(Re)Presenting War: A Study of Resilience in Tim O’ Brien’s the Things They Carried

Abstract

War has registered itself as an inseverable reality of modern times. However, it has marked its presence since the inception of human civilization, and so have the narratives centring it. An investigation into the traditional mainstream narratives divulge the repeated construction of lofty perceptions around war. Per contra to the representation, there have been stories from the battlefield that have created cervix in the narration. Modern times, with the increasing number an intensity of war, resulted in the increase in aberrations in the traditional presentation and brought forth the not-so-glorious-and-glamourous aspects that had been shoved under the carpet by the authors. Tim O’ Brien, in his collection The Things They Carried, touches upon his own experiences and those of a few others during the Vietnam War. He presents the stories as fictional accounts and still manages to give words to the “unspeakable.” As an addition to the conventional presentation of wounds as physical, Brien and various other authors of modern times delve into exploring the emotional and psychological damage as well, that, no doubt, leaves indelible prints while on the field and clings on to some beyond war too. The research paper attempts to delve into exploring the role of resilience in veterans combatting the lone war in the midst of expectations that the traditional war narratives have given birth to. Through this, the paper also strives to locate truth in the portrayal of war.