The Things They Carried: Personal Analysis
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.
In the 1990 book “The Things They Carried” By Tim O’Brien gives both the victims and survivors of the Vietnam war a voice. The soldiers, alive and dead, experienced horrific events too terrible to speak of. No one could express their emotions, causing many mental illnesses such as PTSD. How could they express how they felt if they couldn’t speak of the horrors that occurred? Tim O’Brien gave them a voice.
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.
The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, is a unique account of some of the devastating stories and tragedies that occurred during the Vietnam War. O’Brien is no stranger to the war, which makes his novel that much more genuine. His tour of duty lasted from 1969 to 1970 as a foot soldier with the 46th Infantry in Quang Ngai province (Reed, 2008). One of the tragic stories found in The Things They Carried has to do with a man by the name of Kiowa who was the heart-felt member of the group around whom the novel focuses. To the demise of all of the members of the Alpha Company, Kiowa is slowly lost in a very long and harsh death that seemed to be unpreventable by any of his dearest friends.
For Veterans, war has impacted a majority of their life due to the traumatic events that they encounter, so they are left them with the last decision, which it could be drugs or suicide. In the book, The Things They Carried, Tim Obrien writes several short stories on the Vietnam War. A fictional book based on real events and how he describes the Vietnam War as the most significant event in his life because of the things he and his friends had to face. It studies the nature of young men in a time of war, and what made them do tough decisions in and after the war. The thing that is noticeable at first is how characters go into development, and how they listed the things the men had carried with the profound irony being that is not the physical thing they carried but the nonphysical thing they carried, the emotion, the experience and the guilt they encounter in Vietnam.
I carry the shallow weight of my own regrets, guilt and sorrows. I carry the guilt of my father who felt he could’ve done more for my grandmother. Nights spent, teary-eyed phone calls at 5 am in the morning. I carry the glasses of my father. I carry the knowledge of the thousands of pages that he reads every night.
Jack Schlachter Ms. Buyers Period 4 8 February 2023 The Things They Carried Essay Sharing stories is an important way for humans to make meaningful connections with each other. They can relate with each other and make a stronger relationship. In the book, The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien shares stories about his experience in the Vietnam War as a way to connect with others and teach people about the war. The book gives good examples about telling stories and how the stories affect others. Stories help humans relate to each other and make connections.
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
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?
When someone experiences a terrible loss in their life usually they can cope with it in a multitude of ways. Some cope with it through deep mournful trials, replace the terrible moment with a more light and peaceful moment, block it out entirely, or they relive the event that caused the loss of that close friend or loved one over and over in their head. These coping mechanisms are evidently used in the entire cast of characters in the short story The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. In the story the characters experience the loss of a member in their unit during a patrol through the jungles of Vietnam. After they experience the loss of their comrade in arms the entire unit undergoes a process of mourning in their own distinct way.
The physical damage and emotional depreciation that the characters go through in the book, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, support the themes of the story by showing the traumatic effects the soldiers endure as a result of the war. December 1, 1969, changed lives of many people because it was the date that renewed mandatory service. The US draft for Vietnam brought many young boys into new surroundings and sent them crawling with an invisible enemy. Their normal lives were forever changed. No longer surrounded by familiar faces, their new homes were now foxholes, forcing them to stay alert at all times.
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.
Imagine that you are in a crisis, you cannot only just grab what you can carry but what is of utmost importance to you…what would you carry with you? In the short story “The Things They Carried” we follow US Soldiers in the Vietnam war who are trekking through the jungle. The story touches on different characters and things of importance that they carry on their person for comfort, need and those without monetary value but sentimental value. I carry a picture of my sons 1st school picture, its not just a wallet size picture I bought either.
The War of Emotions The emotion in the The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien emulate the literal and physical things the soldiers take with them. The tranquilizers, pantyhose, and water buffalo symbolize the anxiety, longing, and sometimes rage felt during the war, and reflect how traumatizing the experience is. The soldiers in the Vietnam War carried many physical items with them. Many of the things they carried were because of necessity.
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
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