ipl-logo

The Idea Of Friendship In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

833 Words4 Pages

War: The Idea of Friendship In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the stories are mainly focused on the Vietnamese War and it’s effects on the soldiers. The two stories, Friends and Enemies clearly portray the personal problems faced by the soldiers during the war instead of problems in the actual war that the soldiers are fighting. In Enemies, Dave Jensen breaks Lee Strunk's nose over a stolen jackknife and is later found contemplating whether or not Strunk will get his revenge on him, causing him to become delusional. In Friends, however, both Strunk and Jensen agree to sign a pact that says if anyone of them gets hurt badly, the other will kill them. This pact allows room for the two soldiers to soon become friends. These …show more content…

In “Enemies”, Jensen is scared that Lee Strunk will try to hurt him as much as he hurt him, and this causes him to question the “distinction between good and bad guys” even though he and Lee Strunk are fighting on the same side(O’Brien, 60). Jensen believes he has no allies in the war even though he is fighting amongst a group of men on the same side in the war. Jensen always takes precaution by setting up a foxhole on the far side of the perimeter; he is “always on guard”(60). In “Friends”, just like in “Enemies” Jensen is still conflicted as to what it means to be a friend. When Lee Strunk gets his leg blown off after the pact is signed, Jensen is faced with the task of killing Strunk in order to fulfill the pact or sparing Strunk’s life because he swore to it. Faced with both these problems, Jensen feels as if he is betraying Strunk if he lets him live or if he lets him die. When he later hears that Strunk has died, Jensen seemed “relieved of an enormous weight” because suddenly he wasn’t betraying anyone anymore(63). War creates an undefinable version of the idea of friendship, where both parties don’t know where they stand amongst one

Show More
Related

Summary Of The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

841 Words | 4 Pages

Many mistakes had cost lives, and the platoon have had lost will from time to time. Two of the men of the same platoon had grown a friendship, that seemed to last forever. The men made a pact, that if one person was injured, the other would finish the other off. Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk. While humping along the trail Dave made a fatal mistake, and ended up blowing his leg off on a rigged mortar.

Read More

The Paradox Of War In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

705 Words | 3 Pages

Although the soldier he killed was an enemy soldier, instead of vilifying him he was able to humanize the man. O’Brien was able to describe the physical appearance of the soldier and imagine her life before war. The author was able to portray an emotional connection and made the line between friend and enemy almost vanish. This was able to reveal the natural beauty of shared humanity even in the context of war’s horror. O’Brien is able to find the beauty in the midst of this tragic and horrible event.

Read More

Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: Chapter Analysis

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.

Read More

Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: A Literary Analysis

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

General Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

957 Words | 4 Pages

Only the facts are real and important for us. And good boots are scarce”. As you can see, instead of feeling sad for there friend who is about to die, they keep a lookout over him so that they can make sure they get his boots, but they do need them, war is a harsh reality. On page 20 it talks their lives “All of the older men are linked up with their previous life. They have wives, children, occupation, interests, they have a background that is so strong that the war cannot obliterate it.

Read More

Emotional Burdens In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

1509 Words | 7 Pages

The author was writing the story “The Things They Carried” expressed so many thoughts and feelings about what the soldiers had faced, they showed their feelings and duties, life or death, and overall fear and dedication. This story shows the theme of the physical and emotional burdens that everyone is going through in the war. By showing his readers what the soldier’s daily thoughts are and how they handle what is going on around them. Tim O’Brien expresses this theme by using characterization, symbolism, and tone continuously. In the story, physical and emotional burdens plagued several characters as they all had baggage weighing them down.

Read More

Individuality In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

367 Words | 2 Pages

Tim O'Brien's short story, "The Things They Carried", is a personal narrative of the time he served in the military during the Vietnam War. His experience in the war along with his platoon shows how soldiers have to conform to the specific image of a tough, brave, and emotionless warrior courageously fighting in the heat of battle. However, the story shows young soldiers who try to follow this image, but end up showing individuality by being their true selves. In the nature of war, most soldiers will try to conform to this image, however showing individuality isn't always a negative thing. At first, the group of very young soldiers who have just been drafted try to show their masculinity by hiding their true emotions such as fear.

Read More

Tim O 'Brien's How To Tell A True War In Miniature'

581 Words | 3 Pages

Soldiers create intimate and valuable relationships. Curt Lemon and Rat form a close relationship and they can trust each other “with [their lives]” (65). Yet, Rat loses Curt because soldiers frequently lose these relationships because of war’s “absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil” (66). Losing one’s best friend is “so incredibly sad and true” (66), but it is an everyday occurrence during war. Concluding the chapter, the narrator determines that war “is never about war”, and is solely about the “love”, “sorrow” (81), and memories shared.

Read More

Tim O Brien Friends Analysis

472 Words | 2 Pages

In Tim O'Brien's “Enemies” and “Friends”, O'Brien shows the effect the nature of war has on individuals and how war destroys and creates friendships. These two stories describe the relationship between two soldiers, Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen. In “Enemies”, friendship is broken over a fist fight about a stolen jackknife, which leaves Strunk with a broken nose and Jensen paranoid of whether or not Strunk’s revenge is coming. While in “Friends”, you see how the nature of war creates a bond of trust, even between people who first saw each other as enemies.

Read More

Enemies And Friends In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

726 Words | 3 Pages

Mud, dirt, sweat, tears, disease, injury, are all normalities for a deployed military man. The Things They Carried, the men who made it home from fighting in the war came back different than they once were. Once they have seen the unspeakable and experienced what they have experienced, coming home can be a foreign feeling; home may not feel like home anymore. People are taught to forget their troubles and move forward in life, but the lasting emotional and physical burdens of war make this close to impossible.

Read More

Moral Confusion In The Things They Carried

645 Words | 3 Pages

The Vietnam War leaves a legacy of moral confusion with each and every soldier who serves. Soldiers are fighting for a cause they do not necessarily believe in, killing people who do not necessarily deserve it, and watching their brothers die beside them. Tim O’Briens’ book, The Things They Carried, illustrates the soldiers struggle to define morality throughout the confusion of the war. On the Rainy River, Tim O’Brien faces what he feels is his moral obligation to answer his country’s call and fight in Vietnam, and a personal moral issue with the reason for the war.

Read More

Enemies And Friends Analysis

522 Words | 3 Pages

In the two stories, “Enemies’ and “Friends”, from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, O’Brien introduces two men, Jensen and Strunk. They are both fighting for the same side, but act violently toward one another for no real reason. The social codes and contracts that society is normally governed by have become arbitrary. Most of the time, those who steal are punished so they know that they shouldn’t do it again and so justice has been enacted. However, in the first story, “Enemies,” the complete lack of an attempt by Jensen and Strunk to resolve their conflict using peaceful and healthy conversation, or even going to a superior, demonstrates that normal social contracts have begun to break down.

Read More

Humanism In Italian Renaissance

464 Words | 2 Pages

Humanism was a study of the classics and focused on each individual themselves. Greco-Roman styles, individuality, and both science and mathematics heavily influenced many works of art in the Italian Renaissance. The Vitruvian Man done by Leo Da Vinci perfectly portrays humanism within art. The drawing is of a lone man and it focuses on his natural form; the individual himself. Science and anatomy were used to create the body.

Read More

A Separate Peace Friendship Quotes

675 Words | 3 Pages

A true friendship must include trust between two people who really care about each other. The novel, “A Separate Peace,” by John Knowles demonstrates the bond between two friends, and how that bond is kept together by trust. This quality can destroy or build a friendship. This story presents the trust and loyalty in a friendship.

Read More

Theme Of Friendship In The Things They Carried

767 Words | 4 Pages

The chapter “Friends,” is a very good chapter showing friendship. There are many details of how good of friends people can become during a war. Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk weren 't good buddies for a while but they eventually started to trust each other. “In late August they made a pact that if one of them should ever get totally fucked up- a wheelchair wound- the other guy would automatically find a way to end it,” (O’Brien, 62).

Read More

More about The Idea Of Friendship In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Related Topics

Open Document