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Things They Carried: Compare And Contrast Essay

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The autobiographical memoir, Persepolis, published in the early 2000’s by Marjane Satrapi depicts the struggle of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Similarly, the semi-autobiographical novel, The Things They Carried, published in 1995 by Tim O’brien focuses on O’brien’s distressing experiences of getting drafted into the Vietnam War. Moreover, both O’Brien’s and Satrapi’s literature portray the struggle to be understood through the themes of religion and mental health. In Persepolis the struggle is more concentrated on the protagonist herself. In comparison, The Things They Carried the struggle of identity is presented through the perspective of multiple characters. While both works encompass the theme of religion to a certain …show more content…

In contrast to Persepolis, where religion is more of a burden that causes pain and suffering, in The Things They Carried religion is a way to preserve their identity and find meaning in life. Thus, making it more of a communal issue rather than a personal one. For example, this can be seen when O’Brien talks about his friend's identity that is shaped by his religion: “Kiowa, a devout Baptist, carried an illustrated New Testament that had been presented to him by his father.” As it can be seen from this quote, it is not O’Brien who deals with religion alone but also other characters in the book. The testament acts as a symbol to perceive Kiowa’s native heritage and not to forget who he is while dealing with the harsh realities of war. However, the emphasis on, ‘presented to him by his father’ can also be misperceived and one could say that his father fabricated his identity through ‘brainwashing’ him with religious ideology. Religion is further introduced when Dobbins decides to find purpose and faith in life by joining monks: “after the war maybe I'll join up with these …show more content…

Through emanata Marjane's intense stage of sadness is shown by the stripe of her crying sound and the puddle of tears. Also, her face not being represented in the panel shows how she no longer wants to face reality as the only person who she cared for and identified herself with was stripped away from her in such a short period of time. So, Marjane falling into depression is due to the fact that she is tired of constructing false identities of herself that she knows will be knocked over again. Hence, the author uses Marjane's downwards stumbling mental health to demonstrate her loss of hope in finding her self identity Nevertheless, in The Things They Carried the characters are shown struggling with mental health issues due to the war; for many of the soldiers mental health becomes a part of their identity. However, similarly with Persepolis mental health issues become so extreme that the soldiers are only defined by their mental illness and forget who they were. O’Briens intentions are effectively seen by his short stories that allude to clear signs of Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) alongside the psychological baggage the soldiers

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In every part of the novel, the author cuts through mask of romanticized war to show these men as brave, flawed, afraid and above all, human. Tim O’brien uses the characters and plotline of his novel, The Things They Carried, to argue war is damaging and a ghastly experience for soldiers both mentally and physically; further research about the mental health effects of serving war supports this belief by arguing that war puts stress on many soldiers which related symptoms can increase their chances of having PTSD. On the author’s point of view, he claims that war is damaging to those who see others hurt or killed. On the first chapter of The Things They Carried, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross describes all the men of the company had carried of their preparations of dead men and their mental state of mind.

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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.”

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O'Brien emphasizes the difference between the troops' actual experiences and how those experiences are portrayed in the society and by the government throughout the entire story. He discusses how soldiers are taught to "spin" their perspectives in order to make them more appealing to the American public, frequently by praising their own bravery and understating the atrocities of war. He explains how soldiers can eventually have feelings of remorse and shame due to their sensitivity to violence and

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In the short story, “The Man I Killed,” O’Brien focuses on this to show that everyone fighting in a war has a story. He spends the story describing the man he killed and searching for justification of his actions. He carries around guilt with him because of it, and his fellow soldiers try to help him justify and come to terms with his action by saying things like, “You want to trade places with him? Turn it all upside down= you want that? I mean, be honest,” (126) and “Tim, it’s a war.

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This forewarns the reader that they could be reading something that is real or something that is completely made up. O’Brien is a masterful writer who has created an unique story about the experience of war through his style of writing.

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O’Brien goes into great depth in this small quote on how loss of innocence and war can affect people in the war. The quote “Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t” shows how war is so different from what any human experiences at home. After that small quote he follows it up by bringing up how you have to use normal stuff to show how crazy these things are and how much of a pole it can have on somebody during a war. The way that war is treated for many is mostly the mental part that is struggling. But for many "War is hell, but that's not half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love.

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O’Brien writes, “[t]hey carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried,” (7) conveying the feelings of guilt and remorse, which adds to the mental hardships of war and the effect it has on the soldiers. This can also be seen when Tim O’Brien is fixated on the fact that he just killed a man. It is as if time stops for him, he is overflowed with thoughts and shock, which triggers this sort of guilt and shame that he ultimately has to get over and move on because this is war. War has made soldiers unable to properly process anything because of the paranoid environment and quick rhythm of war. In another instance, O’Brien showcases the power of shame on life-changing decisions.

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In Tim O’Brian’s book, The Things They Carried, he tells the story of Tim who serves in the Vietnam war and is immersed in a war filled with death. O’Brian through his theme of death helps create a story that illustrates the horrors of war, and shows how soldiers carried death both physically and psychologically. For instance, O’Brian conveys how closely war and death are associated together. On page 77, O’Brian writes, “At its core, perhaps, war is just another name for death, and yet any soldier will tell you, if he tells the truth, that proximity to death brings with it corresponding proximity to life” (77). This quote illustrates, how by coming close to dying, one can appreciate life that much more.

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This quote epitomizes the trauma caused by war. O’Brien is trying to cope, mostly through writing these war stories but has yet to put it behind him. He feels guilt, grief, and responsibility, even making up possible scenarios about the life of the man he killed and the type of person he was. This

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The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. Thesis Statement: The Things They Carried is a historical novel written by Tim O’Brien recounting the Alpha Company’s experiences in the Vietnam War. O’Brien allows insight into the physical, emotional and guilt related baggage carried on by the soldiers after the war. O’Brien alludes to the likelihood that his choice to continuously write about his experience in Vietnam is a coping mechanism. O’Brien ties each chapter, which in reality is a short story, into the next primarily through the use of characters.

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Exile and the Embodied Poetics of Displacement in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Tina Chen explains how O’Brien blurs the line between fiction and truth in his novel. The article starts by describing how O’Brien was obsessed with telling a true war story and how he revisits his war experience through the fiction novel. She

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The tribulation the soldiers have to endure with all the violence in O'Brien's novel brings a tremendous slap of psychological trauma in their lives. This psychological trauma has been

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He fought a war in Vietnam that he knew nothing about, all he knew was that, “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (38). He realized that he put his life on the line for a war that is surrounded in controversy and questions. Through reading The Things They Carried, it was easy to feel connected to the characters; to feel their sorrow, confusion, and pain. O’Briens ability to make his readers feel as though they are actually there in the war zones with him is a unique ability that not every author possess.

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With all things considered, the personal nature of the story is expertly expressed through Marjane’s loss of innocence, her beliefs and opinions on her religion, and her experiences with gender

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