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The things they carried essay outline
The things they carried essay outline
The things they carried essay outline
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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.
His stories are images of his own experiences in the war, as he is the narrator and main character in most of the stories. Some of his points of view are how war is an ambiguous thing and how it changes people. For instance, in “How to tell a true war story” the author reflects on the feelings of being alive after a fight, proposing that war is hell but also many other things. In O’Brien’s words “You feel an intense, out-of-the-skin awareness of your living self- your truest self, the human being you want to be and then become by the force of wanting it.
In the short story, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, it introduces the theme of weight that the soldiers must carry during the Vietnam War. The soldiers carried things that were either of physical weight (tangible) or emotional weight (intangible). The tangible weight included photos, comics, condoms, etc, but each tangible gives the readers an insight on the internal conflicts that weigh them down. Also, the intangibles discussed, show even more of the burdens they must carry. This being said the intangibles are shown to be the real weight that must be carried by each of the soldiers.
In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the author skillfully presents a paradox about war and how it is both horrible and beautiful. Through O’Brien’s vivid storytelling and sorrowful anecdotes, he is able to demonstrate various instances which show both the horrible and beautiful nature of war. Within the vulnerability of the soldiers and the resilience found in the darkest of circumstances, O’brien is able to show the uproarious emotional landscape of war with a paradox that serves as the backbone of the narrative. In the first instance, O’Brien explores the beauty in horror within the chapter “Love.”
“A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth” (83). The theme of “happening-truth” versus “story-truth” is a constant opposition Tim O’Brien uses to convey his “true war story” to his audience. Many times in the book The Things They Carried, O’Brien lies to the reader to attempt to give the reader realistic events, so they can relate to the emotions O’Brien felt during the Vietnam war. O’Brien makes it clear in the chapter “Field Trip” that a person who has not been to war cannot comprehend what it was like. He uses a fictional character, Kathleen, to be a stand in for the reader; she is innocent and free from the burden of serving in wartime.
Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.
Storytelling has such a large impact on all stages of life. Stories are told to teach a lesson, give hope, or get someone through a hard time. Tim O’Brien uses storytelling in his book, The Things They Carried, to teach lessons from war, and help readers understand about the baggage people bring to war. The publisher section of this novel has this warning in it, "This is a work of fiction. Except for a few details regarding the author's own life all incidents, names, and characters are imaginary” (O'Brien).
The concept of carrying is central to O'Brien's work, and it is manifested in various forms throughout the book. At its most basic level, carrying refers to the physical burden that the soldiers carry with them during the Vietnam War. They are laden with weapons, ammunition, rations, and other supplies that are necessary for their survival. These objects serve as a reminder of the constant danger and uncertainty of their situation, as well as the weight of their responsibility as soldiers.
The Things They Carried In the historical fiction The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien presents himself, the narrator, being faced with a war draft to a war he didn't agree with, in order to convey a message about going to war instead of fleeing the draft ultimately illustrating that message of being a coward for going against what he believed in. Tim O’Brien conveys a message of himself being a coward for going against what he believed in. In the text Tim had recently graduated from college when he got drafted to the war, O’Brien stated “In June of 1968, a month after graduating from Macalester College, I was drafted to fight a war I hated.” O’Brien makes it extremely clear that his views did not align with the war.
Tim O'brien's novel The Things They Carried follows Tim through his experiences as a soldier in the Vietnam War. Before going to war, Tim debates escaping his draft by running away to Canada. Before telling this story, he prefaces, “This is one story I've never told before. For more than twenty years I've had to live with it, feeling the shame, trying to push it away, and so by this act of remembrance, by putting the facts down on paper, I'm hoping to relieve at least some of the pressure on my dreams” (37). O’brien expresses that for much of his life he has bottled up the emotions that come along with telling this story.
Your perspective is reality, true or not it is. However, when something happens and you your perspective is lost is it true that you lose your sense of reality? Or perhaps you don 't lose reality but rather gain perspective, which can be confusing in a whole other light. Author Tim O’Brien, through his narrative, The Things They Carried, emphasises the idea the perhaps there is no way to lose perspective; instead you are constantly gaining it causes more confusion while you 're still writing your story. But perhaps when you take a step back after you’ve made it through the mess the pieces (the memorable moments good and bad) seem to fall into place creating a glance “across the surface of my [your] history” (233).
The Power of the Narrator Truth is not what was seen or heard or happened, but what was felt. It can neither be generalized nor objectified because it is unique to the person who experiences it. The author’s best option to make the story feel true for the reader is to make it relatable to them by using the narrator. For the reader to relate to the story most, the narration of the story should alter depending on the content of the story. Tim O’Brien focuses on the relationship between narration, truth and feeling in his compilation of stories called The Things They Carried.
In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the truth is distorted. O’Brien’s writing style cause the readers to question whether the novel is based on the truth or not. The author distorts the point of view, voice, and time for the readers to discerns the truth. Tim O’Brien uses both first and third-person narrative in the novel. Throughout the novel, O’Brien’s perspective is not constant and shifts between first and third-person.
A lot happens in Tim O 'Brien short story "The Things They Carried", at first, the reader speculates what the short story is about and why it is called "The Things They Carried". The narrator Tim O 'Brien tells and describes all the things that the men have to carry while "in-country" during the Vietnam War in the1960 's. The text 's artistic value comes from its plot, characters, conflict, and style. In the plot of the story the protagonist, Tim O 'Brien starts by describing circumstances that happened while he was in Vietnam. In the beginning of "The Things They Carried" we are introduced to each character by the things they carry.
“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.
