“The Things They Carried” “The Things They Carried” tells about the side of war that you don’t read about in history books. The author, Tim O’Brien, does outline with great detail what the soldiers in this specific battalion carried, but in a way that you don’t normally read or see. O’Brien does list off the necessity items (can opener, pocket knife, mosquito repellant, etc.) but he also tells what each individual soldier carries because they are just that, individuals. No two have all the same
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The characters in The Things They Carried carry not only the physical objects needed to protect them, but memories and emotions that represent a stable morality. One thing Tim O'Brien does frequently in describing each object is describing how much it weighs. "The weapon weighed 7.5 pounds unloaded, 8.2 pounds with its full 20 round magazine. The riflemen carried anywhere from 12 to 20 magazines...adding on another 8.4 pounds at minimum, 14 pounds at maximum” (5). This provides the reader with
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C. Boyle and “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien, we learn just how monumental the setting of an experience can be, especially in a short story. Drawing comparisons between each story will allow the reader to delve even deeper into the importance of setting. Now it is obvious that a story that revolves around a lake that adolescents ravage and the jungles of Vietnam in the heat of the war are nowhere near similar, but they are. Boyle and O’Brien both create magnificent settings, but they differ
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individual side of the story. Tim O'Brien's book, The Things They Carried, and the film, We Were Soldiers, coordinated by Randall Wallace, both make an extraordinary showing of telling a good war story. Despite the fact that O'Brien's is in print regardless he made an extraordinary showing with getting a lot of point of interest into the book and painting a picture for the reader. One comparison that can be made is the relationship between O'Brien and his girl in the book, and
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certain experiences, people can form their particular perspectives. The different perspectives people have may cause people develop different thoughts. By talking about different attitudes people have towards war, O’Brien suggests that the war is not the same thing in everyone’s eyes. Tim O’Brien writes “war is hell, but that’s not the half of it because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discover and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling;
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In the short story taken from the novel, The Things They Carried, Tim O’ Brien narrates a chilling excerpt taken from his past during the Vietnam War. Each soldier carries a mental and physical emotional burden as they struggle through the march. The main protagonist, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, has to lead his men through a gruesome war and is forced to transition from his unrestricted past to a life as a soldier. O’Brien reinforces the destruction of young male innocence—especially in the case of
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Stream of Consciousness is a method used by authors to help us get into the mind of the narrator as he or she tells a story. It captures how the narrator is thinking in real time, and as a result, the narrator’s thoughts guide the style of the literature. Earlier in the novel, O’Brien used stream of consciousness to convey the thoughts of First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross in the chapter “The Things They Carried.” Now, “In the Field” returns us to this character’s unique point of view again. Read the passage below, and as you read answer
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to tell a story, in order for it to be effective. Authors use metaphors, similes, and personification in order to tell their personal stories and the stories of others. Metaphors are used by authors to invoke a sense of bleakness to the reader. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, he recounts his own personal experiences while
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Mark Koon Professor Paquette English 102 / F / 8:00 AM Friday, October 15, 2015 The Things They Carried In the short story, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien a Lieutenant by the name of Jimmy Cross and his squad carry a list of many things, some of these things heavy physical loads and some heavy emotional loads composed of grief, terror, love, and guilt. The things each soldier carries depends on the soldier himself including his priorities and his constitutions and also his rank
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It’s possible to carry the memory of the generous tip the nice women gave you or the exact moment the wrong words came out of your mouth. We can carry these things called burdens, either physically or emotionally. “The Things They Carried’ by Tim O’Brien is a novel whose theme is not only related to soldiers but to everyday people as well. The theme of this novel lies in the struggles that soldiers bear, both physically and emotionally. The title —The Things They Carried— and most of the stories
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