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Why Is The Things They Carried Important

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The Things They Carried

Surviving war is more than just dodging bullets and grenades, it 's being able to find purpose in what you are doing. In Tim O 'Brien 's book The Things They Carried he gives a first hand view portraying how the soldiers of Vietnam pressed through mental depression and despair. For some finding purpose ment trying to achieve glorified war medals, for others it was winning the war, but for most it was reliving the life they had before Vietnam. In his book O’Brien takes readers on his own and his fellow soldiers journey through the rough and demanding life that is war.
The introduction to life in Vietnam. As many wide eyed and green soldiers arrive, they are greeted by weather soldiers just grinding through another day. The events these green soldiers would endure in the future were unforeseeable. As new soldiers they carried all the basics. …show more content…

The grind begins. In Vietnam there was no easy introduction to combat, soldiers were thrown into the chaos as soon as they were needed, which was almost right away. O’Brien and his buddies have now been baptized into the Vietnam War way of life. The things they carried are starting to become more important. For example Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters and would relive the events in them. “He would spend the last hour of light pretending” (page 1). Mitchell Sanders carried condoms, interesting choice but hey, if it made he feel better, go for it. Norman Bowker carried a diary, and Kiowa carried a illustrated New Testament. Every soldier had their own little memory and good luck charm. Ted Lavender and Henry Dobbins put their own little unique twist on their personable items. For Lavender he carried premium dope. Badly looked upon in general, but for some that is what it took to get through the pains of war. As for Dobbins, he carried a pair of his girlfriend 's panties. Also weird, but for many things like these played a heavy role in keeping their minds straight and moral up. Key to

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For example, Ted Lavender is simply a young and frightened soldier that carries dope, tranquilizers, and extra ammo to ease his nerves from the war. Most soldiers had a physical object they carried to get their mind off of the war and had some sort of remedy while on the battlefield. This goes to show the effects the war had on the soldiers and their mental state throughout the violence of war. A few more examples would be Jimmy Cross who carried the photo of Martha. Henry Dobbins carries his girlfriend’s panty hose as his talisman during the war due to being superstitious.

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Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: A Literary Analysis

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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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In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the author retells the chilling, and oftentimes gruesome, experiences of the Vietnam war. He utilizes many anecdotes and other rhetorical devices in his stories to paint the image of what war is really like to people who have never experienced it. In the short stories “Spin,” “The Man I Killed,” and “ ,” O’Brien gives reader the perfect understanding of the Vietnam by placing them directly into the war itself. In “Spin,” O’Brien expresses the general theme of war being boring and unpredictable, as well as the soldiers being young and unpredictable.

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In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien expresses to the reader why the men went to the war and continued to fight it. In the first chapter, “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien states “It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather they were too frightened to be cowards.” The soldiers went to war not because they were courageous and ready to fight, but because they felt the need to go. They were afraid and coped with their lack of courage by telling stories (to themselves or aloud) and applied humor to the situations they encountered.

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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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Rather, the significance of O’Brien’s work is his utilization of a metafictional novel as a representative vehicle for the Vietnam War. Within The Things They Carried

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The novel The Things They Carried was set during the Vietnam War, describing fiction stories that were based off of true experiences. The chapter called “The Things They Carried” described the many things the soldiers had with them, and throughout the story it showed how these things affected their lives. Many of the things that the soldiers had with them were things that they needed, like ponchos, guns, matches and more. “Together these items weighed between 12 and 18 pounds,”(2). They may have had lots of necessities, but that didn’t stop them from bringing the things that meant the most to them.

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“The place where there was no pain…. Okay that my mother was dead.” (Strayed 53) In the book The Things I Carried one of the soldiers named Ted Lavender, “who was scared carried tranquilizers” (O’Brien 2) to calm him and he, “carried six or seven ounces of premium dope, which for him was a necessity,” (O’Brien 3) In the book The Things I Carried “They carried all emotional baggage of men who might die.

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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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Coping Mechanisms In The Things They Carried Essay

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The soldiers in the Vietnam War are portrayed as losing themselves in the chaos and trauma of combat. Through the stories of the soldiers and their experiences, O’Brien explores the ways in which war strips away one's sense of identity and humanity. The author himself is depicted as losing himself in the war. O'Brien served in the Vietnam War, and his experiences inspired much of the book. Through the character of Tim O'Brien, the author explores the ways in which war can strip away one's sense of self and purpose.

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The Things They Carried Intangible Analysis

760 Words | 4 Pages

The power of intangible things we carry Throughout our lives we hold on to many things close to us whether they are tangible or intangible. Tim O’Brien writes about each soldier and how they all have tangible and intangible things they carry. People carry numerous things mainly personal items for instances letters, pictures, clothing, jewelry, and other affectionate tangible items. Other intangible items that were carried include guilt, shame, and fear. Every soldier was affected by the things they carried.

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The Things They Carried Literary Analysis

1178 Words | 5 Pages

A lot happens in Tim O 'Brien short story "The Things They Carried", at first, the reader speculates what the short story is about and why it is called "The Things They Carried". The narrator Tim O 'Brien tells and describes all the things that the men have to carry while "in-country" during the Vietnam War in the1960 's. The text 's artistic value comes from its plot, characters, conflict, and style. In the plot of the story the protagonist, Tim O 'Brien starts by describing circumstances that happened while he was in Vietnam. In the beginning of "The Things They Carried" we are introduced to each character by the things they carry.

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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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The True Weight of War “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien, brings to light the psychological impact of what soldiers go through during times of war. We learn that the effects of traumatic events weigh heavier on the minds of men than all of the provisions and equipment they shouldered. Wartime truly tests the human body and and mind, to the point where some men return home completely destroyed. Some soldiers have been driven to the point of mentally altering reality in order to survive day to day. An indefinite number of men became numb to the deaths of their comrades, and yet secretly desired to die and bring a conclusion to their misery.

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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,

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