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The Things They Carried Book Report

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The novel I am reading is named The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Tim O’Brien is known to be an amazing American novelist for his work of fiction(New York Times, 1990). The novel tells of the moment when men were drafted into the Vietnam War. It showcases the sacrifices they made to preserve our country. To the initial part of the inscription in the few first departments you would read on what they carried with them to keep them some peace in their own minds. It was like taking a small amount of home with them. One of the men named Kiowa is a caring guy that is very considerate of the other men in his platoon. A main point that I saw in the novel that made me think of him considerate and caring was when he comforted O’Brien when he killed the North Vietnamese soldier. He makes O’Brien comfortable coming into the war. I don’t ever think I could process of losing a member of your platoon the way Kiowa had to go, any member would feel guilt …show more content…

Bowker has to live with the guilt of not contending to help Kiowa. He tries to grab the boot, but of course he lets go because he did not want to sink into the muck further. O’Brien has lost his friend that was always there for him to cope with all subjects he had in life. Cross started to write to Kiowa’s father to send them the written statement of his death. In the word of Cross he states “ I will write the letter to Kiowa’s death to tell his father, saying what a great soldier he was in the troop. Cross just thought in his mind that this decent man did not deserve to die in a mucky field. I feel like Kiowa should have more of help than he did at the start. I feel like Broker is responsible for his death. He was there was not looking out for Kiowa, he was shot and fell into the muck sinking to this tragic death. Bowker grabbed his boot, but felt selfish to let go because he didn’t want to sink into the muck Ethier along with his troop

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769 Words | 4 Pages

Each individual elt responsible for Kiowa’s death. In the chapter “ Field Trip” storytelling/memory was being used. The men thought it was their responsibility for what happened to Kiowa and how they were looking for his body they were talking and sharing about stories they did with Kiowa. “ I wanted to tell Kiowa they he’d been a great friend, the very best, but all I could do was slap hands with the water ( O’Brien 178).

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O’Brien shows readers and those who know veterans, how moments of morality and shame and guilt arise in war. The chapter “In the Field” shows many moments of shame and guilt for the characters as the result of a death. In the chapter Kiowa dies from sinking into the mud, and his friends are

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641 Words | 3 Pages

everybody 's. The young soldier wants to confess his part in Kiowa 's death to Jimmy Cross—how he turned on his flashlight and drew the mortar fire—but Jimmy Cross isn 't listening. He 's thinking about blame. He 's thinking that while you could blame the war and every cause of the war and God and everything else there is, in the field, blame needs to be more immediate.

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1085 Words | 5 Pages

“Kiowa admired Lieutenant Jimmy Cross's capacity for grief. He wanted to share the man's pain” (O'Brien

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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,

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1435 Words | 6 Pages

The person had to deal with death and the reality of war under the worst case scenario. Bob “Rat” Kiley was that soldier and one of the many soldiers that left something in the war. He had lost his friend Curt Lemon and that’s the first sign that the war has been turning to be painful for him. This coping mechanism for the death was to write letters to lemon’s sister and he shot a baby Water Buffalo. This coping mechanism is seen in the chapter “How to tell a true war story”, shows how he has been affected and explained the toll the war had taken on him.

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871 Words | 4 Pages

They each blamed each other and themselves for certain events, such as Kiowa’s death; all of which affected themselves as a person inside the war, and following the war. Within the book, Jimmy Cross explains his view and attitude towards the unexpected death: “There was nothing he could do now, but still it was a mistake and a hideous waste. He felt sick about it” (O’Brian 164). Cross’s feeling of guilt for Kiowa's death he feels was because of his lack of intuition and courage was the reason for his death. Not exclusively does Cross blame himself, but others also end up blaming Cross.

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1292 Words | 6 Pages

Kiowa’s death was touched upon in several stories, but the insight given to the reader of First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s perspective in “In the Field,” is a primary example of this. Jimmy Cross has to write a letter to Kiowa’s father concerning Kiowa’s death and he has to consider the manner in which he will write the letter. He starts off by “just saying what a fine soldier Kiowa had been, what a fine human being, and how he was the kind of son that any father could be proud of forever.” (164) Then he decides: “In the letter to Kiowa’s father he would apologize point-blank.

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480 Words | 2 Pages

This was when the war started to feel real for everyone, including Lt. Cross: “Lieutenant Cross found himself trembling. He tried not to cry….. He felt shame. He hated himself” (O’Brien 16). Lieutenant Cross was never properly trained, resulting in an inadequate leader.

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757 Words | 4 Pages

Kiowa knows it is wrong to bring war into a place of peace. With this peace of mind, it shows how good of a person Kiowa is. It showed why people like him as a person. In a like manner, O’Brien discusses morality in the chapter “The Man I Killed.”

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Synthesis Essay In the Vietnam war, there were many soldiers at war with each other, and most soldiers were not prepared for the fight. In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien was in the Vietnam war when he was young. The book was not in order but he still talks about his experiences while in the war. His purpose for writing this novel was because he wanted younger audience to know what happened in the war and what the soldiers experienced.

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1430 Words | 6 Pages

He was barbarized by the war and hence he was unable to integrate himself back into society. He no longer had any humanity to try to be a member of society because the war deprived him of any civil interactions. Norman Bowker did not have a life outside of the war. Before he took his life, Bowker wrote to O’Brien stating how he felt back in the United States, “‘The thing is,’ he wrote, ‘there’s no place to go. Not just in this lousy little town.

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612 Words | 3 Pages

War of the Worlds: WWII and the 1941 Iraqi Coup d’état Sophia Gatsios “I am deeply concerned about Iraq …. I think we should now put definitely, not only to Feisal but to the Constituent Assembly, the position that unless they beg us to stay and to stay on our own terms in regard to efficient control, we shall actually evacuate before the close of the financial year. I would put this issue in the most brutal way, and if they are not prepared to urge us to stay and to co-operate in every manner I would actually clear out….. At present we are paying eight millions a year for the privilege of living on an ungrateful volcano out of which we are in no circumstances to get anything worth having.” Winston Churchill to David Lloyd George on September 1st, 1922

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637 Words | 3 Pages

The things they carried is a novel by Tim O’Brien. About the Vietnam war. About the lives of people going there. It’s a collection of war stories. Some of them true, some of the untrue and that’s the main topic that’ll be discussed in this paper.

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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.

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