Summary Of The Things They Carried 'By Tim O' Brien

In the short story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien writes about a group of platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War and the variety of personal items the soldiers carries with them besides their equipment. The story talks about how each of them carries a significant item that helps them to hide their fears and bring them comfort. The main protagonist is Lieutenant Jimmy Cross who has an inner struggle between his civilian life and his current life of leading a group of platoon to war. In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the author writes about Mrs. Mallard, a young woman who was told that her husband death in a train accident. Uponing finding out the news, she locked herself in her room to mourn but soon came to the conclusion
Humans are programed to adapt to any situation and or environment. In the article “The Structure of Evolutionary Theory” by Stephen Jay Gould, “An adaptation is any developmental, behavioral, physiological, or anatomical change in an organism that gives that organism a better chance to survive and reproduce” (Gould). Adaption is not necessarily physical it could potentially be a behavior or the way an organism acts. This is especially evident in both stories. In the short story “The Things They Carried”, O’Brien writes “Instead he went back to his map. He was now determined to perform his duties firmly and without negligence… but from this point on he would comport himself as a soldier” (O’Brien). Since Cross was unable to adapt to the environment in the beginning of the story Lavender died. Therefore, Cross forces himself to adapt in order to ensure that he and his platoon could survive the war and return home to see their family and friends. In “The Story of an Hour”, Chopin writes “She arose at length and opened the door to her sister’s importunities. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory” (Chopin). Chopin noted that Mrs. Mallard pretended to be depressed only to show others that she is devastated by the death of her husband. In this scenario Mrs. Mallard adapted to the situation in order to show sympathy and grief just to
Humans are flawed in many ways. Everyone makes mistakes therefore everyone tries to hide them as well. Oliver R Cooper writes, “And while deep down one may want to embrace their true self; it is often far from easy and the world generally discourages one from doing so. So this means that very few people take the time or make the effort to know their true self and therefore reveal it to others” (Cooper). An individual is usually self centered and it is important for them to come across a bing a certain type of person. In the story “The Things They Carried”, O’Brien writes “They were signed “Love, MArtha,” But Lieutenant Cross understood that :LOve was only a way of signing and did not mean what he sometimes pretended it meant… At full dark he would return to his hole and watch the night and wonder if Martha was a virgin” (O’Brien). Cross hid his true self from him platoon because he want to come across as someone who is capable of being a leader not as someone who is pretending that a girl loves him as much as he loves her. In the In “The Story of an Hour”, Chopin writes “He stood amazed at Josephine’s piercing cry; at Richards’ quickly motion to screen him from the view of his wife. When the doctors came they said she died of heart disease- of the joy that kills” (Chopin). Mrs. Mallard deceived everyone until the very end (even the doctors)