...“The Things They Carried” written by Tim O’Brien is a book based on the life of the author who was a soldier in the Vietnam war. The book can be said to be unchronological since there is a mixture of the past and the present, life after and during the war. O’Brien talks about the experiences he went through as well as some of the ones his friends went through. Even though the novel was written based on the Vietnam War, there are multiple times where the author states that the novel is fiction. In an interview with Texas Monthly, O’Brien stated,"Good movies -- and good novels, too -- do not depend upon 'accurate portrayals.' Accuracy is irrelevant. Is the Mona Lisa an 'accurate' representation of the actual human model for the painting? Who knows? Who cares? It's a great piece of art. It moves us. It makes us wonder, makes us gape; finally makes us look inward at ourselves." Accurate portrayal, in my opinion is based on real life but may have some exaggeration in order for many people to believe it and relate to. Without that, people will doubt the author’s credibility because they know that whatever they’re...
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...“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a novel about O’Brien and his memories of the Vietnam war. O’Brien’s personal experiences depict shame as one of the most impactful factors in a human’s life. Through the use of storytelling, embarrassment is proven to be a major source of motivation for the troops in before, during, and post-war. In chapter one, “The Things They Carried,” the fear of shame is a burden that every soldier carries with them, a burden that motivates every single one of them to fight, survive, and kill. They carry their own emotional baggage and physical weight, but they all carry the secret of cowardice. “ They carried their reputation. They carried the soldier's greatest fear, which is the fear of blushing… They died so not to die of embarrassment(20).” This quote states right away that holding a respected reputation has more weight in the army than staying alive. The fear of being...
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...The author will be required to have an imagination for securing the concrete by associating the inner unity of the historical consciousness. Tim O’Brien’s story, The Things They Carried is unique and challenging, so it stimulates readers about the curiosity of the story. Even though the story is dealing with the fiction story about the Vietnam War, O’Brien named the main character of the story as “Tim O’Brien” which was the same name with him and used the third person narrator method to bring a realistic effect to the entire story. His experience of participating in Vietnam War helped him to describe the story more perfectly. Therefore, this story makes many people fall into the illusion of passing through the jungle of Vietnam with a gun on their shoulders. The story was based on situations that Tim O’Brien and his army comrades faced with during the Vietnam War (O’Brien’s). Unlike other obvious historical stories that drops bombs and bullets or explodes land mines everywhere, it spreads its story like a sunlight coming through the dark and damp Vietnam jungle by bursting comical gesture from the most desperate circumstances of war and telling the story about the extremely universal human inner, such as desire...
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...In the short story The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien states that soldiers carry items that have meaningful value to them. Like these soldiers, I also carry items that have some sort of value or are useful in my everyday life. I would carry the most important items to me in my daily life that would help me get through my day. I would carry a 6 lb photo album that would contain pictures of my brothers, my cousins, my parents, my uncles, and my grandparents. These pictures have a significant value to me because they mean the most to me in my daily life and if I weren’t able to see them everyday I would be able to with that photo album. Another item that I would carry with me everyday would be my 3 lb MacBook Pro and its 1 lb charger....
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...“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” - G.K. Chesterton. This quote shows Tim O’Brien’s feeling towards going to Vietnam in The Things They Carried. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien talks about a platoon of U.S. Soldiers in Vietnam, organized in short stories. O’Brien’s decision to go to war reflects mine. The reasons include a love for the country, a duty to serve, and a desire to be a part of something bigger than myself. First, service would happen because of a love for America. America is a place to be proud of, it is and a place of security. O’Brien, who is weary of the war says “Who started it? When, where, and why?” (O’Brien 38) A feeling of uncertainty...
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...Countless stories have been told about the honor, glory and courage about war. In present day, veterans are perceived as heroes, the defenders of our freedom. However, in the novel The Things That They Carried, Tim O’Brien says otherwise. The novel portrays the concept of moral ambiguity regarding war. Tim O’Brien’s concept of moral about going to war vary from the people. Most people would agree that going to a war would be courageous, rather than running away from it. However, that idea is totally the opposite for Tim O’Brien who doesn’t believe in the cause of the Vietnam war. “I was a coward. I went to the war.” Moreover, Tim O’Brien instead expressed his disappointment in himself for going to the war, saying “I survived, but it’s not a happy ending.” Sometimes, morality is defined by the eyes of the beholder....
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...The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, is a novel centered around Alpha Company during the Vietnam War and what the young soldiers brought with them, physically and metaphorically. From comforting items like comic books, illustrated Bibles, pictures of loved ones, to deeply-ingrained emotions and trauma, O’Brien carefully crafts each character to represent a different aspect of war. Kiowa, the Native-American and Christian best friend of the character Tim in the novel, is one of many complicated, tragic stories brought to life through literature. While there are other facets of war demonstrated by different characters in the novel, Kiowa is specifically used to demonstrate the most devastating of them all: the human cost of conflict....
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...around the 1970’s, but roughly 300,000 men resisted the draft. The term resisted is extremely different from dodged. The men who fled America were draft resistors, not draft dodgers. The novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a collection of stories about American soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War. The narrator, Tim O’Brien, was in a platoon of soldiers based in Vietnam and survived through the war....
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...memories and along with them, The Things They Carried gives a reason behind each thing the soldiers carry. Some things may contain sentimental value, while others are for health and fighting purposes. The soldiers have to deal with death and learn to persevere through the hardships. The theme of The Things They Carried is the physical and emotional effects of being a soldier...
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...Have you ever made a mistake in public and someone pointed it out? You might have felt ashamed or even had a bad experience. Well, your identity can be shaped by many aspects, including shame, guilt, and good or bad experiences. The Things They Carried is a postmodern novel by Tim O’Brien that explores exactly that. It shows how shame, guilt, and tragic experiences shape your identity during a war. Our identity is shaped by shame, guilt, and our experiences that make us feel less than ourselves. Identity is shown with shame about ourselves within a situation. Many people express shame in different ways, but it makes us feel less than who we are. Curt Lemon had a “toothache” and told the dentist he needed them to take the tooth out. He felt...
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...English 1302-017 March 13, 2016 The Things They Carried The story of “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is about a soldier and a platoon leader named Lieutenant Jimmy Cross who was assigned to lead a group of soldiers on a combat mission in Vietnam. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross constantly daydreams about Martha, the woman he’s in love with. He blamed himself and felt guilty for one of the soldier’s (Ted Lavender) death due to his lack of attention and vigilance. The story talks about the experiences and the conditions that these soldiers endured in Vietnam. The setting, language and tone of the story suggest that the impact of war not only causes physical strain, but it also causes an emotional, psychological,...
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...The Things They Carried Essay In the book, The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, he tells many War Stories of the Vietnam War and his childhood. By telling the stories he can remember all of his past and his childhood but also his time at the Vietnam War. His stories are keeping his memories alive by writing them down. O'Brien's stories save himself because he enjoys creating stories. He also misses his childhood and his early adult life. He enjoys talking about the war and all of his occurrences in Vietnam. He likes to remember about Linda, Kiowa, Curt lemon, and Ted lavender. His stories save his own mind. Stories can entertain other people. They can also help you remember your past. A story is like a written picture. You can write down...
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...War has been a constant presence throughout human history, leaving permanent impacts on communities, civilizations, and individuals alike. In the book, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, he shows how wars change you profoundly. It takes the meaning out of peoples lives when they are done with the war. It can totally change a person mentally and make people erratic, and how it makes a person mentally ill. War takes the meaning out of people’s lives. When people return home from war, they have issues dealing with their loss of purpose in life. Tim O’Brien shows this with the character Norman Bowker. This quote is from Tim O’Brien about a letter he received from Norman Bowker. When he was going through a difficult time of his life after the war, dealing with the emotions from it, and having no...
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...The Things They Carried Essay People never know how war will affect them until they are actually there. Anything can happen and it’s just a matter of time till something does. War changes a person and depending on what happened there's no way of knowing what will happen next. War changes people and how they cope, their ability to connect with others and their morality. During war people see things that most people wouldn’t which affects their ability to cope. After being with these people all the time it wouldn’t be the same as seeing a stranger dying. So when Rat Kiley watch as Curt Lemon was blown up he didn’t know how to cope with it. “Rat Kiley was crying. He tried to say something, but then cradled his rifle and went off by himself”(50 O’Brian). To try and cope with losing his friend Rat Kiley took out all his anger out on the baby water buffalo. While torturing the baby water buffalo named Rat Kiley that was him trying to cope with the fact that he just watched his friend die. Another inability to cope is giggling like Paul Berlin did when he was scared when he saw Billy Boy Watkins leg got blown off....
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...Abhay Shakhapur Ms. Thomas American Literature 3 May, 2018 Orientation in Space and Time: Final Assessment “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien begins with a look into the belongings of the Alpha company during the Vietnam war. The Alpha company being an infantry division of the U.S. Army. Each member of the company carries different items that give a glimpse into the personality of each character. The book does not stop there, through the story the reader is able to understand that the members of the Alpha Company are not only weighed down by their physical baggage, but also by their mental baggage. The Vietnam War was not kind to the soldiers, presenting them with a variety of terrifying experiences. These experiences weigh heavily upon the human spirit making it difficult for war veterans to fit back into society with their civilian counterparts....
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