ipl-logo

Summary In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

547 Words3 Pages

The Things They Carried is an ugly book. The themes and topics throughout the book are gruesome and horrific, but Tim O’Brien writes about them in such a way that portrays the Vietnam War as almost beautiful. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the chapter, “The Man I Killed” is an example of a terrific piece of writing because it utilizes thoughtful symbolism, graphic imagery, and conflict to portray the Vietnam War in an accurate way. “The Man I Killed” uses symbols, imagery, and conflict to tell an accurate war story. First, O’Brien uses symbolism throughout the book, but specifically in “The Man I Killed,” O’Brien writes about the symbol of a butterfly. For instance, After Tim killed the Vietnamese man, he noticed that, “the butterfly was making its way along the young man’s forehead” …show more content…

This is just one instance of the symbol of a butterfly throughout The Things They Carried. In this case, the butterfly symbolizes the start of a new life; for the Vietnamese soldier, it is a life without the war, and for Tim, it is a new life where he has killed someone. This proves the book’s excellency because the symbols make the reader think deeper about the book and its symbols, so the book cannot just be read at surface level. Next, O’Brien uses graphic imagery in many parts of the novel, but in “The Man I Killed,” he used it obtain a visual response from the reader. For example, O’Brien writes about how the man’s, “skin at his left cheek was peeled back in three ragged strips...his neck was open to the spinal cord and the blood there was thick and shiny” (O’Brien 118). O’Brien uses the visual imagery to show his horrified response to his actions, as well as gain a response from the reader. O’Brien describes the dead man in so much detail that the readers are able to visualize him and feel the pain that O’Brien felt, which invokes an emotional response and helps prove the novel as very admirable. Finally, O’Brien utilizes conflict in

Show More
Related
845 Words | 4 Pages

In the 1990 book “The Things They Carried” By Tim O’Brien gives both the victims and survivors of the Vietnam war a voice. The soldiers, alive and dead, experienced horrific events too terrible to speak of. No one could express their emotions, causing many mental illnesses such as PTSD. How could they express how they felt if they couldn’t speak of the horrors that occurred? Tim O’Brien gave them a voice.

Read More
542 Words | 3 Pages

The novel Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand stands as a biography that captures the real-life experiences of Louie Zamperini, a man who went from living as a troubled boy, to an impeccable runner, and then into a United States soldier. This novel defines the definition of survival. Not only has it sold millions of copies, but is read in many high schools across the world, and became a huge major motion picture. In the book, there is a character who is very close to Louie named Allen Russell Phillips, or better now as Phil. From the beginning of the story and until the end, Phil has changed dramatically.

Read More
600 Words | 3 Pages

In his pom entitled “Evening Hawk”, Robert Penn Warren characterizes human nature by a transition between the flight of the hawk during the day and that of the bat, or the “Evening Hawk” during the night. The hawk, as it soars in daylight, portrays how humans appear in clear light of their peers, while the bat, cruising the night sky, symbolizes what humans hide within themselves. Warren effectively expresses the meaning of this poem and its serious mood by the use of diction and imagery to appeal to the reader’s perception of sight and sound. Throughout the first part of the poem, Warren describes the journey of the hawk in the daytime to symbolize how one’s character may seem to other beings.

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
899 Words | 4 Pages

After reading In the Time of the Butterflies, one can clearly see that Dominican-American author Julia Alvarez thoughtfully and purposefully incorporated a plethora of symbols throughout the story in order to carefully craft her novel. From instances as large as the title of the novel, to concepts as simple as the weather each day of the narration, Alvarez shows deep consideration in utilizing the literary device of symbolism consistently throughout the story. Alvarez took the time to deliberately focus and place emphasis on the element of symbolism in order to not only recognize Dominican culture, but to highlight the journey of the Mirabal sisters as they left their mark on society and fought back against the oppressive Trujillo regime. As

Read More
430 Words | 2 Pages

Often in works of literature, symbolism reveals significant information about characters and the theme of the work as a whole. Symbolism in the novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, is an example of this. The novel is set in the Dominican Republic, during a period of the tyrannical control of Rafael Trujillo. The Mirabal sisters, (Patria, Dede, Minerva, and Maria Teresa) from whom the point of view is set, are involved in the underground movement to rebel against Trujillo’s regime. Alverez uses symbolism to support the idea that those who may be initially considered harmless can make the biggest impact.

Read More
543 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
775 Words | 4 Pages

Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried, is not a casual story based on war, but divided stories that paint a picture of veterans and what they were developing during and after the war. O’Brien brings up hard hitting points in each book that affects a reader in so many ways. O’Brien uses his novel with symbolisms to deeply understand characters, types of grieving each character is affiliated with, and more so what these characters carry emotionally, mentally, and figuratively throughout the book, nevertheless, making these characters relatable with actual people. O’Brien’s characters are all different, Jimmy Cross was a lieutenant who’s in love and is not desired to lead his men to fight for their own freedom and stop war. Azar is a disrespectful,

Read More
648 Words | 3 Pages

The Things They Carried “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a short story set during the Vietnam War. In the story, O’Brien lists many different items soldiers in the Alpha Company carried with them as they humped across the rugged terrain. Many carried necessities such as rations, matches, ammunition and things of that nature; however, many soldiers also carried quite peculiar objects such as condoms, pantyhose, and M&Ms. Readers can grasp a closer insight of the characters’ lives after further examination of the symbolism and meaning of the things they carried.

Read More
609 Words | 3 Pages

His recollections about his experience as a young boy makes the horror real and urgent for the audience: “I remember his bewilderment, I remember his anguish. It all happened so fast.” (paragraph 4) The audience’s inevitable emotional response to these memories is one of deep sadness and empathy. The need for action instead of silence in the face of such horror is made even clearer.

Read More
1333 Words | 6 Pages

The Canary and The Heart A story contains much more than just the words presented on the page. There are deeper meanings, hidden facts and underlying messages. At the heart of this idea is symbolism. Symbolism, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is the practice of representing things by symbols, or of giving a symbolic character to objects.

Read More
958 Words | 4 Pages

The author of ‘The Kite Runner,' Hosseini, employs a variety of symbols to create a deeper meaning throughout the book. Symbolism is used to create deeper a meaning in in many ways in the book especially in objects like kites which represent happiness when the kite is flying high and guilt about the blue kite. Symbolism is also present in people especially the cleft lip which is a symbol of betrayal of brothers and also represents Baba’s and Amir’s redemption. The cleft lip symbolises betrayal of brothers and also represents Baba’s and Amir’s redemption.

Read More
1244 Words | 5 Pages

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby is a memoir that tells readers about Bauby’s life after and some before he had a stroke. He was the editor-in-chief of French Elle, who suffered from a stroke at the age of forty-three that leaves him paralyzed. Unfortunately, he suffers from “locked-in syndrome” until he passed away. Throughout the memoir, Bauby still uses many different types of figurative language, especially symbols and metaphors, and can still find the irony in certain situations, considering he composed it with just the use of blinking his left eye. It shows that imagination isn’t always lost in times of hardship and it can help readers gain some insight through the author’s point of view.

Read More
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.

Read More
940 Words | 4 Pages

There is always something that bothers us in life, whether it’s others or even our own conscious. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator has a difficult time following through with his cruel acts because a part of him knows it’s truly wrong. Throughout the story, his crimes bring more tension between him and the old man. Suspense is created with his every move, leaving readers hanging on the edge of their seats. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Poe builds suspense by using symbolism, inner thinking, and revealing information to the reader that a character doesn’t know about.

Read More

More about Summary In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

Open Document