ipl-logo

Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

889 Words4 Pages

Ever since July 4, 1776 “people sleep peaceably in their bed at night on because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” Although the U.S. had a few times of doubt, we have been and continue to be a solid, secure country since then. Over time there has been many stories written on behalf of war and the rough men that fight for us so we can sleep without a worry at night, and here is where we dive deeper. To begin with, a perfect story to start with is “The Things They Carried” written by Tim O’Brien, which is about a platoon of American soldiers fighting for their country on the ground during the Vietnam war. O’brien writes about the things these soldiers carried from intangible items/memories to tangible items or people. They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing - these were intangible, but the intangible haf their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide… These American soldiers carried a lifetime of burdens on their shoulders. O’brien wrote, “They carried shameful memories…” Meaning they carried the tangible but also the intangible death of Ted Lavender, for one soldier saw him drop dead, which could be considered …show more content…

but we know that ten kliks south meaning overseas they’re are cratered areas, destroyed houses, burn vehicles, and a mangle corpse that could be our own U.S. soldier but we could only imagine

Show More
Related
1757 Words | 8 Pages

War is one of the most complex yet completely understood subjects to read or write about. Tim O’Brien has captured the true essence of being drafted into a war. “The Things They Carried” is a novel composed of multiple short stories; Each taking the reader through the perspective of the narrator showing his multiple landscapes, situations, and changing feelings from being drafted into the Vietnam War to surviving it. These stories really help one understand the effects of war on someone’s mind as well as body. Tim O’Brien is the main character and protagonist in this novel.

Read More
1041 Words | 5 Pages

The heaviest of the weightless load was fears that they would not speak of, or perhaps could not speak of, lest it come alive and eat up their sanity. Instead, they shallowly laughed off the threat of death in this war, all the while alienating each other, thinking that this isolation wouldn’t allow their fellow soldiers to see how afraid they were of the dark shadow of death. It’s easy to feel the weight bearing down on the soldiers shoulder’s as O’Brien goes over the detailed list of items strapped to these men’s backs. Perhaps the most haunting of his words being “They all carry the emotional baggage of men who might die.” Nonetheless, they marched on.

Read More
751 Words | 4 Pages

In war, soldiers and civilians will experience the loss of friends and families. In Tim O’Brien’s work, The Things They Carried, the reader is introduced to soldiers fighting in the Vietnam war who lose their comrades’ loves due to mishaps. These soldiers in combat, along with civilians, learn to accept or become numb towards death by understanding the situation they are in and by finding comfort in oblivion. Early in the plot, the reader is made aware of how the soldiers comprehend their allies’ deaths. According to the author, when Lieutenant Cross’ team was contemplating about who is to enter the tunnel, “Lee Strunk drew the number 17” then he laughed (O’Brien 10).

Read More
666 Words | 3 Pages

The things they carried Tim O’brien had strong feelings about the war. He despised it and protested against it but that still didn’t stop him from being drafted into it. He felt depressed and isolated after being drafted. O’brien tried to get out of it but failed. Tim hated war, he understood that sometimes there needed to be one but, he did not feel that way about the vietnam war.

Read More
1176 Words | 5 Pages

Furthermore, the soldiers all had the fear of the unknown of what could or would happen to them. They all carried the emotional baggage of men who might die. “Grief, terror, love, longing – these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight” (381). The fear of the unknown was also lingering and they did not know what could happen to any of them at any

Read More
173 Words | 1 Pages

The book I choose is "The Things They Carried", by Tim O'Brien. This book talks about Vietnam War, and it reflects how soldiers can be affected by war and how they can react to it. "Character is what you are in the dark." This quote is a reflection of how people can be fake to other. What I mean by this is that when there are with there friends they seen to be happy.

Read More
963 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
1158 Words | 5 Pages

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,

Read More
990 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
1094 Words | 5 Pages

The Burdens They Carried: whether physical, emotional, or psychological, they affect the lives of many. Throughout the human experience, burdens have been something individuals carry with them, often acquired in times of adversity. In The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, the novel focuses heavily on depicting the weight of these burdens in the setting of the Vietnam War. O’Brien utilizes literary elements such as imagery, symbolism, and selective writing techniques to portray the theme of burdens. Not only the physical encumbrances of equipment, but also the psychological bearings of death and violence.

Read More
559 Words | 3 Pages

Emotionally dragging people down one by one, war brings sweat, tears, and blood. Although soldiers do carry many physical items, each individual also carries responsibilities which are not visible, but tend to weigh one down immensely, such as the lives of men. In the novel The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, he describes the items which the soldiers carried such as “taking up what others could no longer bear. Often, they carried each other, the wounded or weak. They carried infections.

Read More
1228 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel “The Things They Carried” author and also ex-veteran Tim O’brien writes a collection of linked short stories about a platoon of American soldiers fighting during the vietnam war. The Vietnam war was a long, unpopular and costly war and once U.S citizens began to see the harsh realities of the war their support for it quickly diminished. Approximately 20 years after the war had started, due to the fear of communism spreading, it finally came to an end leaving at least 58,000 American soldiers, out of 3 million casualties, dead and the remaining scarred for life with emotional and physical burdens. Throughout each short story we learn the significance in which the the title of the novel holds, it expresses that the soldiers not

Read More
1509 Words | 7 Pages

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.

Read More
945 Words | 4 Pages

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brian , which shifts from the things the soldiers found memorible to all the tragedies of war, uses powerful diction, exhibits beautiful detail, and portrays the perfect tone to convey that friendships are always needed because sometimes they shed light on the hardest times. O’Brian’s tone and diction, throughout the book, creates a sense of meloncholy and anger. In the beginning of the book, O’Brian portrayed the souldiers as, “ Carriers of all the emotional baggage of men who might die.”(pg 20) A souldier carries enough of their own baggage that eventually over time they will carry to much of the worlds baggage, that it will take a tole on a person.

Read More
925 Words | 4 Pages

Literary analysis America’s war heroes all have the same stories to tell but different tales. Prescribed with the same coloring page to fill in, and use their methods and colors to bring the image to life. This is the writing style and tactic used by Tim O’Brien in his novel, “The Things They Carried”. Steven Kaplan’s short story criticism, The Undying Certainty of the Narrator in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, provides the audience with an understanding of O’Brien’s techniques used to share “true war” stories of the Vietnam War. Kaplan explains the multitude of stories shared in each of the individual characters, narration and concepts derived from their personal experiences while serving active combat duty during the Vietnam War,

Read More

More about Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

Related Topics

Open Document