ipl-logo

Social And Political Factors In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

2315 Words10 Pages

The decision to go to war is not a decision that is taken lightly. In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien faces cultural, social and political factors that end up leading him to forgo his plan to dodge the draft, and to report as instructed, a mere yards away from his destination of Canada (57). In Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony, Rocky and Tayo, two young Native American men, experience cultural, social and political factors that draw them into the Army, fighting the Second World War for a country that considers them less than human. The stories of these characters are not unique, they are stories that are representative of the stories of young American men at the time, who faced cultural, social, and political factors during both conflicts. …show more content…

Thomas Morgan delves into the history of the relationship between Germany and Native Americans in Native Americans in World War II. In the First World War, Native American languages were used as codes for American, French and British troops to send messages, and even by the end of the war, the Germans had not broken the code (Morgan). In the 1930s, it was clear to many that another World War was on the horizon. Hitler sent Nazi agents to the US posing as scientists to try to learn native languages to prevent the same thing from happening again. Americans who supported the Third Reich tried to convince Native Americans to stay out of the war, and many tried to instigate a native revolt (Morgan). In a last-ditch effort to win over Native American support, Nazi Propaganda Minister Goebbels declared the Sioux to be Aryans (Morgan). The Sioux didn’t buy it. Being a Native American in America wasn’t easy, but things under Hitler would be unimaginably worse. The failed Nazi attempts to convert Native Americans to their cause may in part have led to the rampant turnout of Native Americans during the war (Morgan). Rocky clearly views the war as morally just in Ceremony, saying that he and Tayo could do “real good” (Silko 66). The threat that fascism and Nazism presented to Native Americans was undoubtedly part of what lead Rocky to viewing the war …show more content…

One of these cultural factors was the “American warrior culture.” The warrior culture didn’t just apply to Native Americans. In many American small towns and rural areas where, per Christian Appy in Working Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam, a disproportionate number of the men who served in Vietnam were from, men were expected to join the fight according to Fighting in Vietnam: The Experiences of the U.S. Soldier by James Westheider (43). Gonzalo Baltazar had seven brothers who all joined the military (Westheider 42). Service was the norm. Gordon Roberts was from a town that was all about “hot dogs, mom, apple pie”, it was a town where the “citizen soldier was very strong”, it was expected that when the time came to serve, he would do his duty (Westheider 43). Tim O’Brien had to deal with similar expectations as Mr. Baltazar and Mr. Roberts in The Things They Carried. He knew the expectation in his small town is that he would fight if called upon by his country, and one of the major reasons he didn’t cross the river was because of that expectation, and the fear of what would happen to him if he didn’t answer the call

Show More
Related
559 Words | 3 Pages

The book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a collection of stories from the Vietnam War. Tim O’Brien was drafted into the war in 1968 and remained there until 1970 (“The Things They Carried”, N.d.). Kiowa is a Native American and he is gentle and peaceful. He discourages excessive violence but understands difficult decisions of war may not always please his gentle nature. Even though Kiowa strongly opposes excessive violence he later finds his platoon under attack and tragically loses his life fighting for a war he did not fully agree with.

Read More
1328 Words | 6 Pages

Tim O’ Brien’s book ‘The Things They Carried’ is a series of stories about the Vietnam War. Although all chapters in this book are related to the Vietnam War, each story transmits a different message to the readers and is narrated in different ways. In this essay, I have analyzed two stories to find the themes of each one and through what they are expressed. In “How to tell a true war story”, the author narrates two stories of the men in the Alpha Company and throughout the stories he disputes whether they are real or fabricated. On the other hand, in “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, Rat Kiley tells the story of his first assignment in the isolated mountains of Chu Lai.

Read More
1350 Words | 6 Pages

In his novel, Code Talker, Bruchac describes the way the Navajo Indians were treated prior to the World War II, despite the mistreating, many willingly signed up for duty when their services were needed. Even after serving their country, they came back to a lack of respect and were forced to keep silent about it until 1969, showing just another way more people were hurt by war, and the serious problems surrounding war time society. The Code Talkers did not experience the levels of brutality that the Jews did in WWII, however, they were dehumanized by Americans much in the way that Jews were persecuted by Hitler and the Nazis. While the levels of the pain and suffering imposed on the Jews and Code Talkers were vastly different, the reasoning

Read More
990 Words | 4 Pages

Synthesis Essay Tim O’Brien wrote the book The Things They Carried 20 years after he returned from war, making him the protagonist of the novel. O’Brien felt that writing down his stories from the war brought him closer to it, and the people he came to know from the war. Bringing himself closer to the past allowed O’Brien to gain closure for the tragedies he witnessed. His novel allows readers to gain a new perspective on war, since many opposed the Vietnam War when it happened. O’Brien gives readers a closer look inside the war to show the impact that it has on veterans.

Read More
960 Words | 4 Pages

,” another soldier yelled in return, “See what you can do until he can get here!!” The effects of war, as shown in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, are different for every person. Not a single person is made the same despite the similarities in backstories. One never knows what he/she will do in a situation until they are faced with that decision.

Read More
469 Words | 2 Pages

His cultural aspects and renewed self-worth are grown by the war and help him along the way. Ned’s cultural Navajo identity is affected by World War II. For example, Ned says that he, "Pray[s] that none of you have to go to battle as I did. I also pray that you will fight to keep our language, to hold on to it with the same warrior spirit that our Indian people showed during that war.” (214) Ned’s language is an important aspect of his culture.

Read More
178 Words | 1 Pages

There were lots of parallels between the Japanese, the native Americans “Trail of Tears,” also the Nazi concentration of Jews. The Cherokees same with the Japanese were U.S.

Read More
1292 Words | 6 Pages

Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.

Read More
481 Words | 2 Pages

Sent by Patriots, Dismissed by Protestors In order to better convey an understandable universal truth in their works, writers will distort factual happening truth by creating a fictional story truth. Tim O’Brien uses fictional characters in the novel, The Things They Carried, to convey the pressure American draftees faced when called to join the military in Vietnam. Recruits of the Vietnam War Draft in 1969 were descendants of World War II veterans, subsequently, military service was an expectation. Recruits who dodged the draft would forever be labeled by America as cowards who would, as Vietnam Veteran, Francis T. Logan states, in the South Dakota Vietnam War Memorial Dedication, “live with,” their national embarrassment along with, “their

Read More
1314 Words | 6 Pages

They see Native Americans as uncivilized people and very unstable, as they might attack the Whites at any times and act like barbarians. Native American could not enforce their goals to preserve their culture and beliefs by being suppressed by the Whites and receiving racism. “There is not among these 300 bands of Indians one which has not suffered cruelly at the hands either of the government or of white settlers…” (Document 6) This gives an idea that among every group of Native Americans, all has experienced the cruelty from the government and white

Read More
2081 Words | 9 Pages

The soldiers in the Vietnam War are portrayed as losing themselves in the chaos and trauma of combat. Through the stories of the soldiers and their experiences, O’Brien explores the ways in which war strips away one's sense of identity and humanity. The author himself is depicted as losing himself in the war. O'Brien served in the Vietnam War, and his experiences inspired much of the book. Through the character of Tim O'Brien, the author explores the ways in which war can strip away one's sense of self and purpose.

Read More
1413 Words | 6 Pages

Hidden somewhere within the blurred lines of fiction and reality, lies a great war story trapped in the mind of a veteran. On a day to day basis, most are not willing to murder someone, but in the Vietnam War, America’s youth population was forced to after being pulled in by the draft. Author Tim O’Brien expertly blends the lines between fiction, reality, and their effects on psychological viewpoints in the series of short stories embedded within his novel, The Things They Carried. He forces the reader to rethink the purpose of storytelling and breaks down not only what it means to be human, but how mortality and experience influence the way we see our world. In general, he attempts to question why we choose to tell the stories in the way

Read More
1205 Words | 5 Pages

It was not Tim’s sense of nationalist loyalties that caved him; rather, it was helplessness and his reputation that was at risk. Tim O’Brien longed to be that “secret hero” or “Lone Ranger” in order to impress those around him. However, he ends up learning that courage does not come in finite quantities. He finds himself resenting authority, “If you support a war, if you think it’s worth the price, that’s fine, but you have to put your own precious fluids on the line”. No matter how much he may find the law cruel and inhuman, he has is too prideful and decides to comply with the rules.

Read More
925 Words | 4 Pages

Literary analysis America’s war heroes all have the same stories to tell but different tales. Prescribed with the same coloring page to fill in, and use their methods and colors to bring the image to life. This is the writing style and tactic used by Tim O’Brien in his novel, “The Things They Carried”. Steven Kaplan’s short story criticism, The Undying Certainty of the Narrator in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, provides the audience with an understanding of O’Brien’s techniques used to share “true war” stories of the Vietnam War. Kaplan explains the multitude of stories shared in each of the individual characters, narration and concepts derived from their personal experiences while serving active combat duty during the Vietnam War,

Read More
807 Words | 4 Pages

How it was shaped: Tim allowed the draft of the Vietnam war and societal pressures get to the best of him and he slowly tore himself apart, he started off as a confident incorrigible man. His morals later then became corrupted, he gave into the pressures, his self proclaimed Lone Ranger status had been infected and debunked by his end decision of serving in the Vietnam war. Thesis: In the story, On the Rainy River, the author, Tim O’Brien demonstrates that an individual allows societal pressures and expectations to override their core values, morals, and beliefs; peer pressure forces individuals to put their beliefs aside so they can fit in with everyone else. The narrator, Tim O’Brien faces a similar situation when he get’s drafted for the Vietnam War.

Read More

More about Social And Political Factors In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

Related Topics

Open Document