ipl-logo

The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: An Analysis

191 Words1 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: War story narrative

A good story is one that makes you think. I think that we are more accepting of stories that pertain to a certain genre that we like, but a good story is one that can draw someone in no matter their tastes. I think that The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a good example. Personally, I am not a fan of doing anything related to war. I don’t like studying it in school and I don’t really want to read about it, so I was not too happy when I was assigned this book in a class. However, as I started to read the story I realized I was drawn into it. I think this was because O’Brien focused on the characters personal and psychological things they carried rather than the physical items they had to carry. I also liked the unconventional way that
Show More
Related
328 Words | 2 Pages

In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien exemplifies a central question in the book. The central question is, “Is war more good or bad?” To an extent, O’Brien answered that question. The answer is almost clear. O’Brien’s book on some his experiences in the Vietnam War captures nearly every detail need to answer the central question.

Read More
1328 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More
922 Words | 4 Pages

The Dentist "He kept replaying his own exploits, tacking on little flourishes that never happened" (82). Now, the question, "Which is more important—story-truth or happening-truth?" is asked. This above quote from Tim O 'Brein gently represents how a little thing called story-truth happens. The greatest difference between story and happening-truth is the simple fact that happening-truth reveals actual events that have occurred, whereas story-truth, which Tim O 'Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, heavily emphasizes, is subjectively reflecting a person 's thoughts and feelings when recounting a tale, and putting theme above all else. The importance of the two is where everything lies, where the author of the novel pushes for story

Read More
957 Words | 4 Pages

This transition often times led to another casualty as a result of war. O’Brien masterfully depicted all aspects of these problems in the best way I believe he could have. With that said, I do not know if I could recommend this book to others. It was very well written and a great story I felt but, it is a bit strange to follow. Chapters jump from story to story, time to time, so I don’t think it would be for everyone.

Read More
1469 Words | 6 Pages

In Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, he uses metafiction by writing about how he made up most of the stories. The stories of his experiences from the Vietnam war in his book, create a war-like perspective for his readers to better understand war because often, battles can be spotty in the mind and the imagination fills the gaps. O’Brien uses his book to help the reader find truth. Many things in The Things They Carried are confusing and contracting.

Read More
607 Words | 3 Pages

Authors tend to make their opening scene the most important because in all reality it is the first chapter that hooks the reader. To help make this scene the most important, authors add themes and interesting information to convey the reader. In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien uses themes such as courage, guilt, and the truth of the war to project his feelings. The significance of the opening scene is used to provide background information about the characters, the war, and the things they carried so that the reader can make connections to the rest of the novel and understand what is going on in later chapters. The Things They Carried has an effective opening scene because it shows what each individual soldier carried and the physical

Read More
547 Words | 3 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.

Read More
575 Words | 3 Pages

“But the strain I am under, the uncertainty, the hunger, the danger, these hours with the dead man have made me desperate…” Truth is the information and ideas that matter. Although war cannot be generalized, truth is a generalization of the feelings, lessons, and effects of an event. If someone was not present for an event, and they’re not going to ever witness it through a video, then the details of a story don’t matter. Only the lasting feelings and thoughts matter. In O’Brien’s piece, he talks about a man named Mitchell Sanders telling a story of 6 soldiers in the mountain.

Read More
474 Words | 2 Pages

Soldiers are always seen as war heroes and sometimes even as legends. But for Tim O’Brien, this is quite the opposite. The Things They Carried shares a story of a group of soldiers in Vietnam and along the way, many questions are raised towards war. One of the plethora of questions the book asks is if soldiers are heroes. Are they still heroes even after killing an innocent life?

Read More
224 Words | 1 Pages

The components of a “true” war story are defined through its moral and purpose. A “true” war story

Read More
1228 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel “The Things They Carried” author and also ex-veteran Tim O’brien writes a collection of linked short stories about a platoon of American soldiers fighting during the vietnam war. The Vietnam war was a long, unpopular and costly war and once U.S citizens began to see the harsh realities of the war their support for it quickly diminished. Approximately 20 years after the war had started, due to the fear of communism spreading, it finally came to an end leaving at least 58,000 American soldiers, out of 3 million casualties, dead and the remaining scarred for life with emotional and physical burdens. Throughout each short story we learn the significance in which the the title of the novel holds, it expresses that the soldiers not

Read More
1297 Words | 6 Pages

After the Vietnam War, a great many veterans experienced Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). For more than fifty years PTSD already alluded to as "Shell Shock" has been an enormous issue for Vietnam veterans. The National Veterans Readjustment study directed in 1988 found that 31% of men and 27% of women experienced PTSD upon their arrival home from the Vietnam War. Critical to acknowledge, it was not until 1989 the Veterans Administrations (VA) recorded PTSD as one of the leading conditions treated by their medical professionals. Subsequent to returning home from the war, Tim O'Brien creator of the novel The Things They Carried, was diagnosed as having PTSD.

Read More
701 Words | 3 Pages

What is surrealism? How do you know what’s real or unreal? Sometimes when authors write we can’t tell if it's real or more of an exaggeration. We can't really understand the truth. In the novel ‘’The Things They Carried’’ by Tim O’Brien is about the Vietnam War and his experiences with it.

Read More
1997 Words | 8 Pages

In the beginning of The Things They Carried the idea that everyone carries something with them for different reasons is explored. As the novel continues O’Brien tells stories from his soldier days during the Vietnam

Read More
496 Words | 2 Pages

In fact, the way this book is presented help represent the war completely. During the time of the war, countless soldiers were going mad. In my opinion, this book help describe the war perfectly with all the confusion and the perspectives from war veterans. In the book, “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’Brien gave readers example of how the war like.

Read More

More about The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: An Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document