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War In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

643 Words3 Pages

In the book The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien uses the title to suggest the soldiers not only carry equipment for war but the guilt that weighs them down. Through the book the soldiers and families deal with and encounter life changing decisions and events. The Things They Carry is rather obvious as they are in war and need supplies, but the author means for it to be more than the literal meaning. While at war the soldiers had to make decisions and with the outcomes came guilt, emotion, regret, shame, and anger All of the feelings are outcomes of the war and goes to show how much war can change someone. Emotional worry is a major weight the men carry while in war. Jimmy Cross, the leader of the men, carries a picture of Martha, a college student, whom Cross longs the love he feels for her to be returned back. By keeping the picture of her in his bag, he constantly thinks about her and this leads to a death on his part and the carry of guilt. Cross thinks about a date they went on and continually wishes he had done more to her. This creates a longing for Martha even …show more content…

In the book, many of the soldiers do things in order to not be made fun of, to survive, and to not regret decisions. The fear of humiliation may have been a leading cause as to why many of the soldiers survived. After O’Brian receives a draft notice he thinks about leaving and heading to the Canadian border. In the Chapter On the Rainy River, O'Brien has the chance to leave behind his life, family, and friends in order to refrain from going to war. While he has the chance at creating a new road to a different life he decides to stay in order to avoid being shamed by his family, friends, and community. O’Brien states, “I survived, but it’s not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war” Tim O’Brien stays back and goes to war, not because he wanted to be a hero for his country but the fear of

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311 Words | 2 Pages

I should not fight in it” (56). He knows his mind and what he should or sound not fight for. O'Brien was more realistic with the chaplain and told him to stop trying to change his mindset, “I’m sorry to say this, I don’t think you’ll change my mind” (57). O’Brian is a powerful character and knows how he feels about the war. He disagrees with the Idea of violence.

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657 Words | 3 Pages

“They carried shameful memories” (O’Brien 109). In their heads were flashbacks of all the men they killed, the friends they lost, and the families they split up, everything they had ever seen while battling was forever implanted in their thoughts. To escape their memories of the war many soldiers committed suicide. Lieutenant Cross on the other hand carried a good memory, about Martha of course. Jimmy was a day dreamer, he fantasized about Martha, and she was all he could think about, she was an interference.

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1158 Words | 5 Pages

He is conflicted with the emotional burden of loving Martha and his responsibility to his men. Cross is the Lieutenant of this platoon, meaning that he is their leader and ultimately responsible for the outcome of all their lives. Even though it is easy to see how these men need an escape to help them survive the daily task of fighting, the illusions of being somewhere else can result in additional weight being

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1435 Words | 6 Pages

His coping mechanism that he uses is through his writing about the Vietnam War. He is writing because he is trying to deal or understand what happened in the war. In the chapter “The Lives of the living Dead”, explains that through O’Brien’s writings, he able to come to peace at what he observed and did in combat. He may not understand why events had happened because he has not remembered the most traumatic experiences clearly. Even if his friends are dead, he will be able to remember them and his surviving platoon, through his stories to immortalize them.

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1088 Words | 5 Pages

Naturally, the stay in Vietnam also manifests the soldiers’ longings for their loved ones and former lives. “Almost every [soldier] humped photographs” that provided a sense of familiarity in an otherwise hostile environment. For a while, Jimmy Cross carries around mementos of Martha, a girl he loves back home. His mind often wanders, “slip[ping] away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along the Jersey shore with Martha” (8) and thinking “of new things he should’ve done [with her]” (4). “Without willing it,” he would start “thinking about Martha…

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1520 Words | 7 Pages

It is evident that he wanted to give the readers insight into stories and real-life experiences during the war. According to an article published by Alex Vernon, O’Brien was careful to avoid focusing on the war while advertising his story, in hopes of portraying his book in a different light than all the other novels focused around the negative and horrific realities that war is. He uses his own real-life experiences and twists them slightly to correlate with the story, while still providing a informative take on things. O’Brien was wounded by a grenade during his time that he served. He rewrites this experience as the narrator using a grenade on a Vietnam soldier.

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1626 Words | 7 Pages

This makes him question if returning home and going to war is what he should be doing. “I survived, but it’s not a happy ending. I was a coward of a lot. I went to the war” (O’Brien,

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639 Words | 3 Pages

“They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried.”, the former quote is from Tim O'Brien's book The Things They Carried. The quote is relating not only to the physical belongings they carried but also the emotional turmoil they acquired during their active years as soldiers. As the weaponry and artillery that soldiers carry change with each new war one thing remains constant; soldiers don’t always leave the stress from their experiences at war ,on the battlefield. War has been around for hundreds of years but post traumatic stress being recognized as a disorder by the American Psychiatric Association only happened 35 years ago (Friedman). This information led me to

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1509 Words | 7 Pages

When the author expresses the feelings within Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s troops we see their individual personalities. When the author used characterization, symbolism, and tone, they truly brought out the theme of physical and emotional burdens throughout “The Things They

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564 Words | 3 Pages

The chapter “How to Tell a True War Story” in the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien main focus is that in war stories, not everything is accurately told or explained. But even with this, the feelings of the soldiers can still be completely true. A surreal story is when a story is exaggerated or is not completely true, to express the true feelings that went on in the story. On pages 74 to 76, the narrator tells about an incident with a baby VC water buffalo and the soldier Rat Kiley . At first Rat Kiley took care of the animal by trying to feed it and being kind to it, but the buffalo would not eat any of the C rations.

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648 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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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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868 Words | 4 Pages

When the story started off it was talking of a women whom the Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from, a woman named Martha. Cross was very fond of Martha and had overwhelmingly strong feelings for her. He carried these letters from Martha and she never mentioned much about the war… except “Jimmy. Take care of yourself”

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813 Words | 4 Pages

Firstly, both of the authors’ stories end with the protagonists surviving the war, but making them feel regretful and unworthy of living. O’Brien survives after being a soldier during the

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1646 Words | 7 Pages

The Vietnam War, fought between Vietnam and the United States of America, caused a lot of people’s lives to become mentally altered. Whether or not the people got affected positively or negatively was up to the person. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried comprises a series of short stories about different types of people departing for the Vietnam War. When all of the people returned home, they embodied different people than they were before they traveled to the war. War affects everyone mentally, but only those that are there on their own accord got affected positively, those that do not want to be there are affected negatively.

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