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The Lieutenant By Tim O Brien Critical Analysis

228 Words1 Pages
The story written by Tim O’Brien represents innovative thinking, powerful narrative of warfare, memory, and imagination based on his own experience (Woodruff, 2010). An unknown narrator tells the story of Jimmy Cross, who is put on combat duty as the lieutenant of the U.S. Army in Vietnam, focusing on his thought, feelings and actions. Speaking about the conflicts of the story, the Vietnam War itself appears to be its central and the most important conflict. Apparently, the story’s setting as well as its characters are going through the war living in the past and struggling to accept the present state of things. The war seems totally meaningless and absurd to them, they continue to carry out orders though. The lieutenant as well as the other
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The Things They Carried Jimmy Cross Character Analysis

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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.

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A Brief Review Of The Things They Carried 'By Tim O' Brien

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Tim O’ Brien’s book ‘The Things They Carried’ is a series of stories about the Vietnam War. Although all chapters in this book are related to the Vietnam War, each story transmits a different message to the readers and is narrated in different ways. In this essay, I have analyzed two stories to find the themes of each one and through what they are expressed. In “How to tell a true war story”, the author narrates two stories of the men in the Alpha Company and throughout the stories he disputes whether they are real or fabricated. On the other hand, in “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, Rat Kiley tells the story of his first assignment in the isolated mountains of Chu Lai.

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1041 Words | 5 Pages

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531 Words | 3 Pages

Tim Obrien is famous for his staunch anti-war stance and his stories revealing the harsh realities of war. His works often detail recounts of his or her’s experiences during Vietnam. One of his works, “The Things They Carried,” describes the brutalities of the Vietnam war in two main ways: the droning of day-to-day orders and the weight of the things they carried physically and mentally. One of the brutalities O’Brien details in his work is the soulless droning of day-to-day orders. O’Brien demonstrates this soulless nature in his work by saying “it was not battle, it was just the endless march, village to village, without purpose, nothing won or lost” (35).

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Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: A Literary Analysis

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1102 Words | 5 Pages

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Coping Mechanisms In The Things They Carried Essay

2081 Words | 9 Pages

The soldiers in the Vietnam War are portrayed as losing themselves in the chaos and trauma of combat. Through the stories of the soldiers and their experiences, O’Brien explores the ways in which war strips away one's sense of identity and humanity. The author himself is depicted as losing himself in the war. O'Brien served in the Vietnam War, and his experiences inspired much of the book. Through the character of Tim O'Brien, the author explores the ways in which war can strip away one's sense of self and purpose.

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1709 Words | 7 Pages

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