Comparative Analysis of the Things They Carried and Dulce ET Decorum EST, Research Paper Example

The overreaching idea of the first text The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is sometimes through a series of traumatic events like war confrontations happen where people are killed for the protection our country’s security. With that idea in mind the strong men fight the front line in such wars are sometimes terrorized by the traumatic events years later feeling grief, remorse and other psychological events that damper the progress of their future lives. It is only through confronting the actual situation that a man can realize that murder is sometimes inevitable in certain situations of war and they need to come to the realization that it was a situation of ‘kill or be killed’. Realizing that the acts committed were done for the best of the people and security of the country and feeling the feelings are the first steps towards forgiving themselves and totally ridding the negativity felt by false guilt. False guilt and shame are feelings felt that should not be owned by a person because they are not responsible for the actions committed or rather committed an action without vindictiveness or moral dilemma.

The first sign of guilt shows when Lieutenant Jimmy Gross puts blame on himself for the death of the Alpha Member Company, Ted Lavender. He feels such guilt because rather than keeping a watchful eye on Lavender his mind was off daydreaming about a college crush, Martha. Gross carries this guilt over Lavender’s death with him for over twenty years past the end of the Vietnam War.

O’Brien the narrator feels guilt for retreating across the Canadian border to escape the draft of the Vietnam War and further how he returned to his family and Vietnam. O’Brien continues to feel guilt as each of his friends die one by one throughout the war. He is actually prompted to write these series of stories to understand the feelings of what his friends must have gone through in the war at an attempt to heal his feelings of guilt. He explicitly remembers sounds and feelings related to the war and the killings which are paramount towards reaching a healing point within himself these years later.

The overreaching idea of Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen is that in times of war there will be deplorable sights of bloodshed amongst you even the sight of your most precious friends dying at your feet. Yelling, stumbling and drowning peers at your feet like that of a devil’s sin whilst there is nothing you can do within your control to stop this tragedy. The sight of blood coming from the mouths of your fellow mates is a common scene and will scorn you for life. There is a guilt that will live with you forever because you were unable to stop this bitter death.

The commonalities of both writings are that death is inevitable in times of war. There will be shed of blood at your feet while you experience death of your closest friends at your feet with helplessness beyond your control. It will reign with you forever and ever. The major differences between the two texts are that in the first text the narrator carries with him the pain for twenty years unable to let the pain and guilt go. In the second text the poem writer takes a more positive perspective by realizing that all the tragedy was for the glory of freedom and war. He does not carry false guilty with him. He takes responsibility for his actions and carries on with a more positive mind set after the war.

Reality of war is bloodshed and tragedy and coming to grips with the rationale that death is part of war is the key to escaping the war with a healthy frame of mind free of false guilt. Many gentlemen survive war with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome because they are unable to deal with the ramifications of death and killing. Society does not quite understand this disorder but it is certainly very real. The disorder causes a disconnection from friends and society and a deterioration of health with coupled feelings of guilt and depression. Reality and war is what the war veteran believes in his mind. The sufferings and symptoms can last for years. A war veteran can receive help with reality from psychiatrists and live healthy lives after suffering traumatic experiences as such.