Carry On In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carrie

In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”, O’Brien created several allusions that each character endured during the Vietnam War. Throughout the story were vast representations of the things the soldiers carried both mentally and physically. The things they carried symbolized their individual roles internally and externally. In addition to the symbolism, imagination was a focal theme that stood out amongst the characters. This particular theme played a role as the silent killer amongst Lt. Cross and the platoon both individually and collectively as a group. The theme of imagination created an in depth look of how the war was perceived through each character which helped emphasize their thoughts from an emotional standpoint of being young men out at war.

The symbols in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” are essential to understanding the soldiers and their lives during the Vietnam War. At the opening of the story, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross would dig into his foxhole and read the letters while imagining romance with Martha; however, at the end of the story after the death of Ted Lavender, he “crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters” (402). The inner feelings of Cross would be mistakenly ignored without the help of symbols throughout his travel through Vietnam. O’Brien uses the emotional and physical weight carried by the soldiers as a representation of their personalities and how they prefer to cope with the war. The

In the fictional novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien vividly explains the fear and trauma the soldiers encountered during the Vietnam War. Many of these soldiers are very young and inexperienced. They begin to witness their acquaintances’ tragic demise, and kill other innocent lives on their own. Many people have a background knowledge on the basis of what soldiers face each day, but they don’t have a clear understanding of what goes through these individual’s minds when they’re at war. O’Brien gives descriptive details on the soldiers’ true character by appealing to emotions, using antithesis and imagery.

Love is a powerful emotion that every human being has experience at least once in their life. There are numerous connotations that refer to this emotion, but there is only one kind of love that can make a person change completely in unexpected ways. It is the kind of love that consumes the soul and everything within. Mixed with excitement, adventure, heartbreak, happiness and joy; it is a big ball of feelings, all concentrated in one simple, yet extremely complicated necessity to have, protect, please and give all of oneself to that one person. In certain occasions, love can grow very intense and, consequently,

Lieutenant Cross was in love with a girl back home named Martha. He carried around letters that she wrote to him and pictures that she gave him. His obsession of Martha took his focus away from the war. “He had loved Martha more than his

Martha also weighs upon Lt. Cross' actions (or lack thereof). Early in the story, the reader can see how Martha is a distraction during troop movements. Tasting the letter from Martha does not directly distract Lt. Cross from his duties, but it does lead the reader to believe that she is too often the focus of his

In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”, O’Brien created several allusions that each character endured during the Vietnam War. Throughout the story were vast representations of the things soldiers carried both mentally and physically. The things they carried symbolized their individual roles internally and externally. In addition to symbolism, imagination was a focal theme that stood out amongst the characters. This particular theme played a role as the silent killer amongst Lt. Cross and the platoon both individually and collectively as a group. The theme of imagination created an in depth look of how the war was perceived through each character which helped emphasize their thoughts from an emotional stand point of being young men out at war.

In The Things They Carried there are some moments of love and some moments of many other emotions far too many to account for. Jimmy Cross one of the soldiers in the platoon use to carry around a love letter. This “love” letter was from his beloved Martha. His love for Martha was unrequited to say the least however that’s not why he carried this letter full of regret. He carried it so no matter how long the war waged on he would never forget that there was a better place in the world then where he was at right now smelling napalm in the morning or smelling the sweet smell of gunpowder in the air. Although his mind never wavered from the thought of seeing Martha many soldiers who come back their minds never seem to leave the treacherous place called Vietnam. “I almost won the silver star,” these statements made by returned soldiers just prove to me and those who have spoken to them that they haven't forgotten the war. There minds forever wavering in the air over the battlefield thinking about what they had almost achieved during the

Lieutenant James Cross was just twenty years old when he was drafted into the Vietnam War. He had to leave behind his schoolboy crush, Martha, and all dreams of going through college. As time goes on during his war journey, he starts to realize his men he is leading, are not as important to him. O’Brien writes, “He loved Martha

In the story The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien shows the reader a sense of depressing love. O’Brien uses the physical weight carried by the soldiers as a motif for the emotional burdens they must endure while fighting in Vietnam. A love of which is portrayed in the story with a soldier loving a woman more than his fellow soldiers. But this woman does not love him in the same way. O’Brien uses many literary devices throughout the story, and shall be covered in this text. The tone in the text is very prevalent, and O’Brien gives the reader easy access to find and understand them.

To begin, the narrator who we perceived to be O’brien himself tells the story in a third person perspective, describing the thoughts and actions of first lieutenant Jimmy Cross. As the story opens we are met by 1LT.Cross, who is carrying letters from a girl back home named “Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey” (O’brien 1-2) who he has deep feelings for but she does not feel the same for him. O’brien depicts this story as a love story because he wants the readers to feel connected to the characters and give them

Love is a powerful force, and Lieutenant Cross sometimes gets lost in his musings while thinking of Martha. O’Brien writes: “His mind wandered. He had difficulty keeping his attention on the war. On occasion he would yell at his men to spread out the column, to keep their eyes open, but then he would slip away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along the Jersey shore, with Martha, carrying nothing.” Like any sane person in his situation, Lieutenant Cross wants to escape – to anywhere else but the war. The war brings terrible experiences – fear, death, hunger, and pain beyond imagination. The only way that Lieutenant Cross can endure these things is by escaping to an imaginary life with Martha. Although to her, he is little more than a friend, to Lieutenant Cross, Martha represents innocence, perfection, and a world free from war.

One of the main characters in the short story “The Things They Carried”, written by Tim O’Brien, is a twenty-four year old Lieutenant named Jimmy Cross. Jimmy is the assigned leader of his infantry unit in the Vietnam War, but does not assume his role accordingly. Instead, he’s constantly daydreaming, along with obsessing, over his letters and gifts from Martha. Martha is a student at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey, Jimmy’s home state. He believes that he is in love with Martha, although she shows no signs of loving him. This obsession is a fantasy that he uses to escape from reality, as well as, take his mind off of the war that surrounds him, in Vietnam. The rest of the men in his squad have items that they carry too, as a way

It blazes with passion, burning everything that'll stand in its path, only to burn quickly or to die down slowly.

The things they carried was a very interesting book that was filled with various stories. They all took place during the Vietnam War and follow multiple protagonists that reappear in later stories. Throughout the story, there is a vast number of themes and symbolism. One theme I found interesting is the theme of physical and emotional burdens. This was especially noticeable in ‘’The Things They Carried’’, where they were carrying both literally and figurative. ‘’ They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture.’’ (pg. 77) Sure enough, soldiers have to endure walking miles upon miles with a heavy backpack along with war equipment and standard m-16’s and such, but it becomes evident that the emotional burdens on their shoulders weigh more than the physical objects. These burdens come in the form of grief, sadness, and a vast number of what is mostly negative emotions. Jimmy Cross, the protagonist of this short story, is a perfect example. He got extremely distracted from his duty as a lieutenant. He even lost one of his men. And yet he could not stop thinking about his love for someone who clearly didn’t love him back. It’s times like that, especially in a war, that require you to put