The Vietnam War. A war that many Americans believed unfair and unnecessary. “Why am I being sent off to fight in a war I don’t know anything about? Will I ever return again?” Many draftees asked themselves these questions hoping to find comfort in the answers. But there was little to no hope, and they knew it. They were being drafted and they could do absolutely nothing about it, only hope that at the end they would be returning to the enlightened faces of their loved ones, something that not many Vietnam soldiers expected to ever see again. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, portrays his experience in the war along with his fellow squad members, in their fight for survival against the Vietcong. In The Things They Carried, each …show more content…
The first story O’Brien decides to tell us is the story of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. Cross represents a young and inexperienced soldier who went to war for all of the wrong reasons. He deals with the savagery of the Vietnam War through letters and pictures sent from the woman he loves back home, Martha. Cross carries physical objects, pictures, letters, as well as memories from his time spent back home with Martha before signing up for war. At one point in the story after describing a date between him and Martha, he mentions how “he should’ve carried her up the stairs to her room and tied her to the bed and touched that left knee all night long.” (5) His thoughts of Martha are enough to help distract him from the brutal realities taking place in the war. However, his distraction becomes too much, and it ends up resulting in the death of one of his fellow squad members, Ted Lavender. He carries regret for the death of Lavender, and years later confesses his guilt to O’Brien, and that he has never forgiven himself for his death. Despite his long-lived regret, Cross finds comfort in his thoughts of Martha, and hopes one day she will return his love. From Tim O’Brien’s point of view, Mitchell Sanders was one of the most likable soldiers in the squad. Not only was he a good soldier, but he was a good friend as well. Along with O’Brien, Mitchell Sanders carries his fair share of stories. However, his stories are more commonly used to entertain the
As stated in the thesis, Timothy O’Brien also writes his short story, “How to tell a True War Story,” in the first person narrative, although the style in which he narrates is quite different than from the style in “A & P.’’ O’Brien, who was an actual soldier in the Vietnam War takes on more of an autobiographical approach to telling his “true war story.”
The author, Tim O'Brien, is writing about an experience of a tour in the Vietnam conflict. This short story deals with inner conflicts of some individual soldiers and how they chose to deal with the realities of the Vietnam conflict, each in their own individual way as men, as soldiers.
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is a portrait for war stories. Sandy Kempner's letter paints a clear picture. His role in Vietnam proves the toll it takes on mind, body, and spirit. The author uses the rhetorical devices of imagery, irony, and anaphora to illustrate his environment.
To begin, the narrator who we perceived to be O’brien himself tells the story in a third person perspective, describing the thoughts and actions of first lieutenant Jimmy Cross. As the story opens we are met by 1LT.Cross, who is carrying letters from a girl back home named “Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey” (O’brien 1-2) who he has deep feelings for but she does not feel the same for him. O’brien depicts this story as a love story because he wants the readers to feel connected to the characters and give them
The Vietnam War began in 1954, consisting of many extensive, horrific years of battle that seemed to create more harm to the United States and its soldiers rather than to North Vietnam. The 500,000 United States military personnel returned home with the loss of the war and the loss of their friends on their minds. Although the physical and emotional experiences that the men went through is unfathomable, Tim O’Brien does a great job portraying what life as a soldier was truly like in the Vietnam War. In the book The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien depicts the unstable emotional and psychological condition of the American soldiers through the symbolism of their belongings and personal anecdotes from their lives.
War is a paradoxical concept and with it comes many problems, problems that are the result of indirect or direct conflict. In The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, war is all around the characters. They are in the heart of Vietnam and because of that, soldiers must face difficult life events that enfold in the jungle. Tim O’Brien wants the reader to understand that by using stories the soldiers can distract themselves from the war, remember and honor the lost, and lastly to keep their own sanity.
While the Vietnam War was a complex political pursuit that lasted only a few years, the impact of the war on millions of soldiers and civilians extended for many years beyond its termination. Soldiers killed or were killed; those who survived suffered from physical wounds or were plagued by PTSD from being wounded, watching their platoon mates die violently or dealing with the moral implications of their own violence on enemy fighters. Inspired by his experiences in the war, Tim O’Brien, a former soldier, wrote The Things They Carried, a collection of fictional and true war stories that embody the
In the story “The Things They Carried” the author Tim O’Brien uses powerful imagery, figurative language and repetition to spread his message. O’Brien’s reason behind telling the story was to show the way the Vietnam war was, and to remind society of those forgotten soldiers that gave their lives for their country. The Vietnam war was a pointless war for the U.S to be involved in, and many young men were sent to Vietnam, regardless of any feelings of negativity they may have had about the war. Many of the participants of the war was under the impression that it was wrong to be sent to war as it was basically a death sentence. Unfortunately, no one realized that the young
The Vietnam War was sparked by the United States wanting to contain communism after World War II. The author Tim O’Brien writes in his short story “The Things They Carried,” using personal experiences from his time serving in the Vietnam War. Jimmy Cross, the main character who did not believe in the war, was drafted in June 1968. Being commissioned to a foreign territory to fight for your life and the freedoms of others is a life changing experience. Soldiers often bring items from home that give them hope of motivation to survive in order to return home. The short story “The Things They Carried” gives an insight on what soldiers carry with them throughout the war. Each man the story carries different items, including comic books, a
Unlike most war stories, in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” the war in Vietnam is not glorified and instead, the story is believable and raw. The horrors of war that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his squadron experience in an unfiltered, yet emotionally detached way that molds the structure and the language. This story, through its structure and techniques, displays the idea of how disillusionment and loss of innocence create unimaginable burdens for the American soldiers. O’Brien portrays the characters’ burdens with a monotonous and lulling tone through the use of flashbacks, setting, imagery, and metonymy.
In "The Things They Carried," O'Brien made reference to the Vietnam war that was closely associated with the physical, psychological, and emotional weight the soldiers beared. The overall method of presentation of this story incorporated many different outlooks on the things the soldiers carried, dealt with, and were forced to adapt to. In addition to this, O'Brien showed us the many reasons why and how the soldiers posessed these things individually and collectively and how they were associated directly and indirectly. The strong historical content in "The Things They Carried" helped emphasize the focus of the story and establish a clearer understanding of details in the
The Things They Carried is a novel written by Tim O’Brien about the events and occurrences of one of the greatest points in the history of the United States, the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was an extremely bloody and deadly war that cost thousands of American soldiers their lives. Many people, civilians and soldiers, found the United States participation in the Vietnam War as wrong and controversial. Tim O’Brien uses metafiction to write this book, which portrays a blurred line between fiction and nonfiction stating true facts from his days as a foot soldier in Vietnam and fictional stories of heroic yet tragic moments. I was not in favor of his
In his book “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien is both narrator and protagonist. The book is about his personal experience in the Vietnam War and describes how each soldier in the platoon feels about the war. In O’Brien’s book title “Things” has a significant meaning:
In the story “The Things They Carried” we learn all about character development from their experience during the Vietnam War. The first character we meet is Tim O’Brien. Tim is the narrator of the story and is also the protagonist. The next character we meet is Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. Jimmy is 22 years old and the leader of his group of soldiers. Jimmy appears to be “just a kid at war.” While at war he has a one sided crush with a girl named Martha where he likes her but its not a mutual feeling. He is distracted by her and they write lots of letters back and forth to each other. Throughout the story Jimmy changes a lot. From the beginning with his obsession with Martha, he later realizes he is just wasting his time and he needs to move on
“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’ Brien is a story in which the author details the possessions the emotions and the memories which were carried by the soldiers into the Vietnam War. The accuracy fact fullness and the attention to details make this story a truthful experience, riding on a thin line between fiction and a reality. It embodies the transformation that a soldier in a war zone undergoes. The author being a war veteran himself captures the events in a vivid manner. The two works of literature serve as an authentic and knowledgeable depiction of men fighting a war. They not only carry the weight of weaponry and ammunitions and supplies needed but also the weight of the struggle and the violent deaths that surround them which weigh heavier than the items they carried. The outcomes of war for the side that wins or loses results in devastation of the people but the soldiers are the ones who carry with them the memories of pain and struggle long after the war ends. Every war is partly fought on the ground and partly in the mind of soldiers.