Tim O Brien Passage Analysis

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.

Laurence Stern wrote, “ No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.” By interpreting this quote, Stern says that no one can understand what it feels like for a man to have his mind torn apart by two equivalent forces that pull him apart in opposite directions inside. There was much underlying meaning and connection from Laurence Stern’s quote and to The Things They Carried. In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien is the author as well as the character who is pulled apart by two projects: war and morals. The war in Vietnam heavily impacts each soldier causing them to yearn for

The central theme of the story is the age-old conflict of life and death. On a more personal level with First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, the round character and protagonist of "The Things They Carried", it is a conflict of love, his antagonist and of war.

In Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried, the chapter “In the Field” O’Brien expresses how similar the shit field that Kiowa died in is a metaphor for war. Kiowa, a good man, drowned in the field can correlate to how many good men die in war and how for other people it stays on, they can taste it in their mouths and smell it for a long time afterwards, in the form of ptsd and the ecetera.

Truth In the novel The Things they Carried Tim O'Brien is very concerned with truth. He is concerned with truth because he must avoid the literal truth in order for us as readers to understand the reality of war. The reality is, that war is not moral. In the chapter “How to tell a true War story” O'Brien talks about what makes a story true.

In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, he emphasizes a chapter on “The Man I Killed”, which describes the characteristics of a young Vietnamese man in which O’Brien may or may not have killed with a grenade. The novel is not chronologically sequenced, which leaves more room for the reader to engage in a critical thought process that fully bridges the author’s mind to their own. In O’Brien’s chapter, “The Man I Killed”, he attempts to humanize the enemy in a way that draws little separation between the enemy and himself by relating the enemy’s life prior to the war to his, and illustrates the war through the eyes of the soldiers who fought it.

Many may question the true meaning of love. However, there is not an exact description. According to Merriam-Webster, The full definition of love is “a (1): strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties-maternal love for a child (2): attraction based on sexual desire: affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3): affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests”. Love played a role in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is the platoon leader. While stationed in the Vietnam, Lieutenant Cross was infatuated with Martha. He used his memory and imagination to escape from the scenes from the war.

Emotions and Burdens – “They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing – these were intangibles, but they were tangible weight.”(20). O’brien, as well as his platoon members, had to b prepared for death at any given point in time, whether it be his own death or the death of his comrade in arms.

Religion is a big influence in Flannery O 'Connor 's writing. “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” stresses the idea of good and evil. This can also be viewed at the evil in Christ. The story is set in the early 1900s. “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” begins with a woman and her disabled daughter sitting on their porch and she notices a man walking towards their home. The man, Mr. Shiftlet, sees an old car that he wants. The old woman, Lucynell, is also craving something and takes the opportunity to achieve it. By her use of symbols, imagery, and irony, she reveals that there is corruption within Christ.

There are two types of people that fight in wars; those who consider their patriotic duty an honor and those who entered the war by force. In 1990, twenty years after returning from the Vietnam War, Tim O’Brien published The Things They Carried, a disturbing and remorseful collection of short stories that gives detailed, yet fictional, accounts of the horrific events that occurred during the war. Later in 2012, after his tour of duty, Chris Kyle released American Sniper, a humble and passionate memoir that describes what Kyle had to face during his tour. While The Things They Carried utilizes symbolism and similes to inform the reader about the horrors of war, American Sniper uses flashbacks and imagery to demonstrate that some people “come alive” during the war.

     How does death affect the behavior of people? Although death affects everyone's behavior differently, knowledge of one's imminent death is a main force behind behavioral changes. This knowledge causes emotions that motivate people to act in ways that they normally would not. In Tim O'Brien's 'The Things They Carried,'; the knowledge of death and its closeness causes the men in the story to alter their behavior by changing they way they display power, modifying emotions to relieve guilt, and by exhibiting different actions to ease anxiety.

Everyday life is great at making you who you are or what you have become. It is amazing how one choice or event can change someones life. This is especially true when it comes to the Vietnam War. There were so many lives that changed during this time. The Vietnam War brought us the end of the draft and instated a volunteer army which we still have to this day. This war also helped give the right for 18 year olds to vote which was a big help to Nixon’s second term as president. With this said the Vietnam War has greatly affected America and Tim O’Brien is one of those people. O’Brien says he wasn't into the war however I think he eventually discovered a new form of happiness from creating his amazing stories with his experiences in the

The “sunlight” that rises above the river symbolizes new beginnings and freedom. But if Tim O’brien he would have to fight the never ending battle of his “love” for Martha, the [memories] of his friends and the “sorrow” and lust to return home. The author also uses so contradictions where he talks about the dawn spreading across the river and the mountains which sets up a hopefulness for Tim O’brien who longs to be home. Though he wants to go home he is afraid to; so he stays in the war and bares all the burden of war for the sake of his

One of the main characters in the short story “The Things They Carried”, written by Tim O’Brien, is a twenty-four year old Lieutenant named Jimmy Cross. Jimmy is the assigned leader of his infantry unit in the Vietnam War, but does not assume his role accordingly. Instead, he’s constantly daydreaming, along with obsessing, over his letters and gifts from Martha. Martha is a student at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey, Jimmy’s home state. He believes that he is in love with Martha, although she shows no signs of loving him. This obsession is a fantasy that he uses to escape from reality, as well as, take his mind off of the war that surrounds him, in Vietnam. The rest of the men in his squad have items that they carry too, as a way

Another way O’Brien weaves a new story to portray emotional “truth” is by inserting “lies,” or events that may have not happen. O’Brien states “Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t, because the normal stuff is necessary to believe the truly incredible craziness” (71); this is displayed when Rat Kiley tells the story of Mary Anne and Mitchell Sanders replies with “all that had to be there for a reason. That’s how stories work” (O’Brien 102) when explaining how he knew she was with the Green Berets. Rat Kiley provided basic background information on the Green Berets, such as there were six of them who had their own area and occasionally vanished for a couple days (O’Brien 92). While none of that may be the “happening-truth” - or maybe all of it may be the happening “truth” - it doesn’t really matter. O’Brien implies that the information is not the “happening-true” only to imply the real “truth”, the “story-truth”; Mary Anne’s story was weaved with fiction in order for the readers to understand the “story-truth.” She was there to display how war affected the soldiers: “What happened to her… was what happened to all of them. You come over clean and you get dirty and then afterwards it’s never the same” (O’Brien 114). The juxtaposition of her young feminine innocence in the beginning and in the end with her disappearance was a stronger story than stating the war broke the minds of men. O’Brien weaves his story to depict the “story-truth.” In addition, readers