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Women In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

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There were three types of women in The Things They Carried. These roles of women, displayed in Martha, Linda and Kathleen, were love, death, and an enabler. The following explanation defines their role in the novel and the impact they made. Martha is Lt. Jimmy Cross’s love, even though she has only considers him as a friend. O’Brien’s uses their story to show a common trend between soldiers and the separation created by the war. Twenty years after the war or when it ended, soldiers returned home trying to revitalize the lives they left for the war. As seen in the relationship between Cross and Martha, it wasn’t as hoped for. Faced with death in Vietnam, Cross refuses to believe Martha isn’t a virgin and a life shared between the two was possible. This was a safe, comforting thought contrary to one of rejection and possible death during war. During his time in Vietnam, Cross is obsessed with Martha leading to Ted Lavender’s death. He burns her letters and photos as an attempt to reconcile his guilt; however, it’s at that later meeting where he receives a new photograph of her, that the full-fledged guilt …show more content…

She dies at the age of nine due to a brain tumor. Her role is to give O’Brien a reason to write stories: to immortalize the dead. Those who die can be revitalized through storytelling. Linda is the prime example of O’Brien’s belief that storytelling aids the healing process of pain, confusion, and sadness that comes with an unexpected death. After she dies, he uses his imagination to bring her back to life, depicting that the dead can still be alive through literature. His experience with Linda’s death explains why he handled death so well in Vietnam. Even though Norman Bowker and Kiowa die unexpectedly, they are both brought back to life in O’Brien’s stories like Linda. Their lives and how they lived are more important than their deaths. O’Brien’s storytelling also keeps his sanity intact and they dead aren’t really

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Shame and self-hatred surface when Lieutenant Cross realizes “…Ted Lavender [is] dead because he [loves] her [Martha] so much and [cannot] stop thinking about her” (326). Furthermore, the pebble that once symbolized his affection for Martha is replaced with a figurative “stone in his stomach” (332), representative of his guilt. In order to begin to remove his distracting infatuation with Martha, Cross takes the following action: “On the morning after Ted Lavender [dies], First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross [crouches] at the bottom of his foxhole and [burns] Martha’s letters. Then he [burns] the two photographs” (336). Cross’ burning of Martha’s letters and photographs is a physical representation of the transformation in his personality and priorities.

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The female characters in the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien have a huge impact on the men of the war. The women seem to be a burden that the men must carry around even after the war has ended. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s feelings for a girl back home often distracts him from the war. Mary Anne Belle, Mark Fossie’s girlfriend who visits Vietnam to see him, gets addicted to the war, which places a heavy burden on Mark. The high school sweetheart of Norman Bowker, Sally Kramer, is a reminder of the normal life that Norman could have if he did not go to Vietnam.

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In 1945, during World War II, roles of women varied from building ships and weaponry to nurses working on the front lines. In the novel, The Things They Carried, women have overlapping and contrasting responsibilities during the Vietnam War. Propaganda boosted civilian morale during the WWII; similarly, women boosted the morale of soldiers during the Vietnam War. Two women, Martha and Dobbins unnamed girlfriend, demonstrated throughout the book the role of women to First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and Henry Dobbins, respectively.

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991 Words | 4 Pages

His suicide due to guilt is a common result of war. Norman Bowker stands for all of the soldiers who committed suicide due to guilt from the war. Just like Mary Anne and Linda, Norman Bowker starts out as a young and innocent boy. However, the war ends his life just as it does to countless

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1094 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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Cross blames himself, knowing “He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead…” (p. 121). First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is distracted by his infatuation for Martha, which ultimately results in Ted Lavender’s death, forcing Cross to realize his fantasies for Martha are wrong and that he is not fulfilling his duties as a lieutenant. Lieutenant Cross is inattentive to the war and his responsibilities because he is unable and unwilling to stop thinking about his adoration for Martha.

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Symbolism in The Things They Carried Symbolism is used in The Things They Carried many times, often to represent qualities, emotions, or states of minds. Tim O’Brien, the author and narrator of the story, expresses symbolism through forms of love, terror, and religion, and shows how all three have consequences in the Vietnam War. Symbols are very powerful in this story, and O’Brien does a good job of keeping the interest of the reader throughout this compassionate, yet saddening story of a group of infantrymen fighting for their lives, sanity, and loved ones during the War. Love is the most potent emotion felt throughout the story. Love is what kept some of the men alive in the war; it is also what killed some of the men.

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After the death of Lavender, he is wracked with guilt because he believes that his preoccupation with his unrequited love for Martha caused the deaths of Ted Lavender and Kiowa, two members of Alpha Company. Cross sits at the bottom of his foxhole and cries for the passing of Lavender and the loss of Martha as his lover (Kaplan 45). He later destroys all the pictures he has of Martha since he felt ashamed for loving her more than his men (O’Brien 7, 9). In conclusion, Tim uses his mental struggles to deal with the scars left behind by the war by channeling his emotions into writing.

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1444 Words | 6 Pages

The Role of Women in Vietnam Women have always played a powerful role in many wars, from mass producing bullets in the second World War to taking up jobs that men could not do in the first World War. But with the Vietnam War, the women were unspoken hero's. One does not have to be in a war physically in order to contribute to war effort, and for a plethora of women who had significant others in Vietnam, they helped the soldiers mentally . In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien uses a similar idea when introducing female roles. He uses women as metaphors for the changes the men undergo, as metaphorical objects, and how they affected soldiers fighting in Vietnam.

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The uniform makes for brotherhood,since when universally adopted it covers up all differences of class and country. Tim Obrien The Things They Carried. The things they carried is about Tim and his stories, his memories throughout the Vietnam war, leading up to the war when he got drafted and years later trying to deal with his emotions about everything. This book deals with different stories from other people in Tim's platoon and what they were going through and what they went through years later. Throughout this story you see how brotherhood affects a human and how death changes them.

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820 Words | 4 Pages

Jimmy Cross blames himself that Ted’s death is his fault;’’ He would accept the blame for what had happened to Ted Lavender’’( 351) because he did not complete his duty---responsibility for living of his men.--‘’felt shame’’, ‘’hated himself’’, ‘’ grieve for Ted Lavender’’ ( 345). From now, the things Jimmy Cross carries is disappointed, regretful, guilty, and depressed; moreover, Ted Lavender is an obsession for him at this time. Jimmy Cross also realize that Martha is the reason that he can not concentrate on his mission and leads to the death of Ted Lavender; therefore, he decided to ‘’burned the two photographs’’,’’ disposed of his good-luck pebble’’, ‘’ dispense with love’’. Although it is very difficult to get Martha away in his mind, he really loves her so much, it is the only thing that he can do to forget Martha. Now, ‘’ Lieutenant Cross reminded himself that his obligation was not to be loved but to lead’’.

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558 Words | 3 Pages

Moving from a small sleepy mountain town in Northern Arizona to the bustling monstrous city of Las Vegas, Nevada fulfilled many of my goals in just a four hour drive. I am eighteen years old, it seems hardly reasonable to have an eighteen year old that has a hard time making the minuscule decision of what to have for dinner- make the decision of what to do for the rest of their life. I know the world is full of opportunities and I plan on taking advantage of as many as possible. Taking this class is an opportunity in itself. During my time in HMD 101 I hope to network with industry executives, deepen my passion for the hospitality and culinary industry, create positive relationships with my peers who are soon to be my colleagues, soak up every ounce of knowledge my professor and teaching assistants

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In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien the motif of storytelling is extremely powerful, because O’Brien shows the ways it can help a person deal with emotional burdens. In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien and the other men use storytelling as a way to cope with their emotional burdens, whether in the field or not. The last chapter of the novel, The Lives of the Dead, uses storytelling in order to bring the dead back to life in a way, so that their losses do not seem nearly as bad. Linda, is a good example of how O’Brien uses storytelling to bring back the dead and deal with the emotional pain of losing somebody important in his life to death.

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773 Words | 4 Pages

As O’Brien explains, “Lieutenant Cross kept to himself. He pictured Martha's smooth young face, thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about

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601 Words | 3 Pages

Martha had a big effect on Jimmy cross 's during his adventure in Vietnam. “Jimmy Cross 's had loved Martha more than his man , and as a consequence lavender was dead now and this was something he had to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war and life.” Martha was a young lady that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was obsessed with. It was very possible the distraction of Martha caused lavender to die. Although Martha never loved cross.

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