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Symbols In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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In Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien uses symbols, both tangible and non-tangible to connect the reader get to the men in the platoon including their feelings and fears while they are in Vietnam. The story is told in third person, after reading through the first paragraphs, the reader then understands where the title is derived from. This not only makes things personal between each man and the reader, but the reader is able to understand and get to know that person based on their items.
There are many items mentioned at the beginning of the story, the can of peaches that Henry Dobson carries. There are items such as gum, Kool-Aid and lighters. These have meaning because these are things that bring comfort to the soldiers. These items are …show more content…

These items seem odd when the reader first reads the story. The Bible is probably his most important item that he carries with him. The Bible lets the reader understand that he sought higher powers and higher beings to get him through his tour in Vietnam. Kiowa smells the Bible and uses it as an escape Vietnam, even for a brief moment. He can find a way escape through the smell of the glue and the ink, it made him feel as if he was somewhere else. But the history of the Native American and the Whiteman, weighs heavy on his mind, it makes the reader wonder how much trust that he has in his battle buddies. The hatchet is a comfort piece that allows him to have security knowing that he to can be just like his grandfather and if it requires killing, the hatchet will give him the strength that he has built in his mind about his grandfather. Kiowa eventually drowns in a sewage field. Eventually, Cross goes back to Vietnam to the spot wear Kiowa dies and leaves him a pair of moccasins. These moccasins represent the friendship that Cross had with Kiowa and the respect the Cross had for Kiowa’s culture.
One of the list that the narrator talks about, are the items that are carried by the men to complete their mission, the narrator includes items and details about the weapons and the weight of each item. Then the narrator goes back into detail about

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Each soldier carried a rucksack that weighed between 15-20 pounds. “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity” (O’ Brien 108). Since they were at war they all carried basic necessities such as “can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, and etc.… Together, these items weighed between 15 and 20 pounds”. The items carried were basic need for them to survive and personal items that were required for physical and emotional reasons.

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The title The Things They Carried refers to the things soldiers mentally carry. They have to carry for the rest of their lives feelings of guilt, shame, responsibility, regret, grief, and fear. They also carry images of horror, death, and tragedy. Tim shares

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This brings focus specifically to the things the men are carrying, both tangible and intangible, without deemphasizing the narration. O'Brien gives only straight forward descriptions in these sections and the writing is nugatory of any feeling or sentiment whatsoever. On the other hand, when describing the intangible items, the writing is automatically perceived as more in tune with the emotions of the characters in the novel. The author's writing tends to be taking more sentimentality in these segments and adds a great deal of emotional weight for the reader. The soldiers all clearly want to escape the reality of what is going on around them in the war.

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In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, imagery emphasises the fears of the characters and the importance of the settings. O’Brien focuses on sensory imagery and graphic context to characterize the characters, while writing with emphatic syntax. By emphasizing the writing and using the specific types of imagery, he provides an accurate representation of what war is like. When writing with imagery, his style and use of language changes to provide complexe feelings and situations. The exaggerated and strategically placed sensory imagery creates an empathetic mood.

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Things They Carried is a classical American literature written by Tim O'Brien. Tim O'Brien survived the Vietnam War combat only to become a writer. The novel talks about activities of soldiers in a combat mission in Vietnam. The narrator of the story describes things soldiers normally carry to war-both tangible and intangible. The narrator also takes in to consideration the things the soldiers carry to create detailed composites of the characters making them seem real to readers.

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Kiowa, a devout Baptist, carried an illustrated New Testament that had been presented to him by his father, who taught Sunday school (428). Represented his faith & belief he had with

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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.

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Three characters in this story that carried interesting belongings are Kiowa, Ted Lavender, and Jimmy Cross. Kiowa is a Native American soldier who carries an illustrated New Testament Bible given to him by his father. The New Testament Bible

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Over the past week, we have started the book The Things They Carried. In response to what the soldiers carry in times of war, I wanted to share with you one special thing I carry with me everyday that I hold close to my heart. From this letter, I only ask that you think about what you’ve given to others and how they may have impacted their lives. I want to share with you what an impact one object you have given me has had on my life. It’s not only changed my thinking but deepened our relationship.

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Response to “The Things They Carried” Whether fiction or partial non-fiction, in this short story of the “Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien tries to place the reader in the soldier’s daily life during the war. He did this by introducing the characters not by describing their personalities, but by using the things they carried to give us a picture of that character. Out of respect or confidentiality he prefers not to use specific characteristics of each person, but instead opts to use symbolic representations through what they carried. He uses this method on each character individually and then proceeds to use the same method to describe the platoon or all the characters as a whole.

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Discussing the physical items the soldiers carry along with them, readers are able to determine

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A lot happens in Tim O 'Brien short story "The Things They Carried", at first, the reader speculates what the short story is about and why it is called "The Things They Carried". The narrator Tim O 'Brien tells and describes all the things that the men have to carry while "in-country" during the Vietnam War in the1960 's. The text 's artistic value comes from its plot, characters, conflict, and style. In the plot of the story the protagonist, Tim O 'Brien starts by describing circumstances that happened while he was in Vietnam. In the beginning of "The Things They Carried" we are introduced to each character by the things they carry.

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Things They Carried Analysis draft In the short story “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’brien uses the literary element of symbolism to portray how people carry different items to represent certain things, and to represent the harsh realities of war and life. He also uses symbolism to show how people become attached to items, and how they take on deeper meanings in times of stress. The story takes place during the Vietnam war, and O’Brien talks about an army detail, and the different things that they carried. This story is a great example of the use of symbolism to represent many different things at once.

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Kiowa reveals how he is dependent on his faith to get him through tough events. "Kiowa, a devout Baptist, carried an illustrated New Testament that had been presented to him by his father, who taught Sunday School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma" (O'Brien 2). Soldiers do not want to carry many extra objects because they already carry an extremely heavy load, so Kiowa really cares about his faith since he carries an illustrated New Testament. Kiowa really cares about his family, which partially portrays his faith as well. "

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Avygayle Titco English V01B Professor Carlander 02/07/18 Losing a Grip on Life Tim O’Brien’s short story, The Things They Carried, isn’t just any typical war story. He views the perspective of a soldiers eye and the intangible and tangible items they carry along the journey. Through the use of depicted details, it helps the readers feel like they are part of the battlefield. We feel like we’ve known these characters by the way O’Brien describes them with the personal items they carry.

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