Essay On The Things They Carried

Finally, I would like to comment on how the author and the characters deal with death. Even though the characters were acting in a un-humanlike way, the author points out the minds behind the soldiers. Lavenders death is really a central theme in the story, so much so that the event of his death keeps getting repeated over and over again. The author makes it a point to tell the different positions on death. Lavenders death only affects one person in the entire squad, the leader Jimmy. Everyone else in the platoon carried on as if nothing was wrong. In fact, some of the troops were “smoking the dead man’s dope” while waiting for the chopper to arrive to take Lavender away. At first I was appalled at this fact. If a comrade of mine died, the last thing I would do is try to find something to profit from his dead corpse. I would also be afraid for my own life because someone close to me just died. I understand that these are soldiers, and that they deal with death, and are trained to kill. However, when someone close to you dies, that is a different situation. The author does make a point to mention, “They (the soldiers) carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die”, which indicates that the soldiers did feel some kind of emotion. However, it amazes me that these soldiers can even mask their true emotions in the face of their friend dying.

One of the most overlooked aspects in the life of a soldier is the weight of the things they carry. In Tim O'Brien's story, "The Things They Carried," O'Brien details the plight of Vietnam soldiers along with how they shoulder the numerous burdens placed upon them. Literally, the heavy supplies weigh down each soldier -- but the physical load imposed on each soldier symbolizes the psychological baggage a soldier carries during war. Though O'Brien lists the things each soldier carries, the focal point centers around the leader, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, and his roles in the war. Lt. Cross has multiple burdens, but his emotional baggage is

In the list of all the things the soldiers carried, what item was most surprising? Which item did you find most evocative of the war? Foot powder was most surprising to me. This also shows us how much these soldiers had to travel in the war.

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

At the same time, O’Brien struggles with destructiveness of the conflicting images of violence and peace in death through the juxtaposition of the imagery of the dead man. While “his one eye was shut, the other eye was a star-shaped hole.” The dead man has one shut eye that resembles a peaceful sleep, while the other side is obliterated by the grenade into a star-shaped hole. The image of the star-shaped hole in the dead soldier’s eye represents the hopes that he once had when he was alive: “He hoped the Americans would go away. Soon, he hoped. He kept hoping and hoping, always” (119). Furthermore, “his right cheek was smooth and hairless,” an image of untouched innocence that contrasts with his left cheek, which was “peeled back in three ragged strips,” destroyed by the violence O’Brien inflicts upon it. The juxtaposition of the butterfly that settles on his chin and the fatal wound on his neck, “open to the spinal cord…blood…thick and shiny” illustrate the complexity and ambiguity of the unnaturalness of war, depicted by the image of the dead man’s wrung neck, contrasted with the ironic peace and naturalism of death in the image of the fragile butterfly. These select images are also those that O’Brien chooses to fixate upon and develop throughout the chapter as he struggles to comprehend the moral implications of his actions. The innocence of the “slim, dead, almost dainty young man” is further reinforced when O’Brien describes his wrists as “wrists of a

Jimmy Cross, Lt. Cross has an unhealthy obsession with a girl named Martha. Lt. Cross carried letters that Martha and himself exchanged along with a couple of photos of her. Most of the items carried by the soldiers are non-war items and are easy to discuss without any emotional baggage attached. Ted lavender, the soldier who is killed by a sniper, is briefly mentioned before the narrator cuts back to the list of things they carried. The narrator gets bold momentarily in the story and talks about Lavender’s death, mentioning the rain poncho they carried his dead body in before taking him to a chopper to be flown away.

"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien portrays a detachment of soldiers serving in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War starts amid the 1960/70's in the nation of Vietnam. It is a curiously severe war, and numerous veterans experience for a long time after their awful encounters. The author recounts every one of the things they carry from weapons to the passionate weight of wartime. Short memories evoke, and bits of knowledge to the characters create as everything the soldiers carry reveals. The author describes stories of a significant number of the soldiers' missions and tricks. The Author viably utilizes the components of fiction: tone, style, and imagery to enable the peruser to comprehend the soldiers' hardships in the Vietnam War.Tim O'Brien utilizes the tone of the story to improve the perspective of the hardships the soldiers confront. All through the story, an officer named Ted Lavender specified. An enemy murders him, and his death addresses frequently. The author utilizes a cold, dispassionate tone to make Ted Lavender's passing a typical subject. O'Brien expresses in the story that “Ted Lavender a soldier. He was scared at that moment, and he got shot in the head while carrying thirty-four rounds at the place Than Khe. He died, and there was no twitching or flopping (325).” The levelness communicates by the author utilizes to demonstrate the hardships of the fighter's mental state. O’Brien states again that “Another soldier named

A person’s possessions can tell a great deal about the person that they belong to. Tim O’Brien’s short story “The Things They Carried” uses the objects that soldiers are carrying in Vietnam to reveal information about their families, lives, and values as well as the theme and tone of the story. The story follows the main character Lieutenant Jim Cross and his platoon throughout Vietnam. It provides an account of their experiences prior to and following the death of one of their men, Ted Lavender.

During the Vietnam War, soldiers were not given the opportunity to the modern coping mechanisms of our American culture today, such as illustrated in Tim O’Brien's The Things They Carried. These men were required to learn and develop new ways to cope with the problems of war, using only the resources they took with them, while in the Vietnamese jungle. It was not likely for any soldier to carry many items or loads with them, but if something was an essential, a way was found to take it with them, and coping mechanisms were a necessity to survive in this war.

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a true war story. This book is very powerful and shows many strong and thought compelling themes. It goes into great detail about war and puts many new outlooks on what it take and what it can do to a person. One of his main themes that recurs in many instances throughout this book is the view on death and violence from the perspective of war and having been a soldier. Tim O’Brien gives us many examples of his thoughts and views on death by explaining them through parables or stories that may not be completely true but can teach us exactly what his outlook is on this certain topic.

The survival of a soldier depends on what he wears. In war, the line between life and death is thinner than ever, and often, supplies, weapons, and the equipment of a soldier is the only thing that can cause the line not to clear. But, a soldier also carries his memory, memories, amulets, ghosts of the past, and trivial objects that do not let him forget that there is another life-the life-beyond war. Soldiers of Alpha Company, who fought in Vietnam, carry everything they could. And, those men and things are making their appearance in the story The Things They Carried by Tim O 'Brien, which also fought in Vietnam. Mr. O 'Brien tells how, after fleeing to Canada he decided to return to his village and agreed to go to war for shame, because he felt that, otherwise, he could not stand the looks of the people in this community, for whom a deserter was forever an outcast, and a traitor. The Vietnam War was also a milestone in the history of the United States. The defeat was a deep blow to American pride and the belief that their nation was invincible; affected the confidence in their citizens. This feeling was also extended to the soldiers returning from Vietnam who were not welcome in his country, nor received treatment as heroes. Many of these soldiers went through great difficulties readjusting to family life; according to data from the Department of Veterans Affairs, half a million of them suffer psychological changes

The Things They Carried Short Writing Project Luke Wakumoto Paragraph #1 In Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien made a distinction between a true and a fake war story. He states that a true war story isn’t morally black/white, doesn’t encourage bravery/ethics, nor is it ever uplifting. This is important to the story as it implies some of the stories he tells is untrue, making him an unreliable narrator. Also, the false stories, while not true, are still important as they represent major themes (such as innocence and courage) O’Brien, the author explains the contrast between a real and a false war story.

In an excerpt from “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, the unnamed narrator uses third person to describe the literal things that Vietnam War Veterans carried physically as well as what they carried mentally and emotionally with them. The thoughts and endeavors of Jimmy Cross, the lieutenant of an Army unit in the Vietnam War are described by the narrator. Other members of the unit are introduced to the story as well through descriptions of the things they are carrying, examples are Henry Dobbins who carries extra food, Ted Lavender who carries tranquilizer pills, and Kiowa who carries a hatchet.

After reading “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, describes a captivating, up close story about soldiers marching in the Vietnam War. The story relates to the title by telling us the things the men carried. We can see what material items they carry from duty to duty, but we also visualize the emotional baggage that lies heavy in their hearts; this emotional weight is much heavier than their material items. It is important to recognize this aspect because what they carry in their hearts create both hope and fear; they carry hope for their survival, but they carry fear of possible death.

Tim O’Brien’s story “The Things They Carried” explains a story about a Vietnam soldier’s, and what they kept dear to them. O’Brien keeps the story by listing the different things that the men carried on them giving you a visual image and even an idea of the weight that the objects are. What’s so symbolic about this story that O’Brien has given the look on how soldiers even in war are still just like everyone else. They have feelings make mistakes even if they have a lot of responsibilities, and their mistakes can have a deep impact on them.