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Good literary elements for The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Literary critique the things they carried by tim o'brien
Literary critique the things they carried by tim o'brien
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In “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien the soldiers were allowed to bring various items with them. The majority of these items were common for soldiers to carry, such as their rifle, mosquito repellent, and extra ammunition. Some soldiers brought things from back home with them, in order to help give them a reason to return home. Every item had significance to help suit their individual needs and desires. During this time of war and the harsh environment, they were exposed to they all needed something of comfort.
In A Viet Cong Memoir, we receive excellent first hands accounts of events that unfolded in Vietnam during the Vietnam War from the author of this autobiography: Truong Nhu Tang. Truong was Vietnamese at heart, growing up in Saigon, but he studied in Paris for a time where he met and learned from the future leader Ho Chi Minh. Truong was able to learn from Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary ideas and gain a great political perspective of the conflicts arising in Vietnam during the war. His autobiography shows the readers the perspective of the average Vietnamese citizen (especially those involved with the NLF) and the attitudes towards war with the United States. In the book, Truong exclaims that although many people may say the Americans never lost on the battlefield in Vietnam — it is irrelevant.
It was the fear that led him into this mental battle in the first place and fear that would end up making him pick the war over running to Canada. The combination of the stressful choice that Tim is faced with and the consequences attached to each one helps to develop the theme of fear throughout the chapter. Reasoning and Evidence Through Tim’s gruesome visions the reader is able to feel the fear O'Brien felt in his life. He said that there was just a raw fact of terror.
You can see that that by him dealing with the loss of Linda, the same coping method helped him get over Linda’s death, also helped him while he was at war in Vietnam. For example when Norman and Kiowa died unexpectedly he quickly knew how to deal with it. As soon as they die Obrien tries to keeps their names alive by talking about them through some war stories. Linda was his prime motivator to help him believe that storytelling help aids the healing process of pain, confusion and the depression of death especially and unexpected ones.
On one of the first pages of the book O’Brien describes the things they carry by saying, “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among
The soldier’s in The Things They Carried, carried these items, “Pocket knives, salt tablets, canned peaches, mosquito repellent, two or three canteens of water, diary, comic books, lighter, extra clothes and they dug fox holes to sleep in.” (O’Brien 2) They carried these things to survive the war, either from hunger and thirst, weather, insects, death, and a safe sleep
By referring to himself when he says that “Tim [was] trying to save Timmy’s life with a story”, he is essentially trying to breathe life into Linda through stories, allowing his younger self to cope with the loss of his young lover. This is essential to his own wellbeing because he must create an alternate reality for him so he can slowly understand his own feelings of loss and death. Furthermore, the juxtaposition of the stories of Linda and the desensitizing war emphasizes the importance of stories as a coping mechanism because the juxtaposition shows the contrast between the realities of the situation and made up illusions that give comfort to O’Brien. The last line likewise demonstrates the intimate relationship between death and life because even when he “take[s] a high leap into the dark”, he eventually “come[s] down thirty years later,” showing there is little space from death’s hand, no matter how far one attempts to jump away. Even though O’Brien is only creating illusions for himself, he is keeping himself and Linda alive through his own confession that even though he is forty-three years old, he is still making up stories that Linda is
The Things They Carried “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a short story set during the Vietnam War. In the story, O’Brien lists many different items soldiers in the Alpha Company carried with them as they humped across the rugged terrain. Many carried necessities such as rations, matches, ammunition and things of that nature; however, many soldiers also carried quite peculiar objects such as condoms, pantyhose, and M&Ms. Readers can grasp a closer insight of the characters’ lives after further examination of the symbolism and meaning of the things they carried.
In the groundbreaking novel, The Things They Carried, some soldiers
It lists a variety of things that the soldier brought on their mission. For example, some of the things were intangible, such as sickness, guilt, and the atmosphere. Other soldiers were carrying physical objects, including P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wrist-watches, dog tags and etc. as listed in (O 'Brien). Throughout the plot of the story O 'Brien seem to focus on the things that were not important versus the things that 's were, and at the end, he was faced with a big consequence.
The things they carried is a novel by Tim O’Brien. About the Vietnam war. About the lives of people going there. It’s a collection of war stories. Some of them true, some of the untrue and that’s the main topic that’ll be discussed in this paper.
As the title of this book, The Things They Carry, it portrays these soldiers had something they carried with them during most times. Certain soldiers such as Jimmy Cross “received a good-luck charm from Martha. It was a simple pebble” (O’ Brien 5). This gesture brought joy to him and calmed Cross down; however, he continued to remain distracted and fantasy about Martha. The medic, Rat Kiley, carried M&M’s for “especially bad wounds” (O’ Brien 4).
“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.
Obrien keeps the deceased characters Linda, Kiowa, Ted Lavender, Curt and Timmy alive, through his memories, dreams and stories. In Tim O’Brien’s “Lives of the Dead,” the loss of innocence and the power of literacy are both prevalent themes. Symbols are often used in a story to mean more than its literary meaning; Linda’s red cap, in “Lives of the Dead,” is a symbol of innocence’s. Linda’s innocence affected neither her illness nor death. Linda was O’Brien’s childhood girlfriend; when she first found out she was sick and had cancer, she began to wear a red cap, every day.
It then follows by a small description of the soldier and finally it ends on what they carried or what happened to then in the battle field. This quotation also shows that each soldiers carried different things. All these extra items they carried added weight to the overall pack. During war authors use structure in literature to protest
