When reading Vea’s “God’s Go Begging” I could not help but be reminded of my favorite novel, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. O’Brien’s novel is strikingly similar, not only due to the fact that both works revolve around the Vietnam war, but that they both capture the burden of the memories accrued by the soldiers during the deployments in what is known as one of  America’s few failed wars. O’Brien’s novel functions greatly to make known the atrocities and inhumanities he witnessed during the war as a conduit for closure as he expresses in this interview “a palpable obligation to do justice to the savagery” he witnessed in Vietnam. His novel does greatly to illustrate the psychological burden that, not only he, but all those who survived their deployments, carry with them and how the atrocities they witnessed perpetually cling to them and shape them into the men they are today. I think the sentiments expressed in this interview by O’Brien do well to parallel the situation of Jesse Pasadoble, along with Vea, in that they are unable to deny the tragedy and the reality of the war. The experiences Jesse had in Vietnam are tethered to him and pervade every aspect of his life as he is continually reminded of them as he works through this murder trial. This interview and its similarities to the psychological burden placed on Jesse in “Gods Go Begging” lends valuable insight to this classes study of the gothic as it illuminates the horror that haunts these veterans throughout their lives. Not only are the settings of San Francisco and the war-torn country of Vietnam gothic in themselves, but the intangible aspects of the war that both Vea and O’Brien have brought back, preventing them from completely returning to reality, are gothic products as well.