Free Things They Carried Essays: Instinct :: Things They Carried Essays

Human Instinct in The Things They Carried   Fear is a watertight emotion that is constantly haunting the minds of the men in Tim OBriens book, The Things They Carried. Fear is handled by different men in different ways. However, through the characters of Dave Jenson and Lee in love in Enemies and Friends, two opposing reactions can be seen. HCAL defines cultural studies as something that can ...either create community or cause division and craziness(240). By using cultural studies it is possible to analyze these two stories to recognize why these two men react differently to he alike(p) emotion under different circumstances.   In Enemies, Jenson and Struck have a fight over a missing jackknife which evolves from a unconnected trespass to a broken mind. The two men become enemies non only are they faced with the maintenance of war, but also of the business organisation of each other. Jenson was affected the most by this. He began to loose his saneness watching both the enemy lines and his own men trusting no one. In an attempt to justify the fight with Struck, he breaks his own nose along with yelling and shooting off rounds of ammunition. The fear that built up inside of Jenson causes him to be alienated from the rest of the Army.   Unlike the prior stratum, in Friends, fear helps to bring Jenson and Struck closer together. They are both frightened of returning from the war dismembered in some fashion. To prevent this, the men dust a agreement that if one of them is hurt in such a way, that the other would kill them. Because of this pact, the men are united with a car park trust. This helps to subside the fear and allow them to not be as stir of the war.   These two stories test how fear can cause the bond of knowledge and community or hatred which resulted in alienation. The two character, Lee Strunk and Dave Jenson, show how a mans reaction to fear can affect him. In the story Enemies, Jenson slowly begins to isolate himse lf as a way to keep extraneous from Strunk. He views everyone as the enemy making his foxholes near the perimeter and ever so keeping his back covered. This constant fear ate way at Jenson until he finally lost his sanity. In Friends, Jenson and Strunk take deal with fear in a more positive way.