers have that they could be killed anytime motivates then to act in a way they normally would not.

By selecting details that reveal the drastic change in manner within the men, OBrien creates an understanding of the effects of war on the soldiers. One of the soldiers, Norman Bowler, otherwise a very gentle person, carried a thumb. It had been cut from a corpse, a boy of fifteen of sixteen. Bowler seemed to have been a very good person in civilian life, but war turns him into a hard mannered soldier with very little emotion.

This is shown by how he carries around the severed finger as a trophy. This transformation shown through Bowler is an example of the emotional change that most of the soldiers undergo. Guilt can cause people to change actions or thoughts very rapidly. It does this because guilt makes the person regret how they ignored their values of ideals and the change comes from wanting not to repeat the misjudgment of their actions. The involved changes to relieve guilt are modifications of behavior. The modifications can be change in ones values or ideals on life or they could be a change in actions that they have been doing.

Some of the men made jokes about tense situations that were not funny because joking made them feel better. The situation grew lighter by laughter, even though the men knew nothing was funny about their situation, and this knowledge made them feel guilty about their insensitive acts because it violated their values. The way the men dealt with their guilt was by passing the blame or trying not to think about how wrong it was even though they knew. These kind of strange reactions are a way to ease fear of death. Anxiety about death follows the men everywhere they go. They have many ways to hide from it and defend themselves from it.

The men were ready for everything in war: they had their radios to call for help, their guns to defend against enemies, and their pride and dignity to disguise fear. Disguising fear is very hard because it is such a strong emotion. Great fear is impossible to hide as evident by the actions of men when they were involved in intense fights where they would say Dear Jesus and (flop) around on the earth and (fire) their weapons blindly and (cringe) and (sob) and (beg) for the noise to stop. When it was all over they would dust themselves off and try to smile to show their dignity and strength.

Their strength in these situations was for the most part lost, and they were especially fearful, but they put on a mask that conned them into thinking they were unafraid or ready for more. They were afraid of dying, but they were even more afraid to show it. Fear of death and guilt play in important role in the excerpt of the story we have read. They create a driving force for all of the soldiers actions and behaviors. The one thing every soldier carried that affected their actions and behaviors was the sad over-powering guilt and fear. The Things They Carried was much more than just M- 16 s and C-rations; it showed the emotional effects war has on many of the soldiers.


Free research essays on topics related to: made them feel, emotional effects, fear of death, things they carried, driving force

Research essay sample on Made Them Feel Things They Carried

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