The Things They Carried: An Analysis
I had personal interest in reading Tim O’Brian’s “The Things They Carried”. My father fought in the Vietnam War, so my interest was in trying to understand the reason that we had such a strained relationship when I was growing up. I believe I have more of an understanding as to why he didn’t act like a grown up. He wanted those years that should have been his childhood back. In this short story the author showed the things they carried physically so that the reader could appreciate the significance of the things they carried emotionally. The weight of “The Things They Carried” was heavier than the items on their backs. The things they saw and had to do made them into the people that they were. When studying the story “The Things They Carried”
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Not only did these men work side by side but they fought side by side and slept side by side as well. They became family, a brotherhood that had each other’s backs. They took turns keeping watch and slithering down caves. But sometimes the watch was not enough and the enemy would take one of their own. This was not only a physical battle but an emotional one as well. These men had to do what they were told because that is what was ordered of them. They all put on a brave face for the sake of the platoon, but they had an inner struggle that the author alludes to in the story. O’Brian demonstrates this by telling us about them dreaming of “freedom birds” Jumbo jets that would take them away, he then explains it was more than a jet. It was a real bird, a big sleek silver bird with feather and talons and high screeching (O’Brian 493). Dreaming “they were flying naked, they were light and free” (O’Brian 493). This allows the readers to appreciate that the burden they carried was exceedingly heavy and they wanted to be free, to be who they once knew before this nightmare know as Vietnam.
Of all the things they carried the burden of carrying each other was the heaviest. A friend of mine told me, the battle that went on inside them was sometimes even more devastating as they came home to “real life”. The life they saw, fought, and orders they had to carry out were more than some could bear. This author created a picture that was hard to dismiss. I received an understanding that touched my heart and gives me more compassion for what my father went
Not only did these men work side by side but they fought side by side and slept side by side as well. They became family, a brotherhood that had each other’s backs. They took turns keeping watch and slithering down caves. But sometimes the watch was not enough and the enemy would take one of their own. This was not only a physical battle but an emotional one as well. These men had to do what they were told because that is what was ordered of them. They all put on a brave face for the sake of the platoon, but they had an inner struggle that the author alludes to in the story. O’Brian demonstrates this by telling us about them dreaming of “freedom birds” Jumbo jets that would take them away, he then explains it was more than a jet. It was a real bird, a big sleek silver bird with feather and talons and high screeching (O’Brian 493). Dreaming “they were flying naked, they were light and free” (O’Brian 493). This allows the readers to appreciate that the burden they carried was exceedingly heavy and they wanted to be free, to be who they once knew before this nightmare know as Vietnam.
Of all the things they carried the burden of carrying each other was the heaviest. A friend of mine told me, the battle that went on inside them was sometimes even more devastating as they came home to “real life”. The life they saw, fought, and orders they had to carry out were more than some could bear. This author created a picture that was hard to dismiss. I received an understanding that touched my heart and gives me more compassion for what my father went