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Things They Carried

1064 Words5 Pages

Tim O'Brien, an extremely talented and acclaimed writer of the award winning novel, The Things They Carried, has an extraordinary writing style, which seems to cloud the line between fact and fiction. He challenges his readers to consider more profound interpretations about truth and memory, and guides the readers closer to the center of the character’s experiences. The Things They Carried is not just a story about fighting in a war, but also about fighting the war going on inside one’s self. The book's dominant idea is just as pertinent today as it was many years ago; touching the hearts of all types of people from all different walks of life. O’Brien’s award-winning stories are harsh, yet amusing, and tend to break down the philosophical …show more content…

He claims that his six day trip to freedom was as traumatizing as his time during the war (Writing Vietnam). As he told his story during an interview with E. Gordon Gee, he admitted that he literally threw up during dinner from a “spiritual sickness” he felt inside (Writing Vietnam) over the war?. Once O’Brien was finished sharing his story with the interviewer, he admitted that the story he shared never actually happened. He never took a six day trip to the Tip Top Lodge and never met a new friend, who went by the name of Ellroy. His story, to the interviewer, was a blend of the internal and external battle endured. It was a way for him to reveal the truth in what he was feeling without actually telling the truth. This just solidifies the power of O’Brien’s imagination, and how deep he is able to go into his mind; making a reader believe a story that never actually happened in reality, but did in one man’s …show more content…

O’Brien was not the only teenage boy to fight in this war, ?? says that “the average age of U.S. service members in Vietnam was 19, seven years younger than in WWII, making soldiers even more susceptible to psychological strain” (the big reader). The Author took his own experiences and perceptions and applied them to the lives of his characters, which allows readers to also become a part of his stories by incorporating those experiences that everyone can relate

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Brian Turner The Things They Carried

272 Words | 2 Pages

Tim O’Brien and Brian Turner are both war veterans, who published books based on their war experience. Both of their books expresses their feelings and both have a unique way of telling war stories. However, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried book captures the reality of war better than Brian Turner’s Here Bullet book. Tim O’Brien is very descriptive with his story, He is very direct and very good at telling a war story to make it more interesting.

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The Paradox Of War In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

705 Words | 3 Pages

Although the soldier he killed was an enemy soldier, instead of vilifying him he was able to humanize the man. O’Brien was able to describe the physical appearance of the soldier and imagine her life before war. The author was able to portray an emotional connection and made the line between friend and enemy almost vanish. This was able to reveal the natural beauty of shared humanity even in the context of war’s horror. O’Brien is able to find the beauty in the midst of this tragic and horrible event.

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The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: Literary Analysis

793 Words | 4 Pages

Madelyn Smith Ms.Reid English 11 Law 25 April, 2023 The Vietnam War was a horrifyingly gruesome and deadly altercation in which America sent hundreds of thousands of kids to fight in a grown man's war. Close to 60,000 American soldiers and 250,000 Vietnamese soldiers were killed in this fight of nonsense, in which the lives of innocent civilians and soldiers alike were taken, all while making no political progress. In the historical fiction, The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien presents stories that show how the soldiers cope with the war, in order to depict the trauma and horror they experienced, ultimately illustrating that the soldiers who went to Vietnam lived through horrid battles and show their fear of uncertainties through their

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Vietnam In The Things They Carried, By Tim O Brien

788 Words | 4 Pages

By comparing his daughter’s experience and his own, O’Brien shows that although he was reliving the memories of the war that it was ten years later and he was with different people on “vacation”, not fighting a

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Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: A Literary Analysis

1292 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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How Does Tim O Brien Use Story Telling In The Things They Carried

1094 Words | 5 Pages

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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Imagery In The Things They Carried

543 Words | 3 Pages

The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, illustrates the experiences of a man and his comrades throughout the war in Vietnam. Tim O’Brien actually served in the war, so he had a phenomenal background when it came to telling the true story about the war. In his novel, Tim O’Brien uses imagery to portray every necessary detail about the war and provide the reader with a true depiction of the war in Vietnam. O’Brien starts out the book by describing everything he and his comrades carry around with them during the war. Immediately once the book starts, so does his use of imagery.

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Things They Carried Innocence Quotes

886 Words | 4 Pages

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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Journey In On The Rainy River By Tim O Brien

595 Words | 3 Pages

He wanted change in the American war ideology and wanted America to implicate some more liberal views. This is proof that O’Brien was trying to include the stage of increased awareness and change of an archetypal journey because now that he is drafted and old enough to go to war he realises that he does not believe in doing so. This

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PTSD In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

1504 Words | 7 Pages

Even after all these years, O’Brien is still unable to get the images of Vietnam out of him head, specifically of the man he killed. In the novel, he repeats the description of the man numerous times, almost to the point of excess, saying,“he was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man of about twenty. He lay with one leg bent beneath him, his jaw in his throat, his face neither expressive nor inexpressive. One eye was shut. The other was a star-shaped hole” (124).

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Reflective Essay: The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

747 Words | 3 Pages

Synthesis Essay In the Vietnam war, there were many soldiers at war with each other, and most soldiers were not prepared for the fight. In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien was in the Vietnam war when he was young. The book was not in order but he still talks about his experiences while in the war. His purpose for writing this novel was because he wanted younger audience to know what happened in the war and what the soldiers experienced.

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Examples Of If I Die In A Combat Zone

1179 Words | 5 Pages

Many soldiers that served in the Vietnam war suffered dramatically pertaining to mental and physical health. O’Brien and many other soldiers also had the same views on the Vietnam War, such as that it was pointless for the United States. Most soldiers were frustrated with the fact that they were fighting for their country with no purpose or benefit for the American people. In the book O’Brian said, “I can’t stop crying. I can’t stop thinking of what a waste it all was” (O’Brian 7).

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Fiction And Reality In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

1413 Words | 6 Pages

Hidden somewhere within the blurred lines of fiction and reality, lies a great war story trapped in the mind of a veteran. On a day to day basis, most are not willing to murder someone, but in the Vietnam War, America’s youth population was forced to after being pulled in by the draft. Author Tim O’Brien expertly blends the lines between fiction, reality, and their effects on psychological viewpoints in the series of short stories embedded within his novel, The Things They Carried. He forces the reader to rethink the purpose of storytelling and breaks down not only what it means to be human, but how mortality and experience influence the way we see our world. In general, he attempts to question why we choose to tell the stories in the way

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The Things They Carried: An Analysis

688 Words | 3 Pages

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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Argumentative Essay On The Things They Carried

1071 Words | 5 Pages

Originally published in 1990, The Things They Carried is a collection of war stories that took place during the Vietnam War. Due to its accurate and honest depiction of war, it has been banned for crude language, violence, drug use, and sexual innuendo. The author, Tim O’Brien, was born in Austin, Minnesota in 1946. Due to his service in the United States military during the Vietnam War, O’Brien is able to depict the war in a more graphic, and realistic manner.

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