The effect war has on its participants, more specifically soldiers, is possibly the most profound effect any one event will have on an individual in his or her life. A common flaw in the individuals not involved in the wars of their generation is the inability to relate to those that were involved in these wars. This inability of civilians to interact with war veterans is a dominant theme throughout both The Things They Carried and "Wood Grouse on a High Promontory Overlooking Canada." The severe trauma experienced by the characters in each of these works is evident to the most casual of readers and is therefore not overlookable as a dominant theme.
Throughout the several intermingled accounts of The Things They Carried, author Tim O"Brien provides us with a firsthand account of Vietnam. O"Brien furthers our experience of the war by providing us with not only accounts of the war itself but of the pre and post effects of the war on each of the characters involved in the stories. This use of the first person narrative and all three tenses, past, present and future, provides the reader with a comprehensive account of the war and its effects on the lives of its participants. This detailed account of Vietnam differs greatly from the elusive descriptions provided in Wood Grouse.
The vague descriptions throughout Wood Grouse leave room for massive interpretation as the reader is left to guess at whatever the disturbed war veteran does not reveal to us through his words and actions. Both the reader and the veteran's younger brother are left in an extremely awkward position as we witness the veteran's tormented mind try to maintain composure in front of his younger sibling. The readers are at an enormous disadvantage on an information basis as we are provided with almost no information concerning the events leading up to what seems to be a brother-brother campout near what the veteran so eloquently describes as "draft-dodger heaven.