We all have our highs and lows. For the men who served in Vietnam the lows outweighed the highs. Looking through the psych lens at the chapter “Speaking of Courage” shows the fact that the Vietnam War devastated many soldiers mentally. The soldiers that made it home from the war were mentally scarred for life. Norman Bowker kept his feelings bottled up inside and never shared them with anyone.
Norman wants to tell someone about how he almost won the Silver Star during his time of service in Vietnam, but he thinks no one wants to hear his stories and he has no one to talk to, so during this story he indirectly tells the reader his story while imagining himself telling his father or former girlfriend his story. As previously mentioned, since he couldn’t save Kiowa, he doesn’t feel brave. While he is the central character of “Speaking of Courage,” he doesn’t fall into a category of either antagonist or protagonist for those
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.
Tim O’Brien views heroism much differently than most. His comrades in Vietnam may base a hero upon his accomplishments in war; however, O’Brien’s version of a hero comes in the most casual aspect. O’Brien’s message on heroism communicates the simplicity of wisdom through the rhetorical elements of diction, tone, and ethos. In O’Brien’s acceptance speech, he uses effective diction to describe his hero, Elroy Birdall.
O’Brien makes it understable to the readers that Bowker died in Vietnam and has no chance of recovering, he can’t seem to find meaning of life after the war. O’Brien’s main purpose of writing “Speaking of courage” was mainly to try and explain what soldiers had to deal with once they returned home from war, and not only how to deal with being disconnected from society, but also from their loved ones. After returning from
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).
Tim O’Brien uses seemingly true events to describe his overall emotions about the Vietnam war and what he and others did there. “I want you to know what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth” (O’Brien, pg. 171). This quotation is the foundation of the entire book The Things They Carried, O’Brien uses this base to tell the story of many things that he witnessed. O’Brien’s verisimilitude is used to give real world emotions to a literary work.
Novelist, Tim O’Brien writes short semi true stories about his and other’s experiences in the Vietnam war. O’Brien wanted to explain to his audience what happens in war and how it effects people after the fact. O’Brien really helps his audience acknowledge how much war really does change people. Tim’s dynamic use of symbolism, imagery, and figurative language emphasizes the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that people experience during and after the war. O’Brien begins by analyzing the thoughts of sorrow and loss overwhelm the Vietnam veterans upon their return back home.
The lives of soldiers, Norman Bowker and Curt Lemon, illustrate how the war pressures the human spirit to a standard it can’t resemble. The pressure and responsibilities of lost friends and lost acts of courage heavily weigh Norman Bowker down,
“On the Rainy River,” further explores the theme of shame that, “The Things They Carried,” introduced by giving background information about Tim O’Brien. The short story is about the conflicted choice that O’Brien has to deal with, either ignoring the draft, risking the judgment of his family and friends, or accepting the call and renouncing his morals (On the Rainy River 162). O’Brien’s unique use of storytelling, for example, the structure in “The Things They Carried,” highlights how cowardice and courage are interchangeable given a different perspective. For example, from the perspective of the audience it is generally presumed that when O’Brien finally decided to fight in the war, that he never believed in, it was because he was courageous.
The quality of his storytelling is notable in the stories “Speaking of Courage” and “Notes”. In the former story, Norman Bowker, a member of Alpha Company, describes life in his hometown after the war. Specifically, Bowker details how he “almost won the Silver Star” (135) for saving his comrade from drowning in a field of mud. As Bowker describes, however, overwhelmed by the smell of the field, he froze up and “in that way had lost the Silver Star” (147). In “Notes”, O’Brien continues to tell of Bowker’s unfortunate life after returning home from Vietnam, this time from his perspective.
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.
“Soldiers Home” by Ernest Hemingway and “Speaking of Courage” by Tim O’Brien both deal with the difficulties of veterans returning home from war. Both of the protagonists, Krebs and Bowker respectively, experience trauma, which leads them on a search for self-discovery and an outlet for their pain. At the end of each story, neither of the characters wants to participate in society anymore. Despite the similarities, Norman Bowker is more forthcoming with his feelings, ultimately making him a more successful character. In addition, the similarities and differences between the authors’ styles accentuate those that occur within the characters of the stories; both authors use symbolism to show the changes in the dynamic characters over the course of the narratives.
For the first half of the 1900s, white and black people in America were separated by law. Across the land, blacks and whites ate at separate restaurants, or in separate parts of restaurants. They bathed in separate swimming pools, and drank from separate water fountains. Separated societies The Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) wrote into law that this was acceptable. America would have two separate societies: one black and one white.
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,
