The Vietnam War was the longest, and perhaps the most brutal, war in American history. There are countless books, films and songs made in honor of the soldiers who lost their lives in Vietnam. In one particular novel called The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, the reader follows a platoon of soldiers throughout their service in the Vietnam War. It is through these stories that the reader sees how the war had a huge impact on everyone who was involved in it. In this particular collection of stories, the traumatic events of the war caused radical character changes in the soldiers who fought in it. The change is first visible in the novel when the protagonist, Tim O'Brien, is drafted into the war just one month after graduating from college. This causes him to undergo a change in morals and values. O'Brien initially believes he is above the war and declares: "I was too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, too everything. This couldn't happen. I was above it. (41). Because of this mindset, O'Brien plans to escape the draft by fleeing to Canada. O'Brien has many problems regarding the war in Vietnam. For example, he also disagrees with the motivations for America's attacks on the Vietnamese people. He also believes that the people of his town do not fully understand the reasons for the war and therefore have no right to judge him for his decision not to go. However, after an eye-opening stay with an elderly man he meets on his way to Canada, O'Brien questions his decision to run away. The man, Elroy Berdahl, shows him the meaning of honor and responsibility, which changes his entire view of good. O'Brien eventually changes his mind, not out of courage, but out of "hot, stupid shame." [...... middle of paper ......about the soldiers. We first see a change in the main character, Tim O'Brien, when he humbles himself enough to go fight in the war. Even if he changes out of shame rather than courage, he changes nonetheless. We then witness a radical change in Mary Anne Bell, a perhaps naive young girl whose eyes are opened by the cruelty of the Vietnamese jungle. She trades her pink sweater and her innocence for an assault rifle and a new respect for Vietnamese culture. Rat Kiley displays a change in his mental stability when he begins to suffer from psychosis and paranoia due to the violence he witnesses. He slowly goes mad and goes to great lengths to withdraw from service. Everyone has to go through changes at some point in their lives, but these characters show that sometimes we don't have a choice. Sometimes we have to change for our country, for our family and for ourselves.