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Summary Of Style By Tim O Brien

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In “Style” by Tim O'Brien, he writes about a girl in the village who danced. The American Soldiers came through and burned down a village, and despite all of the destruction and death, this girl still danced. The men of the platoon speculated, but couldn’t come to a conclusion as to why she wouldn’t stop. Azar thought it was a strange ritual, but Dobbins believed it to be the fact that she just liked to. After the fact, Azar mocked the girl by trying to dance like her, but Dobbins obviously didn’t find it even the slightest bit of funny. He jumped up and took Azar from behind and threatened to dump him in a nearby well if he didn’t dance properly. He said, “Dance Right”(130). Within the first couple sentences, direct characterization about …show more content…

She took “tiny”(129) steps and would do a “slow”(129) twirl. No one understood what she was doing, and they continued to question her with the most commonly used phrase, plainly and simply, “Why’s she dancing?”(129). Her family was dead, but she moved “gracefully” with her hands against her ears. He then moves into using similes to describe the burning village; it “smelled like straw”(130) and the smoke moved in “patches like fog”(130). This showed the heavy atmosphere that they were in and despite the fact that they were in the middle of a village burning like hell, she still danced. She “danced through the smoke”(130) and her face had a look that was “quiet and composed”(130). All of the words O’Brien used to describe the girl were words that could ever be used to describe a war, and that is what this girl is. They didn’t know but her dancing made just as much sense to them as the war did to her. She was a beautiful contrast to a very ugly war and in her mind the only thing that could’ve made the war uglier was if she didn’t find a way to escape it. She is the representation of how every man in the war or person being impacted by the war has to find a way to mentally flee the madness taking place around them. It doesn’t make sense to anyone, whether it be dancing or wearing stockings around their neck, but it doesn’t have to. That’s

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1) The Things They Carried the novel by Tim O'brian is a fictional representation of his experiences during the Vietnam War. Although the stories he tells are a fabrication of what really occurred in Vietnam, each story digs a little deeper on the emotions Tim O’Brien felt as a result of the war. I don't just think that the book is fiction because that's what it says on the title page, but because of This quote "A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.

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353 Words | 2 Pages

“It’s never about war, it’s about sunlight.” This quote is one of the many reasons Tim O’Brien gives on how to tell a true war story. In The Things They Carried four of Tim O’Brien’s own rules demonstrate why his chapter “On a Rainy River” is true. The rules that a true war story has no moral, a true war story doesn’t generalize, a true war story is not just about war, and a true war story is embarrassing prove his chapter true.

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1603 Words | 7 Pages

"Probably some weird ritual," Azar said, but Henry Dobbins looked back and said no, the girl just liked to dance.” (136) In this quote they’re calling her dance a "weird ritual,” making it seem stranger than it already is but in reality dancing is her way of coping with her

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438 Words | 2 Pages

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.

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604 Words | 3 Pages

Right from the first few sentences the author already starts to impress. There is a mix between the writer 's memoir and autobiography. With a memoir a writer will usually recount scenes from his or her own life. The way the writer writes depends on the conditions of the mental and emotional for the writer. When he starts off saying that "this is one story I 've never told before" signals two points to the reader.

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925 Words | 4 Pages

After attending a children’s talent show, Sone became enthralled by dancing. So much so that she wanted to take lessons, her mother agreed with her that it was a good idea. Her father had a different opinion, he strongly disapproved as he associated dancing with immoral and scandalous behavior, telling her mother “ ‘I’d die of disgrace if my daughter were to appear that like in public’ (p. 45).” Her life was impacted by his preconceived ideas of what was appropriate for a young girl, and since he was the ‘man of the house’ his ruling was

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1267 Words | 6 Pages

“They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture.” (O’Brien 77) Tim O’Brien clearly demonstrates to the reader that one of the most difficult burdens to bear is being a coward because even though carrying over fifty pounds of equipment is hard on the body physically cowardice is among the worst pain because you can never put that feeling down for even a second to relieve the pain. The novel The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, intends to show the reader how the platoons soldier’s cowardice and dread can effect them in the form of regret later in

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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.

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863 Words | 4 Pages

In modern society, we’ve associated a number of characteristics to define what a man should be; macho, chivalrous, courageous and so tough as to never show any form of emotions. In our story we read about a troop of soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War who witness death on a daily basis, being both men and soldiers with a mission to carry out they hide their fear and other emotions behind superstitions and trinkets. The most important component to a soldier is his psyche, or his ability to think strategically through any situation. With your mind preoccupied your skill declines, which can lead to a number of things going wrong. The theme presented in “The Things They Carried” supports this stereotype while also exposing the negative impacts.

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1290 Words | 6 Pages

In war, there is no clarity, no sense of definite, everything swirls and mixes together. In Tim O’Brien’s novel named “The Things They Carried”, the author blurs the lines between the concepts like ugliness and beauty to show how the war has the potential to blend even the most contrary concepts into one another. “How to Tell a True War Story” is a chapter where the reader encounters one of the most horrible images and the beautiful descriptions of the nature at the same time. This juxtaposition helps to heighten the blurry lines between concepts during war. War photography has the power to imprint a strong image in the reader’s mind as it captures images from an unimaginable world full of violence, fear and sometimes beauty.

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300 Words | 2 Pages

One might say that Tim O’Brien has valid reasons for being critical in his decision to go to war and therefore shouldn’t be so harsh in his self-criticism. The war, which calls his name, is what severs his chances of earning a bright future which he deserves. He “had the world dicked” (41) and is a hard worker from the start, especially in his academic studies, gaining a “full-ride scholarship for grad studies at Harvard” (41). The Aphorism, a saying that usually expresses a general truth, hints that similarly to great minds like Albert Einstein, also a draft dodger, O’Brien has the ability to contribute to the understanding of the unknown in society, allowing his judgements on himself to be passed. However, the likelihood that O’Brien’s work

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846 Words | 4 Pages

In Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”, the speaker seems to be an adult reminiscing his childhood through a metaphor of a dance. The poem suggests that the boy was abused and the mother stood by without doing much about it. Three topics that

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618 Words | 3 Pages

Despite his past actions or fears, a man can carry on the legacy of honor. In Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, the young men struggle with not only their lives as soldiers, but also with the weight of their reputations amongst themselves. They desperately want to be men, and being a man means they must be honorable. However, honor is the perception of his character, and it is only granted when a likeable man accepts his actions, and doles out justice as he sees fit.

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“Artworks have ‘aboutness’ and demand interpretation” (Barrett 71). This statement creates a foundation for writing, specifically about dance, as each dance piece is always about something, no matter how simple it appears to be. As I began to write about dance I knew not only to provide a description of the piece, but utilize the description as evidence as I develop a possible meaning. Additionally he explains, “There can be different, competing, and contradictory interpretations of the same artwork” (Barrett 73). When I would begin to develop an explanation from the description I provided, I had to remind myself that my interpretation was only one view of the dance and I should not try to provide one comprehensive interpretation for the

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962 Words | 4 Pages

Why was she doing that?   And I heard a screeching and gibberish coming from her mouth.   She were swaying like a dumb beast over that fire!”

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