Side Effects

When soldiers go off to war, they often expect to return to a normal life and pick up things where they left off. A solider, however, has changed a tremendous amount by the time he comes back from war. All of the harshness of the war changes a person. Seeing some of your best friends die, killing someone just because you’re instructed to do so, and being away from normalcy can make a person very crazy, bitter, and cold. Sometimes it can make them go insane, but they each have to find their own ways to deal with the side effects of fighting for their country.

            In "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien, one of the soldier’s, Mark Fossie, girlfriends leaves the United States to visit her boyfriend in the Vietnam War. At first, Mary Anne is quiet, but she enjoys being with her boyfriend. Eventually, Mary Anne starts changing. One night Mark Fossie cannot find Mary Anne. After searching, he finally finds her in a danger zone. At first, she looks exactly the same with the same sweater and skirt. When he looks closer, however, he sees that she has on "a necklace of human tongues," (page 105). She tells him, "’Sometimes I want to eat this place,’" (page 106). Mary Anne was changed dramatically by the environment that she was in. She said that “’You are in a place where you don’t belong,’” (106). She was probably talking about how Mark Fossie did not belong, but in reality, she did not belong. She knew that her boyfriend had the potential of killing someone and that his enemy had the potential of killing him. The people that she was around in the base were not the happiest people because they were going through the horrific war. In her case, war changed her for the worse, although she did not believe so.

            Also in “The Things They Carried,” a soldier named Norman Bowker returns home from the war, but he feels lost. He drives in circles around his hometown trying to find something to relate to. O’Brien found a way to tell his war stories through writing. On the other hand, Bowker could never find anyone to relate to or anyone to tell his story to. So, three years after the war, he had decided that enough was enough. He hung himself in a YMCA locker room, (149). Obviously, Bowker was negatively affected by the war so much that he committed suicide. He could not find his peace or contentment after the war.

            Although not all soldiers’ lives turn out as negatively as Norman Bowker’s, the war does usually have a negative impact on all soldiers. I hate to harp on the negative side, so I will say war does bring good things sometimes. Soldiers protect the people back home. They also appreciate their spouses much more after they are away from them for so long. During war, they build relationships that will last a lifetime, and more importantly, they learn life lessons and go through intense struggles that make them a better person. To everyone that is not in war, we have to remember that war is harder than we will ever know and we must be aware that our loved ones will come home changed.