The Things I Carry: A Short Story

The Things They Carried, is a story written about the experiences in Vietnam shared by the author Tim Obrien. The story centers around soldiers from Alpha company and the “things” they carried. In this story, I believe Tim O’Brien uses the “things” they carried in a literal and descriptive sense. Every solider was literally responsible for carrying large loads of gear and they also carried tremendous emotional loads. Each soldier carried personal items to remind themselves of life after war. I believe that the emotional burden carries these soldiers through the battles of war and they far outweigh the physical obstacles being thrown at them. These men are responsible for themselves, fellow soldiers and families back home. Henry dobbins is

Take a step back in time and imagine what it would be like to be in the Vietnam War. Author, Tim O’Brien, has been through the Vietnam War and has seen first hand the horrors of the war. Throughout the book, The Things They Carried, O’Brien describes and informs what the war is really like and what goes through the soldier's mind. O’Brien includes the experiences he had with his unit focusing on men such as Norman Bowker, Lieutenant Cross, Kiowa, and Rat Kiley. O'Brien uses many different literary elements to explain what he has gone through and what the other soldiers have gone through as well during their time in the Vietnam War. O’Brien uses imagery to describe the Freedom Bird, the Tip Top Lodge, and the environment of Vietnam. O'Brien

Jonathan Lam carried carried his backpack and all of his supplies throughout the school day. He had pretty standard equipment: a Swiss Army backpack, a digital watch by Swatch, a Pilot G-2 pen, and an orange notebook cram-packed with school papers in between the pages that had not been ripped out.

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien contains many themes involving the impact of war, which are very prevalent in the lives of the soldiers and Tim himself; their very being in the war influences their thoughts and actions. Because of the nature of the war, these stories revolve around men and how their direct contact with the war changes their lives. While it is easy for women to be omitted from a story about war, especially the Vietnam War, O’Brien still incorporates them into his. In the novel The Things They Carried, there are very few women represented in both passing and the direct action; however, these women are used to allow the reader to further understand major messages about war: hope and motivation to persevere, the change that people undergo, and the general pointlessness of it.

War and its stories have been a prevalent theme in human life and has affected our lives for as long as humans have survived; tales of victory and failure told from older generations to the younger. The Things They Carried, a book by Tim O’Brien, brings a different side of war to light by describing his struggles before and after, as well as during the Vietnam War. In one of the first passages in chapter one, Tim O’Brien uses imagery and logos.

In the article “Honesty, Confession, and Privacy” from The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate, Lopate informs the reader of the qualities a narrator or personal essayist must have in order to be reliable. Lopate says that, in order to be reliable, the narrator must have “done a fair amount of introspective homework already, is grounded in reality, and is trying to give us maximum understanding and intelligence of which he or she is capable” (2). The reader has the authority to interpret the criteria with given boundaries. For example, Lopate says “[A] psychotic killer may be sincere, but that would not sufficiently recommend them for the genre” (2). This means not everyone that meets the criteria would be a reliable narrator.

In the short story “The Things They Carried”  by Tim O’Brien, he tells the story of the experiences of the soldiers. O'Brien uses symbolism in order to give us a message and helps us connect to what the soldiers are thinking and feeling mentally and physically.

Throughout history, it has been said that two or more sides exist to every story. In Literary Theory: A Brief Introduction by Jonathan Culler, this concept is further examined, with Culler stratifying literature into two distinct types of language, performative and constative. While constative language draws upon factual or literal interpretations, performative language deals more so with embellishment or the expression of details as they seem. In a similar manner, author Tim O’Brien coins the term “story truth”, a derivative of “real truth”, within his novel The Things They Carried, to discuss how retellings of wartime events are often altered to convey the emotional significance they possess. It is through these two works, Culler’s

Literary Analysis of “The Things They Carried” “The Things They Carried” is a novel about the Vietnam War written and narrated by Tim O’Brien. O’Brien begins by discussing items the men in his platoon carry to bear the war, such as photographs or dope. He then continues on to discuss the weapons that they wielded as if they were as plain as the material and sentimental items they carried with them. Jimmy Cross is introduced and also focused on in “The Things They Carried.”

The short story “The Things They Carried”, written by Tim O’Brien, is a story written in 1986 in the setting of the Vietnam War. The main character, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, is a young man who struggles with the battle of love while being away at war. Cross leads his men with the thought of Martha, the woman he loves, in the back of his head at nearly all times, which distracts him from the true harshness of the war. The list of the things the soldiers carry in O’Brien’s short story tell us what tangibles the men carry with them that are necessities for the battles, but they also carry intangibles with them such as the letters, and the dope to help comfort them in a time of fear. These possessions express the character of the men in the squad. All of the men in the squad carry something with them whether it is tangible or intangible that defines who they are. These things that the soldiers carry with them are not only items strapped on their shoulders but they are now a part of who they are during this period of time in their lives.

In the book “the things they carried” Storytelling is a major theme. characters in this book are greatly affected by storytelling because it’s their only way of coping with the war. Or in Bob “Rat” Kylie’s case; to brag about his dead friend to his friend’s sister. This seemed to be the only way he could cope with his death. Friend’s It also affected their moods in the that; they went from killing without mercy or care to cry over their fellow soldier’s death. This book could teach us a lot about the war, But sadly, not all of it. History textbooks talk about how awful the war was, but we cannot feel those emotions unless we experience it for ourselves. However, this doesn't mean we can’t feel emotions when others are telling their story. When

After reading “The Things They Carried”, I felt a slight understanding in what these soldiers go through. I understand the way they feel neglected afterwards and how they feel during the war. Maybe not 100%, but I do understand. During the war, they’re scared. They’re placed in an entire new environment that they have to deal with for the entire span of the war. Not only do they have to worry about getting the job done, but also staying alive. After the war, they have to worry about staying sane. Being back home after a long period of time can cause a major shift. They feel paranoid and always on edge. This book was surprisingly good. I don’t really enjoy these types of books, but the way it was written was pretty good. I also enjoyed this book because my dad was in the Iraq war, back in 2002 & 2005. It probably wasn’t as bad as the Vietnam war, but I feel

In this article Helen Parshall argues that it is necessary for people to use fiction to tell a story about war, such as in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien which she read in high school. Fiction can capture the feeling and emotion of the war soldier's experience. Helen Parshall has recently graduated from college and the Vietnam war is not her area of expertise. This article is not from an academic publication and is also a .com. Parshall’s work might be more of an opinion than facts. O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried support the claim of Helen Parshall because he used fiction to tell his story about the vietnam war. It is impossible to understand war unless you experience it, like in O’Brien’s work when he says that he is the only

1968: The year Tim O’Brien was sent to Vietnam. We can only imagine what it might feel like to face it: being so young, having so much ahead and being sent to some place, which might be the end. Definitely scary. An absolutely new absorbing environment, new companions, new you. I guess, “scary is the new black” in a green recruits life.

2. The things they carried was written in the late 1980 's and published in 1990. The novel acts as a response to the era it discusses by solidifying the un-generalized version of war through fictional anecdotes from the narrator and characters. The truth is never portrayed through historic context or media, and with this novel, the author was able to reciprocate the emotions felt by soldiers from the graphic scenes or actions envisioned/written.