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Comparison Between 'Speaking Of Courage And Notes'

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In the chapter “Speaking of Courage” and “Notes” of the book “The things they carried” by Tim O’brien, the author mainly expresses two truths. First truth exhibits the phenomenon on the surface that attending war is hurtful. The stories in “Speaking of Courage” and “Notes” perfectly represent the believed truth, which is came up by human based on the combination of facts and imagination. They might not be something truly happened, but they explained the undoubtable truths in the real world. According to O’brien, “ I almost won the Silver Star, he (Norman Bowker) would have said (135)”. Bowker is greatly changed after serving in vietnam war by all the experience killing and hurting. He believes that he can fit nowhere and talk with nobody. So he just decides to driving on loop over …show more content…

Anthony Swofford insists that, “ A moral injury occurs when a soldier’s concepts of trust and right and wrong do not survive the heat of battle (5)”. In real life, there are many soldiers acting just like Bowker that they think they have nowhere to go and nobody to talk with because they are deeply hurt by the war. In addition, Tobias Wolff states, “Will was still angry about the war, and in his anger tended to draw on the political language of the '60s, which left an uneasy silence in the room (1)” . His personal experience of talking with people who fight in the war implies how much impact can be brought by a war. The story probably happened in 1980s, but Will who served as orderly in a VA hospital is still angrily talking about the 1960s politics that caused the war, and the war itself caused permanent influence on him and many other young soldiers. Not all three articles show the believed truth, but both three articles reflects the clear phenomenon addressed by Tim O’brien that the soldiers would be deeply affected by war with moral

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In “How to Tell a True War Story”, the main theme is how to tell whether a war story is true or made-up. The author explores the conflict within reality and fiction by arguing that true war stories are hard to believe. In O’Brien’s view, he points out that “A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth. ”(p.80). Moreover, to make his point, the author spins between facts and fiction causing difficulty for the readers to believe if those stories actually happened or

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1365 Words | 6 Pages

In If I Die in a Combat Zone, author Tim O’Brien argues that the Vietnam War was unjust by expressing his disapproval of the war through his own moral beliefs, sharing the descriptions of deaths in Vietnam of the innocent citizens, and by describing how much the war impacted himself and others negatively. In the beginning of the book, O’Brien openly stated his beliefs on the war. He believed it was wrongly accepted and unjust, but he battled his own opinions with society’s views anyway (18). Constantly, O’Brien discussed within his own head about the true definition of bravery and courage (147).

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He talks not only about his experiences but, also his platoon members experience. War degrades the lives of war and post-war soldiers by completely ripping them from their normal lives and into war. The Vietnam war derailed many lives, as people were forced into a foreign land to fight an unknown war. The 60’s were a changing time, young adults were looking to succeed and rebel the norms.

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But Tim O’brien flips those ideas upside down using the chapter “How To Tell A True War Story” in The Things They Carried. The reader learns of a young man whose best friend dies in war, and how he writes a letter to the sister about his life, only to never get one in return. Throughout this chapter, the reader learns how truly contradictory the idea of a “true war story” really is. With a reflective and didactic tone, Tim O’brien effectively teaches those who have not fought in a war how to tell a true war story-- that “a

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1241 Words | 5 Pages

And in the end, really, there’s nothing much to say about a true war story, except maybe ‘Oh’” (77). We can never assume the truth in a war story. The only way to discover the truth hidden behind the lies is to pull away the many layers or in this case the stories that make up a war

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1041 Words | 5 Pages

“A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth” (83). The theme of “happening-truth” versus “story-truth” is a constant opposition Tim O’Brien uses to convey his “true war story” to his audience. Many times in the book The Things They Carried, O’Brien lies to the reader to attempt to give the reader realistic events, so they can relate to the emotions O’Brien felt during the Vietnam war. O’Brien makes it clear in the chapter “Field Trip” that a person who has not been to war cannot comprehend what it was like. He uses a fictional character, Kathleen, to be a stand in for the reader; she is innocent and free from the burden of serving in wartime.

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Through centuries of great wars and battles, history has displayed brave men and women who have fought for their countries. These audacious people have helped propel countries for the greater good. However, the weight and responsibility, of the war, takes a heavy toll on soldiers that is often overlooked. Tim O’Brien, author of the novel The Things They Carried, records his stories, and the stories of his fellow soldiers during the war. However, three of these soldiers are affected in an outlandish way.

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War and its affinities have various emotional effects on different individuals, whether facing adversity within the war or when experiencing the psychological aftermath. Some people cave under the pressure when put in a situation where there is minimal hope or optimism. Two characters that experience

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The town refuses to hear the horror stories, nonetheless they continue to celebrate America. In the chapter on Bowker's twelfth circulation, the fireworks start to go off. It's Independence Day and there's a huge show celebrating America and its victory in war, shiny lights in the sky like shiny medals on a uniform, but Bowker is still alone, with no one listening to his unspeakable thoughts. Thus he has a hard time coping with his bagage and ends up losing his battle with society. In the article “The Psychological Effects of Vietnam War” expresses the Veteran attitudes toward life at home.

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607 Words | 3 Pages

Speaking of Courage is a short story by Tim O’Brien, written about a soldier, Norman Bowker, and his Vietnam War experiences. It displays the true horrors of the Vietnam war, especially in times where people were widely misinformed. The story beautifully expresses the thoughts, feelings and actions of Norman Bowker, so much so that it is possible that our author, Tim O’Brien, who actually fought in the Vietnam war himself, might have been writing about his own experiences (to some extent). O’Brien, now seventy one years old, is most famous for his Vietnam war stories. He has received the National Book Award and currently resides in Texas with his family, teaching at the Texas State University.

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War has a profound and lasting impact on individuals and society. In “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, he tells different stories of before, during and after war and how it affects the soldiers, mentally and physically. In these stories Tim O’Brien illustrates these traumas and the long-lasting effects and impact that the war will always have on these men. Even though all the men didn’t survive the ones that did continue to have traumatic flashbacks. War has a lasting impact on individuals and society, affecting not only the physical but the mental and emotional well-being of those involved.

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In a world ridden with war today, it is seemingly impossible for a human not to have an opinion on the violence and anger, being thrown around like an American football on a Sunday. Tim O’Brien, the author of many short stories about the Vietnam War, included many of the important thematic issues, including cowardice, leadership, burdens, judgement, courage, and heroism. Of course, I myself have many views on war. I will discuss why I oppose war, whether or not I would fight in a war, and overall how my opinions on war have evolved throughout our conversations in class these past weeks.

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1505 Words | 7 Pages

Bowker cannot keep a job, and he feels as though he has no purpose anymore. He is just there in life, with no purpose or drive to want to do anything anymore. He spends his days driving around the lake that reminds him of the sewage plant where Kiowa had died; reminiscing on all of his mistakes and how he should have been braver and saved his friend. His guilt makes him want to get a second chance to show his bravery. This is a memory that will follow him throughout the rest of his life and he will keep reliving it: “Clockwise, as if in orbit, he took the chevy on another seven mile turn around the lake …

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1430 Words | 6 Pages

War is the opposite of purity where corruption evolves soldiers into dehumanized reflections of themselves. The nature of war shows how dehumanizing it is, turning soldiers into savages as seen in the story, “How to Tell A True War Story”. War stories, as told by Tim O’Brien,

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In Jane Brody’s alarming article, “War Wounds That Time Alone Can’t Heal” Brody describes the intense and devastating pain some soldiers go through on a daily basis. These soldiers come home from a tragic time during war or, have vivid memories of unimaginable sufferings they began to experience in the battle field. As a result these soldiers suffer from, “emotional agony and self-destructive aftermath of moral injury…” (Brody). Moral injury has caused much emotional and physical pain for men and women from the war.

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