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Tim O 'Brien's Losing A Grip On Life'

1238 Words5 Pages

Avygayle Titco
English V01B
Professor Carlander
02/07/18
Losing a Grip on Life Tim O’Brien’s short story, The Things They Carried, isn’t just any typical war story. He views the perspective of a soldiers eye and the intangible and tangible items they carry along the journey. Through the use of depicted details, it helps the readers feel like they are part of the battlefield. We feel like we’ve known these characters by the way O’Brien describes them with the personal items they carry. Through their journey we realize that no matter how prepared a soldier is, death is something that cannot be prepared, it is inevitable. Despite the needs of what a soldier has to carry in order to survive, the personal items that they had along the …show more content…

No matter how much weapons they could carry. The soldiers knew the risk of their lives being taken. Death could come right before their very eyes. Especially being in those soldier’s shoes, their life was at stake. As the story is being focused on Lt. Jimmy Cross, O’Brien talks about a character then suddenly a character dies. This shows how preparedness can’t help with a soldier’s situation. He puts into detail with what kind of weapons they had on hand. “They carried M-14s and CAR-15s and Swedish Ks and grease guns and captured AK-47s…” (Tim O’Brien 341) No matter how great the weapons were, it didn’t keep them alive. Ironically the items that they were carrying was also the death of them. It shows that they are physically prepared, but that didn’t prevent many of the soldiers …show more content…

“It’s over, I’m gone!-they were naked, they were light and free-it was all lightness, bright and fast..” (Tim O’Brien 349) As the soldiers carried “Grief, terror, love, longing-these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity.” (Tim O’Brien 348) All of what they carried was finally out of their way. The heaviness they carried suddenly became weightless in a second. The numbness of having to know that they had to continue fighting the journey and hindering all their emotions in the back of their head was suddenly

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No two people will react the same to life’s challenges. The weight they carried really did not compare to the internal impact they felt. The author emphasized more on the emotional views. As the Lieutenant, Jim Cross carried more of the weight because he had more to carry. Tim O’Brien mentioned he carried the lives of all the other men.

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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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In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien expresses to the reader why the men went to the war and continued to fight it. In the first chapter, “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien states “It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather they were too frightened to be cowards.” The soldiers went to war not because they were courageous and ready to fight, but because they felt the need to go. They were afraid and coped with their lack of courage by telling stories (to themselves or aloud) and applied humor to the situations they encountered.

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Throughout The Things They Carried, author, and narrator, Tim O’Brien uses what the soldiers figuratively carry, cowardice and loss, to explain what effect the war had on them. According to O’Brien, these two intangibles turn into a physical burden the soldiers are forced to carry because of the psychological effects of war. His main purpose for writing The Things They Carried is for the reader to be able to feel the same reality the soldiers feel as a result of fighting in the war. One of the main themes of these war stories is the fear of being labeled a coward by the people of the soldiers’ home country.

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Everyone carried at least something with them such as: burdens, ghosts, cruel images, and unscrupulous experiences. (“The Things They Carried” Critical Survey of Short Fiction 1790-1793). In Tim’s novel, They Things They Carried, he carried courage, innocent, guilt, and love: those were his personal memories. Nonetheless, in the novel, it seems like every veteran carries griefs and experiences. Each person will have different griefs: to Tim, his griefs will be dead of his friends, Lavender and Kiowa.

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The author was writing the story “The Things They Carried” expressed so many thoughts and feelings about what the soldiers had faced, they showed their feelings and duties, life or death, and overall fear and dedication. This story shows the theme of the physical and emotional burdens that everyone is going through in the war. By showing his readers what the soldier’s daily thoughts are and how they handle what is going on around them. Tim O’Brien expresses this theme by using characterization, symbolism, and tone continuously. In the story, physical and emotional burdens plagued several characters as they all had baggage weighing them down.

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Something Most People Don't Realize In “Tim O'Brien's novel,” The Things They Carried, each soldier carries something different that makes them feel safe/something memorable, that helps them get through their time away from home. Whether it be stockings,dental floss,a picture, or even tranquilizers. Henry Dobbins for example carries Stockings/Pantyhose.

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This scene highlights the conflict between vulnerability and strength that underlies the soldiers'

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The theme Mortality and Death goes with “Ghost Soldiers” because O’Brien was almost to death two times. First time he was shot in the stomach and second time was in the butt. First time Rat Kiley was there but the second time he was shot Kiley was not there and O’Brien did not like the new medic. A quote to go with this theme is, “It’s hard thing to explain to somebody who has not felt it, but the presence of death and danger has a way of bringing you fully awake” (O;Brien 183). This quote is talking about how when he got shot he was more aware of life and that he could die any

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Entry 1 In the first chapter titled “The Things They Carried,” the author said that they carried the physical items like ponchos and ammunition, but what resonated with me was how he described the intangible things that each of them carried. They carry the life that they left back in the United States. I can’t imagine what it would be like to leave the life that’s lived for eighteen years to fight for something that’s not even clearly understood.

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The story describes the physical burdens the soldiers had to carry such as weaponry and rations, along with the emotional burdens such as love and loss (375-390). This story is significant because it gives readers an insight to the difficulties faced by soldiers that may not be recognized by many. The

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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.

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The narrator states, “They carried the sky. The whole atmosphere, they carried it, the humidity, the monsoons, the stink of fungus and decay, all of it, they carried gravity” (O’Brien 477). The metaphor describes how the soldiers had faced war for so long, they practically carried the setting they were in. Physically, they carried the environment on their bodies as odor. Metaphorically, it explains the incredible weight they carried since they “carried gravity” which explains the weight of the country they were fighting in and what the war meant to them.

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