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The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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Often times we carry much burden on us, and doubt that we could have any purpose because of those burdens that we carry. In choosing three specific pieces of writing, the themes shared many similarities among them. Tim O’Brien’s, “The Things They Carried” is a short story about the very sentimental, physical and emotional possessions that the different soldiers carry within the story. McKay’s, “If We Must Die” speaks to the reader in such a way that conveys the idea of if they should die; it should be with honor and reason. Langston Hughes’, “I too, Sing America” gives no mention of death. However, he gives the similar impression that if he is going to live, regardless of his heritage, he is still going to live happily. These three pieces …show more content…

In “The Things They Carried,” we can emotionally relate thanks to the author, Tim O’Brien’s incredible tone, as well as his choice of words. O’Brien is a US veteran who fought in Vietnam. Unfortunately he was discharged after receiving a shrapnel wound in battle near My Lai. He did, however, receive a Purple Heart (Mandell 392). This story focuses on both the physical and emotional burdens that these particular soldiers can and do carry. There are many occasions in this short story where O’Brien was specific about what these men carried, physically. “To carry something was to “hump it”… Almost everyone humped photographs” (Mandell 394). The main character was Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. O’Brien mentioned that he carried photographs of his lover back home named Martha. He was not the only one who carried personal belongings. Carrying around these personal items gives us insight to what these men really were carrying on the inside. They burdened guns, and ammo and backpacks loaded with necessary material, well as …show more content…

“If we must die—oh let us nobly die” (line 5). This poem was written by Claude McKay in 1919, around the time Negros were gaining some of their independence. In an article, also written by McKay, we understand part of the struggle that people of color were going through during this time (McKay, 1919). This article gives us very specific cases in which the people of color come together in opposition to the white population, the KKK, as well as the president during that time (McKay, 1919). Between this article and the poem, the reader has a feeling of pity for what the people of color have had to deal with. We can understand the burdens the people of color may have felt through their struggle of their heritage during that time. However, they are still very positive, proving they are still worthy of being American in America. “Though far outnumbered, let us show us brave” (line 10). They were finally beginning to see that they could have purpose, just as anyone

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“The Things They Carried” The narrative “The Things They Carried” by Tim O'Brien shows the man versus self conflict of the inexperienced Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his troop in the Vietnam war. O’Brien tells the story of the lieutenant’s struggles, sacrifices and transformation that the war inflicted on him. Struggle was no stranger to Lieutenant Jimmy Cross or his grunts deep in the swamps of Vietnam. They struggled across the lush jungle with the physical burden of carrying all the possessions they would need to eat, sleep, and live in the foreign mud, or at least everything the US Army found fit to issue them for such a task.

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The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, is an emotion provoking collection of short stories about the Vietnam War. One of those stories, The Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong, is about Rat Kiley, who had the reputation of “heating up the truth, to make it burn so hot that you would feel exactly what he felt” and that quality is displayed in his account of a girl named Mary Anne. In Rat’s story, Mark Fossie, a medic, flew in his girlfriend, Mary Anne, to Vietnam where she gets enveloped and changed by the excitement of the war. Rat Kiley created the story of Mary Anne to characterize changes that happen to all people who go to war. Rat also highlights the idea that we have “these blinders on about women”.

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The book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is about the Vietnam War and the physical and mental burdens that soldiers carried, but it is not just about the violence of war, it is also a love story. O’ Brien interweaves the characters of Mary Anne, Martha and Kathleen into the novel in sporadic ways that at first it just seems random, but it is done that way to remind the reader that sometimes there is no war without love, and that is the role of the women in this story. Each one of them serves the purpose of being a beacon of light that shines through the darkness that is war. One of the most influential female in O’Brien’s story is Kathleen, his ten year old daughter. She is one of the reasons that O’Brien explains his war experience

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In “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien demonstrates the life of a solider during the Vietnam War. O’Brien describes what the soldiers went through physically and mentally before, during, and after the war. He also describes how the soldiers had to adapt to war at a young age and sometimes the things they did were deranged but nothing was normal about war. Also after going to war and coming home, these soldiers struggle with how to deal with what they went through. This is also demonstrated through the book and one can see this through the author.

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The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a short story that discusses burden, love, and sacrifice. The story is narrated by O’Brien and it relays his experiences and actual battles he was involved in when he had served time in the Vietnam War. He uses strong emotional appeal to show the readers how awful and gruesome the war was. He mentions a lot about carrying weight both physically and emotionally by stating many things that relate such as “They shared the weight of memory” and “They carried each other, the wounded or the weak. They carried infections.”

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One of the more obvious things they carry, are physical objects. From pantyhose to pictures, all the way to M16’s, the things the men carry, in this book, vary greatly. When it came to actual military equipment, they had a great deal of

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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.

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Ralph Waldo Ellison’s short story “Battle Royal” and Claude McKay’s poem “If We Must Die” shows two different approaches and reactions to the same gruesome scene of mistreatment towards the black community, in the early 1900’s. While one is shorter than the other, both stories share the same setting, holding none of the violent tones back, and give a vivid description of what truly happened. The two vary in approach, in the way that both the main characters go into the situation. One of these, being more open and willing to submit to make the white people happy and the other one has the main character ready to fight from the very beginning.

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In the poem, "If We Must Die," McKay uses figurative language to convey the message of racial equality to his audience. Using figurative language, the readers are able to have a deeper understanding of what the African Americans are going through. For instance, in the poem it states, “If we must die, let it not be like hogs.” (1). In this sentence, the author compares the way hogs die to the African Americans dying.

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At some point in our lives, most of us have judged a book by its cover. In other words, we have held prejudice against each other based on our outward appearances, but rarely considered what lies beneath the surface. In Langston Hughes’ 1959 poem “Theme for English B”, a professor assigns a speaker, a young African-American male college student, a one-page composition in which the student can write about a topic of their choosing. The speaker chooses to write about how, despite being African-American in a mostly white class, he is simply human just like everyone else. The craft of “Theme for English B”, including the sound, rhythm, tone, form, and figurative language of the poem, demonstrate the writer’s message that despite our differences,

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Racism is a prominent issue or a serious problem in the American society since the beginning and the Americans are still struggling to eradicate this problem from their land. American soil has witnessed civil rights movements concerning this issue in the past. However in 1920, a movement got initiated to promote black identity known as Harlem Renaissance. It was also a fine arts movement that led to an increase in black confidence, literacy rate, and black culture. Writers wrote about their roots and the current society.

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Tim O'Brien's “The Things They Carry,” tells a story about the lives of young men during war. The narrator tells his story from first person, marking all of his adventures and experiences of his companions. O’Brien crafts his piece through the use of repetition, symbolism, and metaphors to convey the idea of physical and psychological hardships of soldiers during war. Though the literary device of repetition, O'Brien portrays the physical and psychological hardships of a soldier.

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Langston Hughes is an African-American poet whose poems and short stories are based off of his own experiences as a slave during the early to mid-20th century. Langston Hughes’ most notable poems, “Let America Be America Again”, “I, Too, Sing America”, and “A Dream Deferred”, represent not only Langston Hughes’ viewpoint on segregation and discrimination, but also show how his perspective of Civil Rights changed somewhat throughout the years. As Langston Hughes grew older, his poems became more symbolic, less blunt, and shorter to better represent African Americans’ struggle and strength. The first poem, “Let America Be America Again”, was written in 1935 and is the longest and most direct about its delivery.

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1. Langston Hughes is one of the most iconic American poets of all time. His work is forceful and direct, and spoke to the heart of the battles over inequality being fought in his time. Perhaps his best known poem, “I, Too”, highlights all of Hughes good qualities. His very first line expresses a common theme of the Harlem Renaissance, “I, too, sing America”

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The poems “Incident” by Countee Cullen and “I, Too, Sing America” by Langston Hughes are both written by men of African heritage. Also, the two poems end quick but leave a heavy message. The poems exemplify by using racial terms against a person due to race and actions, such as forced to eating in the back of the kitchen when guest arrive can affect a person perception of themselves for a long period. Furthermore, both poems the reader can see that both authors believe that they are just like the next race and should not be treated different. For example, Cullen writes “he was no whit bigger” telling that they resembled in age and should have an automatic bond regardless of race.

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