Analysis Of ' The Things They Carried '

The whole atmosphere…they carried gravity” (O’Brien 124). The reader is given much attention to the weight and pressure of all the external forces the soldier would carry. But the greatest of weight the men carried with them was not physical at all. It was their emotions: “Grief, terror, love, longing these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight.” (O’Brien 126)

In “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien the theme of “carrying” both physical and emotional objects by the main characters can be found in the novel. While these men carry the same standard physical army gear, they differentiate with personal tangible and intangible items. From Lieutenant Cross’s responsibility of his men, to Henry Dobbin’s girlfriend’s pantyhose for its magic, each man faced the war with these things attached.

“War is hell, but that’s not the 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. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead.” (80)

1) “They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment” (O’Brien 20).

The text, ‘The Things They Carried', is an excellent example which reveals how individuals are changed for the worse through their first hand experience of war. Following the lives of the men both during and after the war in a series of short stories, the impact of the war is accurately portrayed, and provides a rare insight into the guilt stricken minds of soldiers. ‘The Things They Carried' shows the impact of the war in its many forms: the suicide of an ex-soldier upon his return home; the lessening sanity of a medic as the constant death surrounds him; the trauma and guilt of all the soldiers after seeing their friends die, and feeling as if they could have saved them; and the deaths of the soldiers, the most negative impact a war

In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien the author tells about his experiences in the Vietnam war by telling various war stories. The quote, "It has been said of war that it is a world where the past has a strong grip on the present, where machines seemed sometimes to have more will power than me, where nice boys (girls) were attracted to them, where bodies ruptured and burned and stand, where the evil thing trying to kill you could look disconnecting human and where except in your imagination it was impossible to be heroic." relates to each of his stories.

     In Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, numerous themes are illustrated by the author. Through the portrayal of a number of characters, Tim O’Brien suggests that to adapt to Vietnam is not always more difficult than to revert back to the lives they once knew. Correspondingly the theme of change is omnipresent throughout the novel, specifically in the depiction of numerous characters.

They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing…They carried the soldier’s greatest fear which was the fear of blushing…It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. (O’Brien 333)

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

“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a short story written about the Vietnam War. The title has two meanings. The first is their duties and equipment for the war. The second, the emotional sorrows they were put through while at war. Their wants and needs, the constant worry of death were just a few of the emotional baggage they carried. During the Vietnam War, like all wars, there were hard times. Being a soldier wasn’t easy. Soldiers always see death, whether it be another soldier or an enemy. In “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien explores the motivation of solders in the Vietnam War to understand their role in combat, to stay in good health, and accept the death of a fellow soldier.

“The Things They Carried” provides a personal view into the minds of soldiers, and tells us the emotional and psychological costs of war. The soldiers may have carried physical objects, but some of these objects connect to a deeper psychological weight most do not see.

The passage from the story of The Lives Of The Dead, gives O'Brien's views on storytelling and how he pushes fiction within his short novel. Furthermore, this passage starting from the bottom of page 230 going to 231, allows the reader to not only get a general feel as to what O’Brien means when he refers to storytelling, but also how he feels when he recalls his memories and how he writes them on paper. To start off, the passage begins with O’Brien’s views on storytelling stating that “you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you” (O’Brien pg 230). This statement very much shows how O’Brien pushes fiction, even though he does not formally state it. He mentions dreaming and how your story is based on your

In defining what a story is, opinions vary drastically. To one person, a story is merely a past recollection and to another it is a fictional piece of literature meant to teach or entertain its audience. Others may go so far as to argue only the truth is of importance in a story. Tim O’Brien expands on the true significance of a story in his novel The Things They Carried. He uses the scene of a real war with fictional additions to convey the message of the brutality of war, emphasizing the idea of the truth of the story being irrelevant. Similarly, in J. D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden utilizes a stream of lies without impacting the ideas of suicide and growing up found in the book. The story conveyed to the audiences of these novels is of greater gravity than the importance of truth due to the absence of an effect on the recounting of the story, a small purpose of blurring fact and fiction, and the insignificance of fact in conveying the emotions of a story.

Writing essays are always very hard, I usually can never find the right way to start them, but essay three was different. When writing The Things They Carried reflection, everything came out so smooth, it felt different. This essay was extremely easy for me because I was interested in the subject. Although, I have never served my country ; and I have had always been able to talk about things freely, it was very easy to relate to things. When growing up, my grandpa would never talk about the war, even though I would ask many times. There was always a struggle behind even the littlest detail, and growing up watching this was extremely painful to see. Not being able to talk about something and feeling trapped within yourself, for me, would be

I am confronting you about a book that my 7th grade son, Micah White, brought home from school on October 10, 2016. The book is titled The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. This book is about the Vietnam war. It talks about what the men brought with them into the war, and then ultimately what they bring back home in their minds. Now I am not sure if you have read this book before, but I was shocked by what my son was talking about that was in the book. There is such foul language, violence and gore in the book. Making it inappropriate for 13 year old's. I believe that this book should not be available for any middle school student that knows nothing of the Vietnam war or what those men went through. I believe that they are just too young to understand.