Summary Of The Things They Carry By Tim OBrien

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.

What is “truth”? In The Things They Carried, the reader has their eyes opened to a new kind of “truth”; a “truth” that is not based on the honesty of events, the “happening-truth”, but the honesty of human nature, the “story-truth.” The novel itself, The Things They Carried, is comprised of many different stories based on the author Tim O’Brien’s service in the Vietnam war. Recalling from memories of his service, Tim O’Brien intricately weaves fact and fiction into his novel to force the reader into a turmoil of emotions by telling “true war stories,” that are not, in fact, war stories. Although many readers believe that “truth” is the act of retelling reality, “truth” is, in O'Brien's reality, the act of portraying emotions; that is why a “true war story” is not about war, but emotions.

The new soldiers’ resistance was usually followed by an attempt to flee which brought shame and embarrassment to both the new soldiers and their families. Subsequent to the attempt to flee came a final adoption to the war in which O’Brien and many others tried so hard to get out of. O’Brien uses elements such as conflict, imagery, and tone to help convey his

“My life is storytelling. I believe in stories, in their incredible power to keep people alive, to keep the living alive, and the dead.” Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, was filled with embellished stories and memories of war veterans. O’Brien’s reasoning for writing that particular book was because he believed that while a memory can die with a person, written words are forever set in stone. In his book, War was every one of the soldier’s enemy; It did not matter which side they fought on. War took men physically and mentally. O’Brien displayed how war stories were based on a certain soldier’s experiences, morals, and personality; Readers never truly knew fact from fiction. O’Brien’s intended audience were readers who were

The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brein, is a story told through the eyes of members of a United States Army troop trudging their way through the Vietnamese country side and jungles during the Vietnam War. Each man has a specific job and so they carry specific belongings that they need to fulfill that job as well as a few mementos from home. These men also carry unseen baggage that is all too real to these men, their families and responsibilities back home preying on their minds, the horrors of war, and the stress of the importance of fulfilling their duties to keep then men around them alive.

Throughout The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien demonstrates that mental fear is worse than physical pain. This is shown through the soldiers being so afraid and paranoid of being physically harmed, that it infected their minds to the point of mental deterioration. He shows this through Dave Jensen, who was so paranoid of Lee Strunk’s retaliation, that he broke his own nose to escape his mental anguish. Also, through Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen’s desire to die if their pain ever becomes too unbearable, and lastly through Tim O’Brien’s mental and physical harm caused by Jorgenson not healing him in time.

“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.

When O’Brien said “A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done” (pg.68). You can relate this to when O’Brien talks about the village they called an airstrike on. This happened after a sniper tried firing at them. In this little story, you see no kind of lesson that makes you a better person in the end.

Tatyana Smith 1363908 English III Honors Jody, Hollis Seminar: The Things They Carried O’Brien, Tim. The things They Carried. New York: Houghton Mufflin, 1990.Print. 1.

Tim O’Brien represents in his book The Things They Carried very well how the war changed the life of the soldiers. When they came to the war they were teenager, who were in one way very excited and proud to fight. The war did not just changed the view of the soldiers about the war, it also changed how the soldiers perceived what happened. The perception from soldiers change during the war, because soldiers started to perceive happening differently than it actually happened in reality.

War is a time where soldiers lose themselves in the chaos that surrounds them. Soldiers have to immerse themselves in battle and always be ready for whatever comes their way. But when there is no conflict arising on the battlefield, soldiers have to reminisce on their pasts and think about their past experiences that shaped them into the person they have become. The Things They Carried is a memoir written by Tim O’Brien that takes place during the Vietnam War and talks about the experiences the soldiers of the war had experienced. O’Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, states that memories are experiences that blend over time into events to affect one’s emotions as they reminisce on events that happened in their life years ago.

When thinking about war, people do not usually think of the things that soldiers carry with them. However, the things the soldiers’ carry can help readers to better understand the reality of war. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brian, gives many examples of items which the soldiers bring along with them into war. Some people bring objects to remind them of something or give them hope, and others carry only emotional baggage, but everyone carries something with them. The Things They Carried shows readers the traumatizing effects of war and how people were able to cope with them using the things they carried.

He writes about the coping mechanisms the soldiers used to help them handle the war. O’Brien uses the literary elements of coping mechanisms, such as escapism through fantasizing and escapism through substance abuse, laughter and humor, and talking, as well as, repetition and imagery, to develop author’s purpose of describing and informing, O’Brien does this, so the audience knows that war was very difficult for the soldier’s and changed their lives.

In Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, the main theme is that the young men of Alpha Company carry many physical and emotional burdens which linger on long after the war. As they walked through the jungles and swamps of South Vietnam, they carried weapons, equipment, personal items, and also carried the dead and wounded off the battlefield as well as the guilt for having survived. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried the responsibility for the men under his command and guilt about the war they died, as well as a peculiar love for Martha that was probably not real. All of them carried fear, not only of the enemy but also the fear of appearing to be fearful, cowardly or dishonorable, which was very similar to George Orwell's fear of looking indecisive or weak in front of the natives in his short story "Shooting an Elephant". Like Orwell's characters his novel Burmese Days, they are often skeptical about the war and the entire colonial-imperial enterprise in Asia, finding the death of their comrades in the jungles and swamps to be futile and pointless. They will carry all the memories and images with them for the rest of their lives, just as Orwell did of his many experiences. Tom O'Brien also carried the burden of recalling and recording the war and its aftermath, although like his namesake in Orwell's 1984, by his own description of these characters and events may or may not be true. In general, the entire atmosphere of the novel could be described as Orwelllian, with a

“Things They Carry” by Tim O’Brien is a book based off of remembering. O’Brien admits this in the chapter “Spin”. He remembers Jimmy’s love for Martha; Norman wanting his father to be accepting of Norman not winning any medals; Kiowa teaching a “rain dance to Rat Kiley and Dave Jensen, the three of them whooping and leaping around barefoot while a bunch of villagers looked on with a mix of fascination and giggly horror” (36). He remembers close to everything which shows how big of a role the war plays in his mind.