The Hallucinations of Vietnam War veterans – Myth or History?!

Not much better off are the protagonists of the event narrated in the joint stories "Enemies" and "Friends" – Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk, who get into a fist fight "about something stupid – a missing jackknife," of which as a result Lee Strunk ends up with a broken nose. However, Dave Jensen goes crazy over the fear of revenge and breaks his own nose in order to make things "square" between the two of them. One might think Jensen crazier than Strunk in this case until Strunk opens his mouth again to say: "The man is crazy…I stole his fucking jackknife" (68).

Another PTSD related issue appears in the story "Stockings." [b]Even twenty years after, the author still can see one of his co-soldiers, Henry Dobbins, "wrapping his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck before heading out on ambush" (129). O’Brien talks of the pantyhose as a good-luck charm, into which Dobbins would put his nose and breath in the scent of his girlfriend’s body or he would sleep with the stockings up against his face, "the way an infant sleeps with a flannel blanket, secure and peaceful"[/b]. O’Brien remembers the stockings as a talisman that kept Henry safe and a savor of superstition. The author conveys the idea of how strong the soldier’s will sometimes was regardless of how crazy he becomes. Thus, even after Henry’s break up with his girlfriend, Dobbins still ties the stockings around his neck as a comforter and believes that "the magic doesn’t go away" (130).

The war did not leave a single individual emotionally untouched, regardless of gender. In the story "The Sweetheart of The Song Tra Bong," O’Brien illustrates the effect of the war on a woman character. Mary Anne – a girlfriend of one of the soldiers, intrigued by the war, ends up joining the Green Barrettes. Thus, from a sweet and innocent sexy young blonde, Mary Anne acquires cruel almost cannibalistic features, wearing a necklace of human tongues and becomes thirsty for blood and ready to kill.

Often in a true war story there is not even a point, or else the point doesn’t even hit you until twenty years later, in your sleep, and you wake up and shake your wife and start telling the story to her, except when you get to the end you’ve forgotten the point again. And then for a long time you lie there watching the story happen in your head. You listen to your wife’s breathing. The war’s over. You close your eyes. You smile and think, Christ, what’s the point? (O’Brien 88, 89).



[url]http://personal.centenary.edu/~kstojano/PTSDrevised.htm[/url]

I take it you've read some of O'brian's stuff?
Pretty strange bird, he is........



O’Brien’s “Stockings”
       In the thrilling novel, The Things They Carried, a short story called “Stockings” remains in my head as a heart warming little chapter with an important message for readers.  Although this story consists of an overall moral, it also contains many formal attributes that the author, Tim O’Brien, purposely adds to the text to give the story extra feeling and emotion.  For example, O’Brien’s use of repetition (especially that of the beginnings of sentences) makes the reader pay more attention to his words—ultimately capturing the reader’s mind and enclosing him/her in the plot.  On page 129 of the novel this technique becomes quite apparent when O’Brien states, “He(Dobbins) liked putting his nose into the nylon…; he liked the memories this inspired; he sometimes slept with the stockings…”
      O’Brien’s use of detail also transports the reader into the scene and adds sensation to the story.  Detail contributes to the meaning of the reader’s experience by making it more realistic and memorable.  A good example of this is on page 129 when O’Brien is describing Henry Dobbins—“In many ways he was like America itself, big and strong, full of good intentions, a roll of fat jiggling at his belly, slow of foot but always plodding along, always there when you needed him, a believer in the virtues of simplicity and directness and hard labor.”  O’Brien could have just said that Dobbins was basically a good guy, but he goes into more detail—his description brings Henry Dobbins to life, almost as if you can touch him.  This makes Dobbins seem like a real person which makes the rest of the story more believable and meaningful.
      In “Stockings” O’Brien makes a statement that throws the reader off and then lures them back in with an explanation and more detail.  For example, in the second paragraph on page 129, O’Brien states, “Even now, twenty years later, I can see him wrapping his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck before heading out of ambush.”  This random statement confuses the reader and makes him/her wanting to read more.  O’Brien then goes on to describe Dobbins pantyhose fetish and ritual.  This technique is very beneficial—it gets the reader interested in the material and wanting to read on.  Most authors strive for this reaction from their readers, and O’Brien achieves this goal in a most creative and profitable way.
      Because O’Brien is a master of words, he knows exactly how to touch a reader’s heart and leave them inspired by his thoughts and memories.  No matter how long or short the story is O’Brien captures his audience and leaves them yearning for more.
 
to learn more about Tim O'Brien go to:
[url]http://www.illyria.com/tobhp.html[/url]