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The Things They Carried Psychological Analysis Essay

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Delayna Ordonez May 26th, 2016 English 102, Section 0305 Research Paper Word Count: Burn Your Draft Card: A New Psychological Analysis of “The Things They Carried” Human beings find value in uncountable objects that surround their lives every day and throughout the years they journey through life. Many times a person can find value through the memories a physical object holds for them, but the important moral? Value? in every situation is to reflect on the problems overcome and trials completed throughout life. “The absence of anything solid and real to cling to is a recurring theme” in Tim O'Brien's “The Things They Carried.” “[The soldier’s] sessions are consistently shown as serving, if not to ease group anxieties, at least to share and claim ownership of them. This interpretation supports the …show more content…

Different truths about people surfaced during the war, some weaknesses were exposed and new strengths were discovered through the battle. As a group the soldiers shared similarities and differences in the folk therapy they faced each hardship with depending on where they came from and what they valued in their lives. In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” Kiowa is a Native American who is also a devout Baptist, despite being the only Native American in his platoon he is treated as an equal as the soldiers are constantly on the move on the battlefield. It is revealed that “as a hedge against bad times, however, Kiowa also carried his grandmother's distrust of the white man, his grandfather's old hunting hatchet. Necessity dictated” (O’Brien 12). For a Native American man during the war, the distrust of the white man who mistreated his people for so long is a reality he uses as a source of strength in the midst of constant danger. The character Henry Dobbins had a

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The irony in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is crucial to understanding that the mental burden the soldiers carry are heavier than their physical burdens. Each soldier is required to carry their entire lives on their back throughout their tour in Vietnam. The soldiers carried not only weapons and the means of survival, but individual objects that are unique to them. While the individuality of the tangible objects that each soldier carried is supposed to keep them sane, it is these very objects that provides an even heavier mental burden of guilt and pain that eventually drove them to insanity.

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Tim Obrien’s 1990 story “The Things They Carried” describes the experience of a group of soldiers in the Vietnam War. The soldiers are under the responsibility of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. With Jimmy, he carries his love for Martha, and it distracts him from his duty. In the end, he tries to forget Martha because he thinks the death of Ted Lavender is his fault because he was distracted. Respectively, each soldier carries assets that are material and mental.

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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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Through centuries of great wars and battles, history has displayed brave men and women who have fought for their countries. These audacious people have helped propel countries for the greater good. However, the weight and responsibility, of the war, takes a heavy toll on soldiers that is often overlooked. Tim O’Brien, author of the novel The Things They Carried, records his stories, and the stories of his fellow soldiers during the war. However, three of these soldiers are affected in an outlandish way.

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The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, is a great collection of short stories about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. Perhaps some would feel that all of these stories are entirely unrelated; however, I believe that they all somehow come together to create one ultimate message. I truthfully think that one short section of the text can represent O’Brien’s entire collection. The idea of the emotional baggage that these American soldiers carry shows up in various stories in the book, as well as plays a major role in O’Brien’s final message. What strikes me as a reader is that soldiers carry more than just physical memorabilia; they endure and carry all of the emotional baggage that comes with the job.

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The Things They Carried Second hand sources is the only way adolescents of this age are able to uncover the stories about what happened in Vietnam in 1955. The Things They Carried consists of Tim O’Brien’s recollection of the Vietnam War. The book explains the importance of keeping these memories alive, even if it’s not the exact truth. Characters are shown as they were during the war and the materials and memories they carried everywhere with them.

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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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Everyone carries items with them, whether it is at school or work. These things are occasionally essentials. Sometimes though, we want them and they help us as individuals. In the short story “The Things They Carried” many of the characters which are soldiers bring personal items with them that show their true character, these are not essentials. The items they chose to carry can help in analyzing the character.

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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

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Introduction The Things They Carried is a text where writer Tim O’Brien the stories he encountered throughout his time in the Vietnam War. These stories, traumatic as well as warm and humorous, are ones that the author will never erase from his memory. It seems that O’Brien is retelling these stories to enlighten those who have never had experience on the battlefield in order to reach a certain level of understanding and to discover repercussions that it brings onto the human condition, both physically and mentally. Evidently, he wants to convey emotion within the reader. The stories also recall the life lessons that O’Brien learned about friendship, forgiveness, respect and reputation as well as foreignness and the other.

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Psychological Warfare in ​The Things They Carried Unless you have been in war or have read ​The Things They Carried​, you can't fully understand the psychological toll on a person's mind and body, you can't understand the psychological hardship soldiers go through in war. However, ​The Things They Carried​, by Tim O'Brien, is written to where it shows the overall psychological effects of war on soldiers in and out of Vietnam; as shown throughout the story, the recurring themes of trauma, love, and guilt give the clear psychological implications of war.

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The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a narrative that looks into the realities of war that goes beyond just the action and storyline of combat. O’Brien gives an inside look on the thoughts and emotions that soldiers in a combat zone must be able to control to be effective at their job. O’Brien uses a listing technique to give better insight into the burdens soldiers carry with them to show the psychological burden of war. O’Brien utilizes a unique listing technique to serve as a narrative to convey his thoughts and experiences about war. The majority of lists in the first chapter of The Things They Carried blend both physical items and psychological burdens the soldiers carry, and O’Brien lists these items together in a detailed,

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“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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The novel “The Things They Carry” (1990) by Tim O’Brien plays a role of symbolism about the wants and needs of each soldier. Each of the individual soldiers carried different items to have reassurance in the Vietnam War. The soldiers’ needs and wants were expressed as well as their courage. The issue of each soldiers exemplifies mental distress such as fear, anger, and love in the Vietnam War.

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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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