Sexist Stereotypes Of Men And Women

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.

For example, Jimmy Cross utilizes Martha as a distraction to escape his responsibilities of leading the troop through the war. “And then suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha” (11). By slipping into frequent daydreams, readers realize how his desire for Martha prevents him from acting like a true war sergeant. For instance, when given orders to destroy the tunnels in Than Khe, Cross was thinking about Martha’s virginity. Furthermore it is implied, that Jimmy Cross feelings for Martha is unrequited love. As a result, he fantasizes of there being a relationship more than one-sided love. “...a poet and a virgin and uninvolved, and because she did not love him and never would” (16). His fantasies about her not only served as a diversion from the war, but it also prevented him from developing his leadership skills. While Martha’s primary role in Cross’s mind was to act as a diversion from the traumatic experiences of war, she is also characterized as a type of emotional baggage that caused the death of others. “ He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war” (16) The thoughts of Martha, was specifical the metaphysical item Cross carried heavily to war to serve as a diversion; however her role hindered him with his duties as a Lieutenant to keep his troop safe and

This chapter covers the transition of Mary Anne Bell, of how she changed from being a normal, sweet teenage girl to being one of the Green Berets, filled with enthusiasm for the war and intrigued with the culture of Vietnam. This message is about how the innocence of women is consumed by the war and how once they begin to learn more about it, they are hopelessly entranced by it, far from returning to their usual selves. Rat talks about how, “Anne made you think about those girls back home, how they'll never understand any of this, not in a billion years. Try and tell them about it, they’ll just stare at you with those big round candy eyes. They won't understand zip.”(O’Brien 108), and this shows that women won’t understand what Vietnam really is like, they have to experience it themselves. Women also won’t understand the grueling mental pain that soldiers experience in the war.

Every one of us has experienced a strong emotional fear, and in that moment of stress, we learn more about who we are. The short story “The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien, follows the lives of soldiers trying to survive the emotional and physical stresses of the Vietnam War. Throughout the story, O’Brien juxtaposes the physical weight of the supplies that the soldiers must carry with the immeasurable weight of their intense emotional experiences. The theme of “The Things They Carried” is the burden of fear, which O’Brien portrays through the counter-weight of objects the soldiers cling to for consolation and escape. Some men turn to objects that remind them of love, no matter how unlikely it is that they are loved back. Other men

“Tim O’Brien is obsessed with telling a true war story. O 'Brien 's fiction about the Vietnam experience suggest, lies not in realistic depictions or definitive accounts. As O’Brien argues, absolute occurrence is irrelevant because a true war story does not depend upon that kind of truth. Mary Ann’s induction into genuine experience is clearly destructive as well as empowering” (p.12) Tim O’s text, The Things they Carried, details his uses of word choice to portray his tone and bias. Tim O’Brien uses Martha to represents the idea of home and all it attendant images. He also uses letters and quotes to convey his image. Despite the fact that women assume a little part in The Things They Carried, it is a critical one. The Female characters Martha, Mary Anne Bell, and Kathleen Cross all affect the lives of the soldiers . Tim O’Brien uses the female role to portray his view and thoughts on his true war story which depict the lack of morality.

A big theme and point in Tim O'Brien’s novel is how many situations hurt the soldiers’ lives. From the beginning, O'Brien starts his work by numbering the many things soldiers have to carry; Knives, guns, pictures, and some feelings and trust issues they had with their family before leaving for war. O'Brien tells us and explains how each soldier was hurting, and how it was for them to get use to the war and the environment they were in, as he says; “Jimmy Cross did not want the responsibility of leading these men. He had never wanted it.” (167). In this quote, O'Brien reveals how tough it was for Lieutenant Cross to have this responsibility in the war. O'Brien contemplated over and over again, trying to decide if he wanted to go to war and if it was for him or not. He has seen it as something he couldn’t do. More the less, they saw the war as irrelevant nonsense at times.

Growing up, many young boys idolized the war heroes in movies such as Saving Private Ryan and American Sniper. However, the glorified heroism that is depicted in these films is far from the reality that is war. A more realistic rendition of war is seen in Tim O’Brien’s short story, The Things They Carried. Throughout the story, O’Brien uses metafictional characters to portray the physical and emotional burdens carried by American soldiers who were forced to conform to societal expectations upon being drafted for the Vietnam War. The literary elements O’Brien uses throughout the story to convey this theme are symbolism, imagery, tone, and inner conflict of the protagonist.

Martha was the lady that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross loved. He carried letters and two pictures along with his love for her around at all times. All of the letters from her were signed Love, Martha and he knew that that was the only a way of signing a letter but he still hoped that she loved him back. He was constantly thinking about her. He thought about her so much that when he was supposed to be destroying the tunnels his friend, Ted Lavender, was shot and killed. He blamed himself for the death of his friend, but even then all he could think about was being away from Martha. “He pictured Martha’s smooth young face, thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her” (O’Brien 6.) The story of Martha and Jimmy shows the trials and tribulations of love during a war. He was responsible for the entire Alpha Company, for everything that they did and yet all he could think about was one women who was all the way across the world, safe at her home.

Being a women during the 50’s Mary Ann was expected to be proper, innocent and unable to understand or handle the extreme emotions and pressures of war, however, she quickly adapted to the war and went against everything expected of her and joined the green berets. O'Brien pushed the irony of Mary Ann’s story even further than just defying gender norms as he juxtaposes innocence and the savagery of war together through Mary Ann's actions and appearance at the end of the chapter. The men all talk about how Mary Ann is still out in the woods fighting, they say; “she was wearing her culottes, her pink sweater, and a necklace of human tongues” (110). Although it is extremely unlikely that this experience ever happened, O'Brien uses this story to show just how life changing war can be, he proves that even the most innocent person can walk into the war and come out a savage, hostile and war oriented person. Had he never juxtaposed the innocence of Mary Ann and her ‘girly’ clothing against the demented and horrifying necklace of severed tongues, his point may have never had the deep message he wanted to portray. There are many other examples of irony spread throughout the novel, however this example had one of the most powerful message and proof of how

Due to this, Cross would often think back to his times of enamor towards this woman during his duty. In the chapter “The Things They Carried”, Cross appears to be busy thinking about his love towards Martha and thus takes his attention away from the events of the warfare. The narrator speaks to this and says, “He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the way” (O’Brien 16). This quotation alone illuminates the fact that all men and women serving the country enter their duty with their own personal “baggage” so-to-speak. These burdens, often a facet of mentality, weigh heavily on the soldiers and can only be surmounted by the strongest of minds and physical ability. A similar instance of heavy mental guilt can be recognized during the chapter titled “Friends”. The primary discussion in this chapter revolves around the fact that Dave Jensen had created a pact with a friend of his, Strunk. This pact had been an agreement where the soldiers would kill one another rather than allowing them to remain wounded or to be captured by the enemy, likely due to the imminent torture and pain ahead of them if either circumstances happened. During the time of the pact, Jensen had left his close friend behind rather than killing him as they had both agreed upon. Unfortunately for

39. O’Brien meticulously incorporates this chapter directly after “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong,” to portray the counteracting ideals of the role of women and femininity in both sections. In “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong,” the entire chapter is dedicated to discussing Mary Anne’s somewhat bolstering and heartening presence for Mark Fossie. It demonstrates the ideal view of women’s comforting role during the war and how they provided devoted their entire being in making their counterparts happy. In contrast,“Stockings” demonstrates the ideal of how soldiers were still reassured and remedied by women on the homefront who present the bare-minimum effort. This is ideal is exhibited by Henry Dobbins who is consistently alleviated and invigorated by his girlfriend’s stockings, yet in actuality, she hardy demonstrates affection and compassion for Dobbins, eventually ending their

In Tim O’Brien’s historical fiction novel The Things They Carried, O’Brien uses a character also called Tim O’Brien to tell about experiences from the Vietnam War (1954-57). In the chapter, “How to Tell a True War Story”, O’Brien states “a true war story is never moral.” (65) War is not only horrid and unsightly, it also affects a soldiers’ mental make-up. Filled with death and gore, the Vietnam War has the capability to leave soldiers physically and mentally unstable. O’Brien begins his journey as a frightened, inexperienced young man, terrified of the great dishonor that follows evading the war. Tim O’Brien departs the Vietnam War full of remorse then tells short stories throughout the novel, The Things They Carried, about the Vietnam war as a coping skill. To show vivid emotions O’Brien uses the novel to fill in the blanks of his memories. Indulging in The Things They Carried is comparable to sitting in a living room, having a conversation with a war veteran.

In this course we have talked about how it was not the women’s place to be involved in politics and war. In The O’Briens and the O’Flahertys, Sydney Owenson actually points out the fact that it isn’t women’s place. Owenson says, “I shall be accused of unfeminine presumptions in ‘medding with politics;’”. I think that she is challenging the way women should be viewed in society by writing The O’Briens and the O’Flahertys the way she does.

During the war, women are used to reflect society’s abandonment of the soldiers through their insensitivity that ultimately leaves the soldiers to fight alone. For Lieutenant Cross, Martha writes long letters back and forth with him, but rarely do they ever speak of Cross’s life in battle. Merely, the only time war is mentioned is to say, “Jimmy, take care of yourself” (2). Considering the pages and pages of writing that Martha writes regarding her life, she does not put in the effort to ask about Cross, who risks his life every day. Simply, she tells Cross to

How women are perceived by others, and how women perceive themselves, impacts their leadership roles in the work place. Stereotypes and gender biases are themes women have been dealing with for centuries. How women are perceived by social medial and television have been influencing how they are treated by men, and how they view themselves when it comes to taking a leadership role in their organization. According to Omega Institute (2012), “The rapidly shifting landscape of new media and technology, including reality television and celebrity culture, continue to reinforce gender stereotypes” (p. 1). This leads to men still growing up viewing women as home makers versus bread winner. With more women entering leadership roles in the work place they lack the respect from men due to how these men have grown up to know the typical role of a man and woman. Men tend to feel belittled due to the gender stereotypes seen on television, and this leads to women struggling to succeed as a leader with the lack of support from their male counterparts. Lack of confidence with women in the workplace is also influenced and effected by how women are perceived in social media and television. According to Steele (2005), “Exposure to stereotypic commercials persuade women to avoid leadership roles” (p. 276). As young women grow up seeing the typical gender stereotypes they lack ambitions to break the mold and