Argumentative Essay On The Things They Carried

Silvia Cordova Ap Literature Mrs. Nellon 16 September 2015 The Greatest Fear Is Not Death Have you ever thought of what decisions you might do if you did not care of what others might say about you? “The embarrassment must have turned a screw in his head”(84). Tim O’Brien the author of the novel “The Things They Carried” a novel that debates the topic of truth vs. fiction all through the end using a generative idea of a soldier but at the same time using experiences not to generalize war since according to O’Brien it's almost impossible to generalize, a novel that is Vietnam war fiction, the story consist of several narratives from Tim O’Brien and some from the rest of the main characters such as Mitchell Sanders who is a man that carries experience
For some soldiers the pebble that keeps them on earth is a photograph of a loved one or many other light objects, but for theses soldiers in Vietnam from the book what keeps them alive and wanting to keep fighting every day is the memories that is the one thing they all carried in “The Things They Carried”. Of Course like in every group there are rivalries within members and these Vietnam soldiers were just like a group of children playing around in a field. These soldiers are just becoming adults between the ages of eighteen to twenty as O’Brien implies they are just kids with dreams that have no idea how to fight or why the war is even happening. Curt Lemon's death was ironic with the events that happened in “the dentist” because the previous chapter identifies Curt Lemon's relationship with a soldier Rat Kiley, the first aid responder of the platoon, as them being inseparable companions, he describes them as “best friends” but that was before Lemon died and where was this so called “best friend” when he had to face his greatest