A & P By John Updike And The Things They Carried By Tim OBrien

The central theme of the story is the age-old conflict of life and death. On a more personal level with First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, the round character and protagonist of "The Things They Carried", it is a conflict of love, his antagonist and of war.

The Things They Carried is a story made up of stories about how the men carried their war stories and their truths—during the war and after the war.

John Updike is considered one of the greatest writers in modern American history. He is known for the idea that seemingly ordinary aspects of American life are actually quite fascinating. He wanted readers to see the beauty and magic of life, so he tried to describe everyday things using the most clear but beautiful language possible. Many of Updike’s pieces are drawn from his own life such as his marriage and his boyhood, as shown in three of his short stories: “A&P”, “Ace in the Hole”, and “Pigeon Feathers”. Updike’s narrative technique is explored through the analysis of plot structure, thematic patterning, and irony in these three short stories.

The Things They Carried is a book about Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his platoon of soldiers that describes what they carried along the entire Vietnam war, whether it was physical, or mental these men had to endure it all year long. One way or another, whether

“The Things They Carried’ by Tim O’Brien is a novel whose theme is not only related to soldiers but to everyday people as well. The theme of this novel lies in the struggles that soldiers bear, both physically and emotionally. The title —The Things They Carried— and most of

The Things They Carried is more than just a story about the Vietnam war. A focus has been placed on the real soldiers who lived through it. With the use of repetition, figurative language, and described imagery O’Brien is able to illustrates his story. WIth these three things, we are able to understand the physical and emotional side of a soldier at war.

Wearing only bathing suits, three girls walk into a store, causing chaos and forever altering one

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a book solely about surviving war, and the stories that come along with going to a war. There are many different kinds of stories that Tim told about his experience at war. Some were sad, many were adventurous, and others made you wonder if they were even real. But with every story, there is something a certain soldier has that meant everything to them. They show a sense of comfort within every single person in this story. No matter if it is a physical object, or a spiritual value they carry with themselves at all times. They symbolize who the person is, what their life was like pre-war, and what they thrive to live for.

The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, is a generalization of his own experiences in Vietnam although the story itself is a work of fiction there is still much to be learned from it. Through the actions of soldiers in The Things They Carried we can begin to explore the effect war has on the human condition and the toll it plays on their minds.

The character Martha in The Things They Carried was used to display the innocence and safety of home. Martha and Jimmy Cross wrote letters back and forth but never spoke about war. Tim O’Brien writes “She belonged to another world, which was not quite real.”(p. 17) to imply that Martha doesn 't love Jimmy but more as a friend who’s disconnected from war. Jimmy burns Martha’s letter later in the book to indicate how he 's been exposed to too much in war. He was using Martha as an escape from all the horrifying events. Marta letter’s are

Living in California we see women in swimsuits quite often, maybe too often. Still we have those people that find the need to objectify women, even the ones they have seen many times. Although that is what Sammy does in John Updike’s “A&P”. The way “A&P” depicts the young girls is objectifying: from how the main character describes the young women, how he disrespects the older lady he was checking out, the manager kicking the girls out of the store because of what they are wearing, and how the girls dress the way they do even though they are not close to the beach.

The Things they Carried written by Tim O’Brien not only talks about the main character Tim O’Brien, but this short story also talks about all of the other soldiers in his group. When you are a soldier overseas you will most generally be carrying a lot of equipment, but you will also be carrying loads of memories and feelings and I think that was what O’Brien’s point that he was trying to get across. Numerous of these things are intangible, including responsibility and fear, while some other items are very detailed physical objects, including ponchos, AK-47s, and even some hygiene items like dental floss and hotel-sized soap. There was an endless list of items that each soldier had to carry to survive, but the metaphor here is the physical strain that each soldier has to endure. When reading this I believe that O’Brien, the author, wanted to use metaphors to help the reader feel like they were there in the story and make them feel how these soldiers felt while they were serving.

The Things They Carried is a story based on the experiences of young American soldiers fighting during the Vietnam War. The story begins giving you insight into the thoughts of the soldiers, describing to you what they humped along with them through their walk in the deep jungle of Vietnam. Some of those things were necessities P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing-gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets (81) and some were objects to give them hope. Throughout the story you follow a young platoon of men on their journey through the jungle never knowing which day could be the last day of their lives. The author, Tim O’Brien, using very accurate description and detail gives us

In the story A&P by John Updike a young cashier by the name of Sammy learns about the power of desire and the mystery of others minds when working at an A&P supermarket in a small town north of Boston in the 1960’s, where there was a lot of social norms and many people didn’t step out of them. The young nineteen-year-old Sammy wasn’t expecting his Thursday shift at A&P to go the way it did when income three young girls but, these are not your socially normal teenagers who come walking in the door. The moment these girls walk into the A&P they attract every male eye in the store towards them, which clearly shows the kind of power their sexuality grants them over their opposite sex. In turn, Sammy imagination and interpretation of these

The title of the book The Things They Carried is significant by being able to tell the soldiers’ story and how they coped with being at war. While the soldiers transport the necessary items to survive, they also carry items that symbolize what is important to them.