Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

When fighting as a soldier in the Vietnam War, everything carried has to have significance. In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the soldiers carried items that were important to them symbolically and emotionally. There were some objects that were a necessity such as, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, steel helmets, ponchos, and etc… Also, standard weapons were needed like the M-60, M-16, and M-79. Jimmy Cross was first lieutenant so he had the responsibility to shuffle around a compass, maps, code books, binoculars, and a .45-caliber pistol. RTO Mitchell Sanders had the responsibility to carry the PRC-25 radio, which was a whole 26 pounds. Rat Kiley was the medic and had certain items needed to treat

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

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 story "The Things They Carried" Tim voices that the mental burdens outweigh all of the physical pain and weakness. Many of soldiers carried the emotional baggage of the men who will die. The emotional baggage that the soldiers carry such as fear, grief, and love; these were all intangible but carried lots of mass and weight on the soldiers. The fear and the responsibilities far outweigh all of the physical torture that the soldiers must endure in order to stay alive, each soldier has a little bit of hope that they may return home.

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

Many people assume that when someone is physically gone, they are gone forever. In the chapter “The Lives of the Dead” in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien the author demonstrates that people can, in fact, live on after death through people's thoughts, emotions and imagination with the motif of storytelling.

People view war in a variety of different viewpoints. Not everyone believes it is negative. In the novel, The Things They Carried, Tim O’brien explains his perspective on war. He believes that many people are quick to brush away the fact that war is truthfully an astonishing event.

A true war story can have no moral. Neither side can be the protagonist or antagonist. Both sides are anti-heroes, they are neither good or bad because there is no moral to war. Since war has no moral, it affects soldiers emotions by effecting their morals. Due to the immorality of war, there is no correct side or perspective.

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.

What good came out of the Vietnam War? The answer may vary depending on the person being asked, but we know one thing for sure, it was the longest and costliest war of the twentieth century for the United States (“Vietnam”). “The war lasted for eleven years and was responsible for the deaths of about 58,000 Americans and more than 3 million Vietnamese” (“Vietnam”). Most the soldiers fighting in the war were draftees that were often young and inexperienced. The brutality on the frontline led to the development of severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder within many of these young soldiers. The nation learned from this war but it came at the expense of a whole generation.

Vietnam war veteran and novelist Tim O’Brien, in his piece titled, “The Things They Carried,” portrays personal war stories of a group of soldiers during the Vietnam War to convey how stories and memories can aid in coping with death. The novel was extremely emotional and thought provoking, causing me to question what was real or not, and how these stories were more than just stories. As the novel progressed, it became increasingly clear how, for O’Brien and some of the other soldiers, these stories were not just stories for the them to reminisce on, they were a form of therapy, helping them to live on, even when faced with death and morbid experiences. Through these various stories ranging from the distant past and the present, O’Brien successfully

Negative experiences can have lifelong effects on a person, no matter what situation they were in. They live the rest of their lives with flashbacks, nightmares, and survivor’s trauma. Some trauma survivors have help coping with the effects of their situation but most people don’t have any way of coping with what they have seen and gone through. In Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, the narrator, Tim O’Brien, writes the stories about the Vietnam War that he was in, 20 years after the war ends. The narrator O’Brien has trouble with coping after the war so he writes stories about the war describing what they went through in detail. He was fresh out of college when he was drafted into the war, so he was very young and inexperienced. He had to go into a war that he knew nothing about and

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

The story, “The Things They Carried” was the experience of foot soldiers during and after the Vietnam war. However, considering the structure of the story, one could say that it is in fact, antiwar story. In the story, the plot jumps from time to time. The story is chaotic, yet it revisits the difficulties for one soldier. Consequently, he was faced with the realities of the war, in which he had to deal with tragedies as well as being in a relationship (Kirszner & Mandell, 2016). In the reading, it involved the mental state of the character, not only were there killings but apparent suicides of those unable to deal with life after the war. Another reason I found the story to be antiwar is because there is nothing positive about war and from

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.