Links between Things They Carried and The Ghost Road

There are clear connections between both The Ghost Road and The Things They Carried, in that they both criticise war and the effects it has on soldiers and civilians. However the authors (Barker and O'Brien) approach and structure their argument in different ways.

In TTC, the futility of war seems to be shown in the pointlessness of what the soldiers are doing. Half the time the soldiers are just fooling around; playing catch with smoke grenade thingys, flying in girlfriends and playing checkers. They never seem to be on any designated mission that has a goal. They are seemingly fighting in Vietnam for no reason, which is pretty futile.

The effect of the war is also demonstrated through the character Norman Bowker, who survives the war but comes home unable to fit back into society. All he can do with himself is drive in circles around a lake until he eventually led to suicide. O'Brien tells us here that war doesn't only change the soldier; it also changes the civilian. The society that Bowker once fitted into has changed and he is no longer able to live in it.

In the Ghost Road the futility of war is shown a lot more directly, especially through Hallet. He is born into an 'old war family' and believes that the war is 'just' and should be fought. However his realisation at his death that war is 'shotvarfet' (translated as 'it's not worth it'), and not what he had been taught all his life demonstrates how many soldiers must have thought when they went through the war, and how the war affected the mindsets and morals of the soldiers who fought in it.

I think there's also a link of the insanity of war/soldiers between The Ghost Road and Apocalypse Now BUT I would need to watch AN again to write on that.