Q and A "The Things They Carried"

Q: does “The Things They Carried” offer a sympathetic view of GI’s in Vietnam or a critical one?
Vietnam was a very controversial war, it began with strong support from the american public because it was perceived as a quick “police action” that would help protect the democratic southern Vietnamese people from an oppressive communist government in the north. Once the war began picking up and the draft was introduced, opinions quickly flipped and most of america was against the war, either out of self preservation for american lives, or the belief that Vietnam should be the ones to deal with their own conflicts and foreign powers need to stay out of smaller nations affairs.
“The Things They Carried” provides us with a view from the american soldiers perspective of the dense jungle and the physical and mental burden of staying alive in a warzone. I think this story is sympathetic to the soldiers in Vietnam because while it is very admitting that the soldiers did horrible things like cutting the thumb from a dead viet cong and burning villages, it also shows the suffering and constant stress that caused their behavior. Tom Lavender’s death sent them the message they could die at any moment and that really none of their equipment is enough to keep them safe. 
The tone of the story is similar to that of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, where it depicts suffering in a very matter-of-fact way without much emotion. It portrays a feeling of dull acceptance as a way to deflect grief and stress. The tone also conveys a feeling of numbness that the soldiers carried. They held so much weight in equipment that they grew numb to it, and they carried so much emotional weight that in order to cope with it they grew numb. I also find it interesting because it shows the soldiers coping mechanisms to their lives, such as the Medic’s M&M’s and Brandy, Ted Lavender's dope and tranquilizers, and Jimmy Cross’s picture of Martha.

The story is sympathetic to the soldiers for what they had to suffer, but it also acknowledges the crimes they did commit. It is as much a story to show the humanity of the men fighting in is as well as showing how war can strip people of their humanity.

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