Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

1990, when The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien was published the reality of Vietnam was still a much recent memory for most. The fear of being drafted, the heartache that came with losing your friends and family in the war, and not to mention the mental scarring it did to those who came out of Vietnam alive. The Things They Carried highlighted some of these things and even showed a bit of what life was like after coming out of something as emotional and traumatic as a war like that. However, from the point of view of a Vietnamese veteran the book could make it appear as if the Vietnamese were being dehumanized and disgraced, and it can also seem like it tries to make people sympathize with the American soldiers who invaded Vietnam.

“Linda was nine then, as I was, but we were in love...it had all the shadings and complexities of mature adult love and maybe more, because there were not yet words for it, and because it was not yet fixed to comparisons or chronologies or the ways by which adults measure such things...I just loved her. Even then, at nine years old, I wanted to live inside her body. I wanted to melt into her bones -- that kind of love.”

Going through an era when the Vietnam War was a smash hit in your town, many high school senior boys would be drafted out if their number was on the list of people. The men drafted had to leave behind their families and aspirations. Tim O’Brien uses different perspectives in The Things They Carried to show if something tragic happens in life, consequently dealing with it may be hard. Moving on will help in the future.

The distractions of war, misinterpretation of reality and limited control of fate as a result of the human condition appear throughout the Vietnam War at all times. Tim O’Brien, as a narrator describes the struggles of storytelling during and after the war. The constant struggle to determine reality versus personal perception arises in many aspects of his memory. Some factors of recalling events are uncontrollable such as interference of imagination and uncertainty as a result of the human condition. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the telling of story-truth, rather than happening-truth, is necessary, as no replica can be as genuine as the original.

Everywhere I go, I carry with me a tangible piece of my past as both a reminder of who I was, as well as who I have become. Although it seems trivial, this item is my beanie. In an effort to reestablish my image as I entered middle school I grew out my hair started to wear a beanie to school every day. After reaching the end of my middle school experience, I cut my hair (mostly out of desperation in the summer heat). Although my hair was gone, the beanie seemed to stick around. I believe this is because it takes me back to a simpler time in my life, but also serves as a reminder of how much I’ve grown and matured since then. I have no regrets, and it is fully my decision to carry this item, but it brings me comfort because of who I was back then versus who I am now. It only weighs a few ounces, and it weighs down my heart about as much as it weighs down my head: not much.

While general morality dictates that all living things should be protected and matter, traumatic events override this belief. Whereas the sanctity of life is thrown away, violent outbursts of rage or anger become more common. Robert Ross always resorts to his pistol when afraid or threatened – he now relies on instinct and violence rather than intellect: “He wanted his pistol… Gun. Gun. He wanted his gun.” (O’Brien 177-178) Naturally, Robert wants to get revenge against his rapists. However, murdering is not normally the first response. This shows that Robert cannot control himself completely, he thirsts for destruction. This is also a result of his post-traumatic stress injury. Likewise, his urges were evident at the start of the novel, after

In life we carry a lot of emotions, burdens and luggage. There is a quote from a great poet that reads. “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves” in “Things They Carried”. The author Tim o Brien, creates a story about a soldier and his life after the war and struggles that he has to go through and the people around him seem to go through. Tim Obrien writes this story, as a 43 years old man which is recalling his previously experiences as a foot solider in Vietnam. “On their feet they carried jungle boots-2.1 pounds- and Dave Jensen carried 3 pairs of socks” (Obrien 270). The theme revealed in “The Things They carried” is that you can keep your spirits alive by moving and carrying your

In the book, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the first chapter is called, “The Things They Carried.” The book was based on the Vietnam War. The first chapter gave an overview of what each of Jimmy Cross’s friends and he carried with them during the war. Jimmy carried “love” letters from a girl named Martha. He loved Martha and she was all he thought about.

Vietnam, the heart and soul of teenage rebellion to the government for creating a draft that sent over the creative and intelligent youth, was a war that was deemed to get rid of the political idea, communism, which spread as quick as the napalm that blazed over the serene green landscapes. The narrator to the story, Tim O’Brien, repeatedly recounts memories of the war, each with an added detail or an object that carried a significant amount of weight that makes the story seem more factual than what it seems. The soldiers carried loneliness, uncertainty of the truth of war, and the heavy burden of physical and emotion weight; Tim O'Brien uses war related imagery to symbolize the vim of storytelling in his book “The Things They Carried”.

“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a magnificent book illustrating the physical and mental impacts of the Vietnam War on soldiers. “The Things They Carried” gives an insight into the lives of the soldiers and the experiences brought upon them before, during and after the war. One theme that stands out is that the soldiers in the book carry not only physical items, but also thoughts and feelings such as the memories of their loved ones and burdens of those who have been lost.

A famous author once said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” this was quoted from Dr.Seuss. Dr. seuss is saying reading more does nothing but benefit us, so why does the school board want to limit us by taking away a right we have which is reading whatever we desire even if it's fiction.In the book The Things They Carried the author Tim O’brien mixed fiction and realism. For example he addressed the aftereffects of war and also what happens during war. Tim gave us a perspective into something that's real by using fictional aspects to portray that. The way O’brien tells the story in the book gives you his perspective into war and the troubles along with it.

The human mind never wants to recall negative memories. We do not want to remember that time when we were giving a speech in front of a class and we tripped on our words. We never want to remember that time when we were walking through the hallway and suddenly fell over our own feet with our books flying all over the floor. We do not want to remember that time when we were at war and our best friend lost his life, but we got to keep ours. But what we do recall is the moments we arose heroic and overcame an obstacle.

The short story, The Things They Carried, represents the notion of storytelling as a means of catharsis by providing the difference between the assumption of the things that happen in the battle field and the actual truth. O’Brien attempts to explain to the targeted audience of the story that some stories can be narrated truthfully by faking only a small portion of it. For instance, according to the author, the Vietnam War did not follow any pattern and it did not have any theme underlying it. Therefore, in order to implement the two aspects, he comes up with imaginary things that did not really happen. For instance, throughout his story, the author includes imaginary stories of men such as Tim O’Brien (the main character), Rat and Kiowa, who never really existed. The author uses these characters to convey the central themes, in which the main character changes over the course of the narrative.

The Things They Carried, told by Tim O'Brien, tells of the adventures and experiences of many young men during the Vietnam War. He describes everything the men carried on their missions all physically, mentally, and emotionally. Many of these burdens had a huge effect on the men and still do today. This novel is told with neither an anti-war perspective nor a pro-war perspective on war, but rather a neutral perspective.

First of all, O’brien gives attention to detail when he talks about what it is the soldiers carried with them in the Vietnam War. He even gives the exact weight of the items that he describes. “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the necessities or near necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat