In Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried the issue of maturity is an ever occurring theme within the novel that sets out to tackle and open up for discussion of it on a broader level. Specifically within the chapters "Friends" and "Enemies" it is clear that both Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen are wedged in a personal psychological war. This issue faces many young adults but is perverted by the war and the tragic loss of innocent life. Many feel that the purpose of O'Brien's The Things They Carried is to show hardships and reality of war. While that is true, the most important issue and debate brought up is the rapid transformation of our young soldiers while they have to face the atrocities of war. Although, Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen originate as bitter enemies, they conclude there relationship as friends who have maturely evolved due to there encounters in war and self reflection.
For the first time, we see that they have matured even though what sparked this evolution was relative immaturity on the part of both characters as one stole and the other over exaggerated and was not able to cope with his own situation. "Because late that same night he borrowed a pistol, gripped it by the barrel, and used it like a hammer to break his own nose." (63) The insecurity here on the part of Dave Jensen is truly amazing. Jensen feels that by breaking his own nose, he is evening the score with Strunk thus creating an environment where tensions are apparent but not obvious. The question arises here, is who is the more mature soldier regarding the situation at hand? The turn to injuring ones self on Jensen's part presents a mixture of maturity levels as a result. For one, he feels as he is so responsible for breaking Strunk's nose and causing him physical pain, he must break his own nose which is the equivalency to coping with the situation. However, for Jensen to result to violence on him self rather than on the enemy in Vietnam, he is being detrimental to his battalion, himself... [continues]
For the first time, we see that they have matured even though what sparked this evolution was relative immaturity on the part of both characters as one stole and the other over exaggerated and was not able to cope with his own situation. "Because late that same night he borrowed a pistol, gripped it by the barrel, and used it like a hammer to break his own nose." (63) The insecurity here on the part of Dave Jensen is truly amazing. Jensen feels that by breaking his own nose, he is evening the score with Strunk thus creating an environment where tensions are apparent but not obvious. The question arises here, is who is the more mature soldier regarding the situation at hand? The turn to injuring ones self on Jensen's part presents a mixture of maturity levels as a result. For one, he feels as he is so responsible for breaking Strunk's nose and causing him physical pain, he must break his own nose which is the equivalency to coping with the situation. However, for Jensen to result to violence on him self rather than on the enemy in Vietnam, he is being detrimental to his battalion, himself... [continues]
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