Truth In The Things They Carried, By Tim O Brien

No war is easy for the soldiers who put their lives on the line to fight for what they believe in. The soldiers on both sides of the Vietnam War faced challenges that changed their lives forever and left a lasting effect on their physical and mental health. The hardships faced in the Vietnam War as depicted in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien are an accurate representation of the struggle faced by not only the soldiers fighting the war but also those who were involved in nonviolent positions.

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

What A Soldier Carries Very few authors who write fictional stories decide to mix fact with fiction to demonstrate certain ideas, however that is exactly what author Tim O’Brien does in the book The Things They Carried, to demonstrate what these soldiers had carried in the Vietnam War and after the war.

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.

The Things They Carried p.269 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

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

Memories, symbols, and patterns affect how someone reads and understands a piece. They paint the concepts in bright colors, making the story more interesting and pulling the reader into itself. Noticing the memories, symbols or patterns lets the reader see the story in a way the author might not have intended. Suddenly, the reader is guessing what comes after the book, connecting it to their own life, and seeing the characters in a while new light, for example; In Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried, Tim tells a lot of flashbacks from the Vietnam War. The good, the bad, he remembers the men and the crazy stuff they did to pass time. He remembers the people of Vietnam, and the sweet one-legged boy who asked for a chocolate bar. “I remember

In the novel, The Things They Carried, the war stories of the characters are nothing like the glamour-filled heroic tales. Men had enlisted in the Vietnam war in honor of serving their country despite the uncertain outcomes. The silent truths of the war remain hidden until resurfaced through trauma. The narrator, Tim O’Brien shows the readers how the results of war can be unsettling and scar the soldiers forever. Though the soldiers have survived physically, mentally they are dead. Every time a death takes place in the story, guilt takes over the soldiers rational thoughts. In The Things They Carried, O’Brien clarifies the misconceptions of war being honorable to portray the truth of the Vietnam War and how it has psychologically self-destructive

The Things They Carried 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

Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried follows the experiences of O’Brien himself among other American soldiers he fought with throughout the Vietnam War. While he claims that the entire story is a work of fiction, some of the events portrayed throughout the novel did, in fact, actually happen to him and his peers to an extent. The whole novel is not written on a linear timeline, but it rather reads similar to a collection of short stories that all tie together to an extent. While he was in combat, O’Brien saw a wide variety of deaths, but he also managed to bond with the other members of his platoon, each having their own personal experiences and beliefs regarding the war itself among other topics. Although the war gave Tim O’Brien a

In Tim O’Brien’s, The Things They Carried, he was describing the life of soldiers in the Vietnam War. As the topic of the short story suggests, O’Brien was discussing what soldiers carried around and needed facing their harsh experiences during the war. It seemed that the struggles of the soldiers were not only about facing death or having a hard lifestyle in which they carried their safety equipment, food, medical supplies, and even sometimes their dope. The struggles included burdens related to habits, tasks, beliefs, and emotions.(1)

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

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is, according to O'Brien, a complete work of fiction. It is not a true countenance of soldiers’ tales, nor is it his own experiences of the Vietnam war; the stories aren’t true. Although, what is it that makes a

In conclusion, a personal connection to something that means so little to others can be a huge impact for someone else. In the novel, “The Things They Carried”, the author Tim O’Brien uses pieces of things that had a major impact toward the soldiers and talks about how it prevents insanity. He shows this through symbolism in the characters, like Norman Bowker, Henry Dobbins, including the author himself. All throughout the novel, the author chose to use the soldier's pain in a way that makes them unique. The author expresses how the soldiers dealt with their pain through the war, and Henry Dobbins way of coping was by sniffing his girlfriend's pantyhose while reminiscing the times they had together. That is an example of how the author uses

What is “truth”? In The Things They Carried, the reader has their eyes opened to a new kind of “truth”; a “truth” that is not based on the honesty of events, the “happening-truth”, but the honesty of human nature, the “story-truth.” The novel itself, The Things They Carried, is comprised of many different stories based on the author Tim O’Brien’s service in the Vietnam war. Recalling from memories of his service, Tim O’Brien intricately weaves fact and fiction into his novel to force the reader into a turmoil of emotions by telling “true war stories,” that are not, in fact, war stories. Although many readers believe that “truth” is the act of retelling reality, “truth” is, in O'Brien's reality, the act of portraying emotions; that is why a “true war story” is not about war, but emotions.