Conformity In The Things They Carried

According to Webster Dictionary, conformity is defined as, “in compliance of rules, laws, or standards.” Mark Twain’s, “Cone-pone Opinions,” demonstrates how society reacts to new conformities; individuals eventually conform to popular ideas and inevitably abandon these ideas for something greater. Twain states, “It is our nature to conform; it is force which not many can successfully resist.” (Twain 2). The reason people conform is not for self-approval, but rather, for the approval of others.

At the beginning of the novel, Tim O’Brien portrays a strong image against war and him being drafted. He felt like war had no positives, leaving himself to only see the negatives. As he stated, “It all seemed crazy and impossible. Twenty-one years old, an ordinary kid with all the ordinary dreams and ambitions, and all I wanted was to live the life I was born to...and now I was off on the margins of exile leaving my country forever, and it seemed

The novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien begins by Mr. O'Brien describing his dramatical events that happened during the middle of his Vietnam experience while he was fighting in the war. Mr. O'Brien received his draft notice in the month of June in the year of 1968. When he received this notice Mr. O'Brien had feelings of confusion, and that drove him to go north to the Canadian border, and it had him contemplating if he wanted to cross it or not because he does not want to be forced to fight in a war he really does not believe in. However, Mr. O'Brien finally decides that he would feel guilty if he avoided the war and he also feared that his family would be disappointed. Not only does this novel tell us readers about his

The Things They Carried offered a unique and personal look into the life of one soldier’s experience. It showed how the war held obligations to its soldiers and expectations for each of the men to follow. The Things They Carried also showed a side of war that was not always seen in other documents and accounts such as Tim O’Brien thoughts and feelings during the war. However, many of the things O’Brien stated throughout his book is very similar to the experiences shared by men in the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. Moreover, despite some similarities, each war is unique and have their own distinctive causes and effects that have solidified their importance in American history. When it comes to war, it seems that most experiences

Initially, when Tim O’Brien was drafted to fight a war, he needed to make a decision between personal desire and societal expectation: his point of views was more tend to be self-preservation. He believed that according to his qualities, “[he] was too good for this war.”(2,32-33) he refused to go to the war because he had “a full-ride scholarship for grad studies at harvard”(2,35-36) that would make his future much more better than going to a war that he felt unjustified. The notice that about he was drafted to fight the Vietnam War became a mess in the life he planned out for himself. “[Tim O’Brien] did not want to die”(3,26-27) and lose his bright future that would bring him happiness.

“If I truly believe the war is wrong, is it then also wrong to go off and kill people? If I do that, what will happen to my soul?” (pg 60). Tim O 'Brien is an American man who was drafted into the Vietnam War. O 'Brien is not a violent man and struggles because he believes that the war is wrong. He debates whether or not he should go to war or move to Canada to avoid the draft. Tim O 'Brien decides to join the army. O 'Brien uses his personal experiences as a foot soldier in the Vietnam War to convey his possible bias perspective that the Vietnam War was a waste of people 's lives and a shameful venture for the United States.

In Tim O’Brien’s “On the Rainy River”, Tim is faced with the most difficult decision of his life. The Vietnam War is unfolding overseas and Tim is drafted into the military. As Tim has the option of staying and fighting a war he doesn’t believe in or facing the embarrassment of fleeing to Canada, O’Brien illustrates how other’s opinions sway our decisions in life more than we think they do. Tim battles himself over what should be an easy choice. Will he stay or go? His hometown is “a conservative little spot on the prairie” (1005). There, it is all about tradition and duty. If he chooses to go, he can already imagine his fellow townsfolk gathering around to talk, shamefully, about how “that damned sissy [has]

In the beginning of the war, the Selective Service collected the names of all American men that were in the draft-ages. When someone’s name was called, they had to report to their local draft broad, which was made up of community members, so that they could begin to evaluate whether he would be fit for battle. The draft committee had a large amount of power in deciding who would stay and who would go. In Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Thins They Carried, Tim O’Brien had a big life decision in front of him; it was whether to flee to Canada or stay in U.S. and enter the war. He had the chance to jump off of a boat and swim to Canada and be safe, but he froze and that lead to him going to Vietnam. There were many others that face big decisions just like Tim O’Brien. Eric Schechter once wrote,” what my friends were going through; my own experience was too different. I was good at math, so I knew I’d be going to college, and I’d automatically get a draft deferment. Also, I felt less nationalism than most people. For me it would be just an inconvenience, not a great hardship, to flee to Canada, at that time a safe haven for draft dodgers. I knew that I would never wear a uniform” which demonstrates that he had an option of staying and fighting but chose to go to Canada because he didn’t believe in the war and he was set on going to college (Schechter 1). In November of 1969, everything changes. A lottery began to take away the student deferments and tried to get the kids who were in college, to go to Vietnam and

In The Things They Carried the idea of spinning, in various forms captivated me the most. From the start, I knew I wanted to display the young girl from “Style” in my collage since I thought it would be the best way to insert myself into the piece. I wanted to express how war spins from hell and violence, to beauty and peace. O’Brien tells many stories that seem terrible, but end with some beauty or peace behind it. O’Brien juggles the idea of spinning, from the girl dancing surrounded by wreckage, to O’Brien’s mind spinning out of the control of rational thought as he wonders what could have been of the man he killed, and to the beauty O’Brien found in his dream with Linda, turning Linda’s traumatic death into a peaceful

Characters are faced with many struggles concerning their identity. Often, readers are prejudice and create certain thoughts about the characters. Many characters/writers identities are shaped upon these preconceptions of race, gender, social bias, as well as religious beliefs and many other aspects. In the novel, The Things They Carried, the main character, Tim O’Brien was drafted into the Vietnam War. He was faced with a tough decision; to go fight in a war that he doesn’t want to, or to flee from America to Canada.

In the book The Things They Carried by, Tim O’Brien portrayed different stories from Vietnam War. Nobody really knows the different things that happen to soldiers in Vietnam. They get paranoid, lose their sense of morality they become angry and frustrated. No one will ever understand the things they are experiencing unless you were in their shoes. In the book there were stories about different historical events and situations the soldiers portrayed. Soldiers who are in the war sometimes do not know the severity and horrors of it all. Some of them have seen and been through a lot. In the war people suffer from physical, mental, and emotional anguish. The one thing they have a hard time doing is coping with it all. There are a lot of issues such

Have you read a book that contains feelings like guilt, shame, love, and embarrassment? Or have you asked yourself why people did not want to go to the Vietnam war? Tim O’ Brien is the one of ones who did not want to go to Vietnam. In fact, he went to the war, and he was a soldier in Vietnam. When he got out of the military, he decided to write a book, The Things They Carried.

Tim wanted to go to Canada, even though he had the complete opportunity to run away. He saw everyone he knew on the borderline calling him names like a coward and a traitor. This imagery shows how powerful society can be when it comes to making decisions for us. Tim was influenced by his country and family to go to war, which means he is risking his life just so he is not embarrassed and humiliated. When he returned home he told himself, “I was a coward. I went to the war”(Tim O’Brien page 84). Tim does not know how to deal with the conundrum of abiding by his moral principles and the influences of his family, friends and society. It shows how society can make anyone conform to be the same and to do what everyone else is doing. Since it took 20 years to tell his story, it demonstrates how society can make a person feel wrong and make them feel that they don’t deserve to pursue their own ideas. Did Tim make the right choice when he went to war? Society would say yes since he conformed to society and went to war. Even though he called himself a coward for going to war he would of called himself a bigger coward for fleeing to

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is a captivating recitation in which Tim O'Brien maintains that all the stories featured in the entire book are indeed true stories. Tim is the protagonist as well as the narrator of this particular story and it is the experiences that he had regarding war that have drove him to write the this story. The book gives a clear depiction of the war in Vietnam by showing the horrors of war but there have been varying views regarding the question of whether the book is an antiwar or not. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to address this particular issue by addressing different views in regard to whether the book is an anti-war on not and this will be supported by

For some, conformity is an unthinkable evil in American society. All individuals living within a community conform in some way to social norms, yet to label someone a conformist is akin to labeling them ignorant and unoriginal. However, conformity - and its associated impacts - are as integral to the functioning of society as the principles of nonconformity. Conformity is often positively utilised to induce positive social change nationally and internationally. It prompts dissemination of workload, provides protection (‘strength in numbers’), and encourages strict rule enforcement. Although less appreciated than non conformists, conformists and their resulting principles play a vital role in the smooth conduction of society.