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Pain In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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For the average reader of “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, it is hard to understand why the author chose the title he chose. Even though the first chapter is literally about what the soldiers carried, the rest of the book seems like just a collection of stories. From how war changes people to blame and to killing people, the books seemingly discusses everything but what the men in Vietnam carried. But at a closer glance, Tim O’Brien actually is writing about what the soldiers carried. The physical pain they experience day in and day out. The psychological burden that comes from wanting to blame someone for all the madness that is war and not having anyone to blame is one of the heaviest things the soldiers have to carry and think …show more content…

The fact that the author may not have killed anyone can be disregarded, because it is apparent that a lot of the soldiers in his platoon have. When Tim goes to war, he reasons that if it was a war against something he did not like, he would gladly kill and be killed for it, but since he did not support the war he was drafted into, he could not be killed, let alone kill for it. This is why the burden he carries gets much heavier, because the he does not see the men he kills as enemies. He has to live with the regret of killing someone every day, and it is exactly the same amongst his fellow soldiers. In the chapter “The Man I Killed”, the author is seen looking over at the body of a Vietnamese soldier he killed and he starts thinking about the soldiers life, where he was from and where he studied. This is clearly seen on page 128, where on the second paragraph the author sais “So, yes, maybe a scholar. And for years, despite his family's poverty, the man I killed would have been determined to continue his education in mathematics.” Instead of hating the man he killed, the author feels bad, and builds a life for the guy. He has to live with that guilt every day, he has to think about how the guy could have been a mathematics major, and this makes what he has to carry much

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Ambush By Tim O Brien Summary

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In the short story “Ambush” by Tim O’Brien he tells us his first hand encounters with war and how it has impacted his everyday life. In the short story he starts out by saying, “ When she was nine, my daughter, Kathleen asked if I had ever killed anyone.” (O’Brien 811) The quote stated above shows how war can have an impact on people that are directly involved with the war. When we are at war does

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The Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis

1158 Words | 5 Pages

The short story, “The Things They Carried,” written by Tim O’Brien (1990), appears to be an unpretentious narration that list the tangible items carried by the soldiers while fighting in the Vietnam War. Upon further review it becomes clear that the lists of “things” have a much deeper meaning and carry an abundance amount of emotional weight. Not only is their load a physical burden that consist of hefty equipment that is necessary for survival, but they also bear the burden of internal conflict. The internal conflicts identified in the story center around the disturbing afflictions carried by the soldiers revealing that the men long for an escape from their dreadful surroundings, feel responsible for the lives of their fellow soldiers,

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Doing The Right Thing In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

465 Words | 2 Pages

Have you ever felt ashamed of doing the right thing? In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, narrator Tim O’Brien battles the differences of doing the right thing because he wants to do it or because he was a coward. O’Brien’s shame and guilt associated with the vietnam war influenced his decision to fight or flight. Tim O’Brien was drafted to fight in a war he doesn’t believe in. His principles were telling him to run away from the war, but he was too ashamed not to fight.

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Powerful Motivator In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

686 Words | 3 Pages

Death Is a Powerful Motivator In “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’Brien, the author, portrays his own experience in the Vietnam War. Although O’Brien fabricated some of the stories and exaggerated some of the parts, the main idea O’Brien wished to display is present. He wanted to allow the reader a view of the war along with the physical burdens and emotional burdens the soldiers carried with them. These burdens effected the soldiers and helped define them as people.

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The Man I Killed By Tim O Brien

979 Words | 4 Pages

The first solider, Azar, congratulates Tim on the kill, while the other, Kiowa, tries to rationalize the man’s death to Tim. With this context, it can be stated that the overarching theme within “The Man I Killed” is death in war, specifically its after effects on the soldiers. These after effects are illustrated through the characters Azar, Kiowa, and Tim. Azar’s character is unique because he

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Guilt In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

539 Words | 3 Pages

In The Things Things they carried by Tim O'brien, many soldiers are forced to deal with guilt for their entire lives. Many of these men were drafted into war and witnessed their fellow soldiers die for unnecessary reasons. As an example, Tim O’brien feels a great guilt for the man who he said he killed with a grenade and this is a major lifelong burden for him. This guilt is something that Tim is forced to carry for his life which relates back to the title, The Things They Carried. In Norman Bowker’s case, his guilt eventually lead him to hang himself not too long after the war.

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The Things They Carried Morally Ambiguous Characters

500 Words | 2 Pages

The Things They Carried is a novel written by Tim O'Brien which follows the daily thoughts, actions, and moments of a company serving in the Vietnam War. The meaning of this work was to depict the gruesome images and effects of war as well as the toll it can take on people. This is executed by utilizing morally ambiguous characters, which are characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evi or purely good. Many characters in the book are morally ambiguous, but one, an unnamed vietcong soldier who was killed in the novel stands out the most.

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How Does Tim O Brien Present The Transformation In The Things They Carried

2986 Words | 12 Pages

Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried explores the experiences of soldiers in the Vietnam War, along with their thoughts and memories. Though the events that take place could be exaggerated or completely made up, the thoughts and feelings of the characters still shine through and feel very real. The stories use a grim and uncontrollable atmosphere juxtaposed with the normality of human action that works to suggest war is above common morality yet defends the humanity of the soldiers who fight it. O'Brien begins his novel by listing the various items soldiers would carry to emphasize the literal weight on their shoulders, helping the reader see the humanity in these fighters. He uses the numerical poundage, which gives an understanding of how

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Imagery In The Things They Carried

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The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, illustrates the experiences of a man and his comrades throughout the war in Vietnam. Tim O’Brien actually served in the war, so he had a phenomenal background when it came to telling the true story about the war. In his novel, Tim O’Brien uses imagery to portray every necessary detail about the war and provide the reader with a true depiction of the war in Vietnam. O’Brien starts out the book by describing everything he and his comrades carry around with them during the war. Immediately once the book starts, so does his use of imagery.

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Truth In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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For many soldiers returning home from war, the truth about what happened can be a hard and confusing thing. The book The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, and published in 1990, describes his time in the war. O’Brien struggles the whole time with differentiating his emotional memories with events that actually happened, and tries to impress upon the reader what it was actually like to be over in Vietnam. O’brien believes that war stories do not always accurately portray what war was like, and that is why story-truth can be truer than the happening-truth.

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Mortality And Death In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

702 Words | 3 Pages

“Doesn't matter what the press says doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the country decides something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: The requirement that we stand up for what we believe no, matter the odds or consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world. No you move.”

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The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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"The Things They Carried" is a powerful novel by Tim O'Brien that tells the story of a group of soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War. The title of the novel refers to the physical and emotional burdens that the soldiers carried with them throughout their experiences in the war. These burdens included not only the gear and weapons they carried, but also the memories and traumas that stayed with them long after the war was over. The novel is a meditation on the nature of war and its impact on the human psyche.

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

1002 Words | 5 Pages

The perception of peer pressure and societal expectations add to the severity and violence of war. The troops feel pressured to commit violent crimes in order to defend themselves as well as to live up to the ideals of courage and masculinity. This emphasizes how dehumanizing war is, with people sometimes acting violently out of shame or fear of being judged rather than out of genuine

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The Things They Carried Psychological Analysis

698 Words | 3 Pages

“The things they carried” is a story that holds not even the slightest bit back and lays it out there for us. It tells the real straight forward story of Tim O’ Brien, And his alpha platoon mates. The psychological lens would be perfect for the chapter “Speaking of courage”, For the simple fact that this chapter is about O’Brien is trying to sort out everything that has happened in nam and what is happening till this day. By putting a psychological lens on the chapter “Speaking of Courage” is a good way to get into the head of Tim O’Brien and his platoon, to understand why he was driving around the lake, Norman, and how he was going to tell the story to the guy at Mamma’s Burgers, Norman and the silver star.

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The Things They Carried: An Analysis

688 Words | 3 Pages

“That’s what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future ... Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story” (36). The Things They Carried is a captivating novel that gives an inside look at the life of a soldier in the Vietnam War through the personal stories of the author, Tim O’Brien . Having been in the middle of war, O’Brien has personal experiences to back up his opinion about the war.

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