Tim O Brien's The Things They Carry

In the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross recalls past stories told by him and from fellow soldiers in his time overseas in Vietnam. Experiences and events soldiers faced in Vietnam can change the way people think, feel, and act.

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

The conclusion of the novel The Things They Carried, suggests that with the use of imagination and storytelling, can overcome the after effects of experiencing a traumatic event. In the concluding paragraph Tim O’Brien explains that his childhood love Linda died; however he can still be with her with the help of his imagination. O’Brien says, “I can still see her as if through ice, as if I’m gazing into some other world, a place where there are no brain tumors and no funeral homes, where there are no bodies at all. I can see Kiowa, too, and even Ted Lavender and Curt Lemon , and sometimes I can even see Timmy skating with Linda under the yellow floodlight” (page. 232). This quotation is O’Brien acknowledging that while yes his loved ones are

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.

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.

The Vietnam War was a brutal and an arguably unwarranted part of our American history during the Cold-War Era. In an attempt to contain Communism, American and Vietcong soldiers, whether they wanted to or not, were subjected to horrible antagonistic violence. Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried, retells the traumatizing (and sometimes calm) events of the war from his perspective, hoping to convey the most real feelings and experiences- fictionally. In this work of fiction, O’Brien differentiates between the “happening-truth”- what events took place and “story-truth”- what those events evoke, how those events felt. In this way, story-truth is a different, more humanized understanding of time and of memory. O'Brien's use of story-truth

The narrator in “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy is a soldier that killed someone and the narrator in “The Things They Carried” is Tim O’ Brien who writes about his own experiences in Vietnam. I like Tim O’ Brien’s writing because it reminds me of movies like “Platoon” and “Full Metal Jacket”. I love movies like those and as I read “The Things they carried” my head flows with war movies and I imagine the book is a war movie in its self. On the other hand I am not a fan of Thomas Hardy “The Man He killed”. I personally believe the poem is weak and it doesn’t seem like there is any effort into it. I do give him credit because I don’t know if I could manage to have something as simple as pointing and shooting someone into five stanzas. Death on the other hand has different effects on people.

O’Brien wrote The Things They Carried with a simple purpose; he wanted to expose the truth of warfare and to examine storytelling, itself. The Things They Carried was an eye-opening tale of the reality of war. So often were soldiers that to be noble, proud fighters, pinned with medals and given. Soldiers were seen as individuals with the sole purpose of protecting and fighting for freedom; they were the pride and joy of America. However, They Things They Carried revealed the true impact of war. What is left of the noble soldiers is hardly recognizable. Men returning from Vietnam were riddled with guilt, haunted by ghosts of departed brothers, and ashamed of the horrific things they had down overseas. Twenty years after writing The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien did an interview in

The story mentions a lot of generals, sergeants, commanders and doctors, such as Sergeant Tim McHenry, Sergeant Hazard, General McAvory, Dr. Park and Dr. Emma Jordan. At some points in the story, too many are introduced at the same time so it can be quite hard to keep up with all of them.

Throughout The Things They Carried O’Brien emphasizes that death does not truly mean you are not alive. Although members of Alpha Company experienced fear at some point, showing fear will only reveal vulnerability to both the enemy and sometimes-cruel fellow soldiers. All three short stories share a similar trait, dead guys with big hearts that will never be forgotten.

Tim O’Brien’s compelling book about the Vietnam War, The Things They Carried, is a benevolent tale about an American soldier dealing with the internal struggles of raw virtue and thoughtful reflection. The book’s narrator incorporates a unique style that allows the reader to involve themselves in before, during, and post Vietnam War experiences. In addition to the wide range of time periods, O’Brien distorts the differences between fact and fiction allowing the reader to become closer to the emotional and mental state soldiers faced in the Vietnam War. Similar to a common soldier on the battlefield, The Things They Carried offers the ghostly feel and the absence of clarity soldiers are faced with. In contrast, many critics argue that O’Brien’s

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.

In “The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien, the narrator introduces the reader to the protagonist, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, who is in charge of a platoon of soldiers during the Vietnam War. O’Brien initiates by explaining to the reader that to carry something means to “hump”. O’Brien further explains that for our protagonist, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, he specifically “humps” photographs, letters and mementos of the woman he loves, Martha. The lieutenant has such an emotional attachment to everything he receives from Martha, that for him, it becomes problematic through the story since it leads to the death of one of his soldiers in the alpha team. He blames himself because when Lavender is shot, he is distracted, thinking of Martha, when he could’ve

The school board has proposed that works of fiction should be removed from the curriculum of all english classes, that is a not a good choice because making a curriculum is very difficult and lengthy. The students would have to learn how to find themes and lessons in literature without actually putting it into use in the classroom. The board would then have to invest into new textbooks as the ones we have now have works of fiction in them and getting new books is costly.The piece of literature that I will be referring to in this writing the most is a book ‘’The Things They Carried’’ by Tim o’Brien. It is a fictional book that takes place in the Vietnam war and the narrator which happens to be the author is part of a squad in the United states

Throughout my four years at Magruder High School many different books, songs, and films have challenged the way I think about things and shaped my perspective. One of many books this year that left quite an immense impression on me was The Things they Carried by Tim O’Brien. This book is a collection of short stories by Tim O'Brien, about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. The story follows young Tim O’Brien throughout his experiences as a soldier in Vietnam. One film that probably had the same impression on me as The Things they Carried was a film called Beast of No Nation. Beast of No Nation starring the iconic Idris Elba follows a young Agu as a civil war breaks out into his village, and is forced to escape corrupt government forces after seeing his dad and brother shot point blank and join a resistance group comprised of mostly child soldiers.