Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

Symbolism is a major literary device that helps people see a book through symbols that often have a deeper meaning. A symbol is used to explain something in a different way, using images, objects, etc. instead of just saying it in words. As you search for a deeper meaning in a work of art or literature it can help you understand the author’s intentions and the deeper significance of a work. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, symbols help reinforce the major themes of the book.

Memory, symbol, and pattern affect the reading of literature greatly by the way we interpret the piece. These three things contribute to the way a character is portrayed or the way weather, setting, and objects impact an overall outlook on the plot completely. In the book The Chronicles of Narnia (2010) I was able to recognize symbolism including many Christian parallels from the Bible; such as when Alsan died but came back to life. This connects in the Bible to when Jesus died on the cross but then came back as an astonishing figure.

In the book, The Things They Carried, by Tim O'brien, the title of the first chapter perfectly mimics the name of the book itself. The author talks about the many items soldier’s carried with them into the Vietnam War, as well as the effects they had on his many teammates. Each new chapter, though, gives new insight as to what they carried around with them besides physical objects. Despite palpable things in which they were required to have, young men would find themselves bearing the heavy weight of responsibility and emotional trauma that came with them. In order to cope with these endeavors, soldier’s would also bring with them something to help, whether it was simply the knowledge of God, or a reason for fighting. O’brien’s stories give

As Tim O’Brien states in his short story book, The Things They Carried, the only true thing about war is its allegiance to evil and obscenity. One example of this faithfulness war has to stick to its truth is the inevitable death of many soldiers. War consumes. It consumes a large amount of resources, money, energy, time, but most of all it consumes human lives. The ones who don’t pass must bear the witness of the death of the others. “In the Field”, one of the short stories in O’Brien’s book, explores the way death is handled by soldiers and the process by which absorb the emotions that come along with it.

Tim O'Brien's novel, "The Things They Carried" is based upon a platoon of soldiers in Vietnam, in which as the title hint's at, focuses on the items and more emotional parts of being a soldier. These items range from the essentials of being a solider, ranging from food, water, shovels etc. To the more personal and individualistic items, with examples ranging from the more common, love letters, holding a bible and pictures of loved ones, or to the more "unique" (or odd) items chosen, such as pantyhose, a thumb and even moccasins. Whether or not these items appear weird or generic to us is irrelevant, behind those items is a deep sentimental meaning to that item to that soldier or person, which is exactly what we will be looking into for "The

War changes people and Tim O’ Brien is a great example because in The Things they Carried, the novel observes a struggle to conquer grief and the struggle to deal with death; which shows the human side. The story displays strong sentiment and lets the reader sympathize with the characters, especially Tim O’ Brien. Tim O’ Brien permits the spectators to feel the emotion by writing this fictional story.

Tim O'Brien gives readers a greater understanding of underlying motivations of soldiers who fought in the Vietnam war in his short story "The Things They Carried." He shows the bond the soldiers share and how that bond helps to hide their fear in order to maintain an honorable reputation. He also depicts the soldiers’ common fear of showing weakness and the ways they hide that fear from the other men in order to avoid being judged. He shows how the men of Alpha Company have the principles of masculinity drilled into their minds, and therefore believe that their reputations hinge upon their manliness. In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” the author uses the brotherhood of the soldiers and the fear of weakness as motivators for the soldiers’ obsession with reputation.

In German it's Krieg, in Latin it's bellun, in Spanish it's Guerra, in English it's War, a no man's land where deception meets chaos and death is no stranger. No matter the era, war has and will always creep up on us. Vietnam was no exception. Like in the book “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien he clarifies that war is war and regardless how big it is it leaves nothing more than trails of bodies, guilt, and scars for people to live with. As a result of such an experience, it's engraved as a mark on history, but at what cost?

The Vietnam War started November 1, 1955. It started when President Eisenhower didn’t want communism to spread throughout the world. Tim O’Brien served in Vietnam as a foot soldier from 1968 to 1970. In Tim O’Brien’s novel “The Things They Carried”, shame, love, and violence play a vital role in the soldiers’ lives.

A traumatic event occurs when a person is in a situation where there is a risk of harm or danger to themselves or other people. Situations like this are usually frightening or cause a lot of stress. In such situations, people feel helpless. We all cope with these traumas in different ways, in the protagonist’s case, he writes about it. Tim O’Brien expresses a candid tone in the passage corresponding to Lavender’s death from fictional novel, The Things They Carried using specific rhetorical strategies in order to create a relatable dilemma with how often times horrific stories are unintentionally skewed.

The Things They Carried is a brutally honest novel about, not the Vietnam war itself, but about a veterans experiences with it. The war itself is merely a setting, taking a backseat to the characters who are coping with things ranging from love, fear, and, most importantly to this book, loss. The novel is somewhat reminiscent of an anthology, with each chapter usually surrounding a new story that O’Brien experienced or heard about. This haphazard way of storytelling reflects the war itself, and the way these soldiers had no idea where they would be the following day, if they were even still alive. O’Brien also consistently questions the honesty of the stories his fellow soldiers told, as well as the stories he himself is telling the readers. This, once again, may be to evoke feelings of deceit and fear, not knowing if anything being

“I think it's important to have closure in any relationship that ends-from a romantic relationship to a friendship. You should always have a sense of clarity at the end and know why it began and why it ended. You need that in your life to move cleanly into your next phase,” (Jennifer Aniston). The best teachers are those experiences which challenge us. If people work to understand these relationships, they will gain great knowledge. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie is a girl who goes through life clueless of what love means and struggles to find its true purpose. In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien tells his stories about the Vietnam War and talks about those he has lost in the

In Tim O’Brien’s historical fiction novel The Things They Carried, O’Brien uses a character also called Tim O’Brien to tell about experiences from the Vietnam War (1954-57). In the chapter, “How to Tell a True War Story”, O’Brien states “a true war story is never moral.” (65) War is not only horrid and unsightly, it also affects a soldiers’ mental make-up. Filled with death and gore, the Vietnam War has the capability to leave soldiers physically and mentally unstable. O’Brien begins his journey as a frightened, inexperienced young man, terrified of the great dishonor that follows evading the war. Tim O’Brien departs the Vietnam War full of remorse then tells short stories throughout the novel, The Things They Carried, about the Vietnam war as a coping skill. To show vivid emotions O’Brien uses the novel to fill in the blanks of his memories. Indulging in The Things They Carried is comparable to sitting in a living room, having a conversation with a war veteran.

In the book, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, he explores the fine line between reality and fiction. Reality is what really happened. Fiction is fabrication of the situation. Reality is distorted when a situation is serious, emotional, and traumatic. In O'Brien experience, when telling a story from the observer's point of view, the observer unnecessarily adds details to make it more dramatic and animated. Which in turn,the incident changes the story from reality to fiction. The story teller wants the audience to experience what he felt when he experience the event. When the observer highjacks the reality of the story, the audience may not know the facts from the fiction.

Symbols are important in each story to define the theme. Close observation of the symbols within each story proves to one their