The short story “The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien, is about the experience of a team of American soldiers in the Vietnam war (Julia Guance et al. 323). O’Brien fought in the war of Vietnam himself and used writing as a way to express the realities of war (322). His works are realistic, given his personal experience at war. Each soldier in the story “The Things They Carried” carry specific objects that reflect their personality and priorities. Jimmy Cross is a twenty-four-year-old, American First Lieutenant.
In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the author skillfully presents a paradox about war and how it is both horrible and beautiful. Through O’Brien’s vivid storytelling and sorrowful anecdotes, he is able to demonstrate various instances which show both the horrible and beautiful nature of war. Within the vulnerability of the soldiers and the resilience found in the darkest of circumstances, O’brien is able to show the uproarious emotional landscape of war with a paradox that serves as the backbone of the narrative. In the first instance, O’Brien explores the beauty in horror within the chapter “Love.”
The Vietnam War was full of grief, heartache and tragedy, no one experienced this more than the soldiers who fought in it. Tim O’Brien shows the trauma the war has caused him in his book The Things They Carried. The story focuses on the character Tim, a member of Alpha Company, who tells his stories of the war. Many of these stories circle around guilt, and each character in the book has a different way of coping with it. One character, Kiowa, acts as the glue that holds Alpha Company together.
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,
Tim O'Brien is an American novelist who served as a soldier in the Vietnam War. The topic of the book goes through the experiences of soldiers during the Vietnam War and expresses both the physical and metaphorical things the soldiers had to carry with them while deployed. His purpose for writing the book was to recount his personal experience in the Vietnam War and allow him to comment on the war. I chose this book because I thought it would be an interesting read and I would be able to learn more about how a soldier in the Vietnam War felt while deployed. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a story of his recalling of events that provides an honest depiction while maintaining an enjoyable read which shows how the soldiers were changed in the war.
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.
“They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried.”, the former quote is from Tim O'Brien's book The Things They Carried. The quote is relating not only to the physical belongings they carried but also the emotional turmoil they acquired during their active years as soldiers. As the weaponry and artillery that soldiers carry change with each new war one thing remains constant; soldiers don’t always leave the stress from their experiences at war ,on the battlefield. War has been around for hundreds of years but post traumatic stress being recognized as a disorder by the American Psychiatric Association only happened 35 years ago (Friedman). This information led me to
Tim O’Brien’s short story, The Things They Carried, is a Vietnam War veterans auto fictional tale of his experience in Vietnam. The story sets out to give a surreal look at the Vietnam War’s effects on the soldiers who fought it, and give some insight into a war that is still debated to this day. For me, the major themes I saw in the story were about the burden each soldier held, and how each soldier had their own way to try and escape the horrors they faced. The major, unifying theme of the story was about the burdens each soldier carried with them through their time in Vietnam. However, the burdens each man carries varies from their SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) gear such as canteens, ammunition, and helmets, to personal items such as comic books, photographs, or even dope.
Tim O’Brien’s novel, “The Things They Carried,” is a short story that talks about a group of soldier’s experiences during the Vietnam War. O’Brien tells the reader about the different objects the soldiers each carried in order to show emotional appeal of the object. Throughout the whole story, the protagonist, Lieutenant Cross, is a soldier who fails to keep his mind focus away from his real life back at home. The author tells us that all he ever focused on was his college sweet heart named Martha. Cross usually separated himself from his men to fantasize about his beloved Martha.
The story “The Things They Carried” was written by Tim O’Brien, and it talks about soldiers in the Vietnam War and the things that they carried both physically and mentally. I really enjoyed this story because it was not that hard to relate to and it shows how hard war is on a man. It follows the transition of a man from loving and hopeful to hard. War changes a man forever and it is visible in this story and real life.
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien tells the stories of multiple war veterans who have served in the Vietnam War. It takes a very in-depth approach to explaining the veterans’ experiences, feelings, and views both during the war, and after the war. Throughout the novel, readers learn that things you either do, or don’t do in life, can make you feel the same way as the war veterans. O’Brien uses symbolism and regretful tone to teach readers that the results of your actions in war can lead to you experiencing shame, remorse, and guilt for the rest of your life. O’Brien uses symbolism to show that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross has to deal with the survivor’s guilt of letting his platoon member, Tim Lavender, die in the warzone.
War has a profound and lasting impact on individuals and society. In “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, he tells different stories of before, during and after war and how it affects the soldiers, mentally and physically. In these stories Tim O’Brien illustrates these traumas and the long-lasting effects and impact that the war will always have on these men. Even though all the men didn’t survive the ones that did continue to have traumatic flashbacks. War has a lasting impact on individuals and society, affecting not only the physical but the mental and emotional well-being of those involved.
In the short story “The Things They Carried” the general theme revolved around the emotional struggles of all the men and how they dealt with issues of war, love, fear, and loss. The tale is intended to symbolize the internal warfare of soldiers in war and the mental struggles of dealing with the risk of danger on a day to day basis. Author Tim O’Brien being a Vietnam War veteran, experienced this firsthand and uses imagery and physical juxtapositions to compare both the emotional and physical baggage that the men carried throughout the war. One of the main characters in the story, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, who was the leader of the platoon in the story, faced many emotional problems. He was struggling with a love interest back in the United States and torn between putting emotional energies into both the thought of her while still maintaining the wellbeing of his troops and being a respectable officer.
The Power of fiction in The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien is a veteran of The Vietnam War and his experience has provided the literary world with a book called The Things They Carried. This book was written with a special focus on the truths and untruths of the war and the stories that follow. These truths tied into untruths are continually highlighted throughout most of the short stories integrated into this book by multiple uses of hyperbole showing the stories as lies, this is an attempt to tell a story for meaning, displaying the feelings of the soldiers as a means of experience for the readers. This confusion forces the readers to stray from reality causing a further understanding of the real feelings that the perilous war created, showing
“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.
