ipl-logo

Damage In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

438 Words2 Pages

Damage. When something is damaged it can never be the same again. If you rip paper in half you can tape it back together, but it can never be the same again. Soldiers were damaged by the war. This is seen in the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. Especially in the chapter Stockings and Style.

Soldiers came back from the war with many hardships and effects from what they experienced. Also as a result of their experiences, many soldiers had little lucky charms they used in war and back home. “The magic doesn’t go away”(pg. 112). “Had the properties of a good-luck charm” (pg. 111). Mentally the soldiers knew that whatever was going to happen would happen, but these little charms comforted them. Each soldier had a different experience, but each one was hard. All they wanted was to be home and the “magic” that was in these charms gave them a little bit of home. The “magic” couldn’t bring them home, but it helped. Ironically, the charm had an opposite effect when they finally got home. As time progressed the experiences they had in Vietnam stayed with them forever, and so did their magic. …show more content…

This was a result of what they went through and how they reacted to it at the moment. “But, Henry Dobbins who moved gracefully for a big man took Azar from behind and lifted him up high and carried him over to a deep well and asked if he wanted to be dumped in. Azar said. “Alright then,” Henry Dobbins said, “Dance right.” In this section, you see the two perspectives of how soldiers felt. Azar coped with it by joking and poking fun. On the other hand, Henry let himself feel what he was doing. Both were hard and both feel the effects of it even after they returned

Show More
Related

Tone In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

629 Words | 3 Pages

“ The rain was the war and you had to fight it. ”(O’Brien,p.104) The reader could sense not only the fighting struggle of the war, but also the things they couldn't control. No matter how the war went the soldiers were always thankful if they made it back

Read More

Brief Summary Of The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

631 Words | 3 Pages

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien The Things They Carried Summary. The Things They Carried is a collection of twenty-two stories, or chapters. All focus on the Alpha Company and the fate of its soldiers after they return home to America. A character named Tim O'Brien (same name as the author) narrates most of the stories.

Read More

Azar And Dobbins In The Things They Carried

841 Words | 4 Pages

Dobbins appreciated the girl’s dance enough to stand up for her and threaten Azar, “Dobbins, who moved gracefully for such a big man, took Azar from behind and lifted him up high and carried him over to a deep well and asked if he wanted to be dumped in. Azar said no. ‘All right, then,’ Henry Dobbins said, ‘dance right.’” (86). Dobbins is compassionate enough to understand grieving, but this doesn’t make him a pacifist he’s also stressed about this war, but instead of letting the idiocy of a comrade get to him, he keeps his temper in check and threatens the guy instead. Dealing with a stressful is challenging but possible in any way you can.

Read More

The Paradox Of War In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

705 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the author skillfully presents a paradox about war and how it is both horrible and beautiful. Through O’Brien’s vivid storytelling and sorrowful anecdotes, he is able to demonstrate various instances which show both the horrible and beautiful nature of war. Within the vulnerability of the soldiers and the resilience found in the darkest of circumstances, O’brien is able to show the uproarious emotional landscape of war with a paradox that serves as the backbone of the narrative. In the first instance, O’Brien explores the beauty in horror within the chapter “Love.”

Read More

S. Military Interventions In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

588 Words | 3 Pages

During those periods of boredom and discomfort, they “kept up a good-humored tolerance” (page120) and courage. In correlation with The Great Gatsby, apart from being war veterans, there is a similarity in terms of psychological disorder. Some of the characters suffer obsessive love disorder as great Gatsby does. Believably, no matter how courageous or brave the infantrymen might be, the absence of the women they love affects their emotion and causes them

Read More

War Altar People: The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

1140 Words | 5 Pages

War Altar People People are strongly affected by what they carry through life, because sometimes you don’t know how to go back to your old self. Some soldiers that had served in the war have a hard time adjust to life outside the war; for example when soldiers go to sleep they are afraid of getting bombed or killed and when they return home to their family some still have that feeling of getting attacked and would wake up in the middle of the night terrified. In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien show characters change during the time of war and what they carried. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried his love for Martha and Mary Anne carried Vietnam, both of them were affected by the thing they carried and the people around

Read More

The Soldier In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

990 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Coping Mechanisms In The Things They Carried And Tim O Brien

1435 Words | 6 Pages

Combat is one of those incidents, where the best and the worst of people will be shown. The effects from combat could last minutes to a lifetime and will define people for the rest of their lives. To overcome the effects, people must have coping mechanisms. In the book, The Things They Carried, a platoon of soldiers is followed in their quest to survive the Vietnam War. The soldiers developed coping mechanisms to deal with stress so they can function normally and survive the war.

Read More

Are The Burdens In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

641 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout life we experience hardships, and we use these past experiences to help us make future decisions that overall grow as human beings. In Tim O ‘ Brien’s novel “The Things They Carried,” the characters not only carry physical baggage but emotional ones as well. They are forced to feel the effects of war such as guilt, burdens, and other factors that come with being a soldier. Soldiers going into the war often went in with immense pride that they were serving their country however in doing this they didn’t know they would lose their innocence and see the world in a new perspective when they returned. “My hometown was a conservative little spot on the prairie, a place where tradition counted” (O’Brien 38) shows where O’Brien lived in a place where things like the draft were taken very seriously.

Read More

State Of Mind In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

429 Words | 2 Pages

Something as simple as Lieutenant Cross’s good-luck pebble or Dave Jensen's rabbit’s foot held significant superstitial value and gave them peace of mind that something was on their side (O’Brien, 609). To them, every piece of their equipment had meaning; from the ammunition to the M&M’s (O’Brien, 607), whether it was for the benefit of them succeeding in the Vietnam War or a distraction from it, everything held value. From their helmets, boots, jackets and gear which helped them sustain themselves from the unfamiliar climate and jungle territory to things like Kiowa’s weight of his own feelings about a fellow soldier who died right before him. Even though Kiowa’s feelings had no physical weight, he still felt held down by this “un-Christian” of not feeling sorrow and pain when Ted Lavender fell down dead in an instant right there on the same battlefield he was in (O’Brien,

Read More

Psychological Warfare In Tim O 'Brien's The Things They Carried'

772 Words | 4 Pages

Psychological Warfare in ​The Things They Carried Unless you have been in war or have read ​The Things They Carried​, you can't fully understand the psychological toll on a person's mind and body, you can't understand the psychological hardship soldiers go through in war. However, ​The Things They Carried​, by Tim O'Brien, is written to where it shows the overall psychological effects of war on soldiers in and out of Vietnam; as shown throughout the story, the recurring themes of trauma, love, and guilt give the clear psychological implications of war.

Read More

Why Is The Things They Carried Important

774 Words | 4 Pages

The Things They Carried Surviving war is more than just dodging bullets and grenades, it 's being able to find purpose in what you are doing. In Tim O 'Brien 's book The Things They Carried he gives a first hand view portraying how the soldiers of Vietnam pressed through mental depression and despair. For some finding purpose ment trying to achieve glorified war medals, for others it was winning the war, but for most it was reliving the life they had before Vietnam. In his book O’Brien takes readers on his own and his fellow soldiers journey through the rough and demanding life that is war.

Read More

Thesis For The Things They Carried

999 Words | 4 Pages

The True Weight of War “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien, brings to light the psychological impact of what soldiers go through during times of war. We learn that the effects of traumatic events weigh heavier on the minds of men than all of the provisions and equipment they shouldered. Wartime truly tests the human body and and mind, to the point where some men return home completely destroyed. Some soldiers have been driven to the point of mentally altering reality in order to survive day to day. An indefinite number of men became numb to the deaths of their comrades, and yet secretly desired to die and bring a conclusion to their misery.

Read More

The Things They Carry Rhetorical Analysis

702 Words | 3 Pages

Tim O'Brien's “The Things They Carry,” tells a story about the lives of young men during war. The narrator tells his story from first person, marking all of his adventures and experiences of his companions. O’Brien crafts his piece through the use of repetition, symbolism, and metaphors to convey the idea of physical and psychological hardships of soldiers during war. Though the literary device of repetition, O'Brien portrays the physical and psychological hardships of a soldier.

Read More

Dulce Et Decorum Est Poetry Analysis

653 Words | 3 Pages

This shows all the things that soldiers thought were necessary to have while fighting. By using enumeration it shows how difficult the war is and it shows that even the smallest things are necessary for soldiers to

Read More

More about Damage In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Related Topics

Open Document