Preview

The Things They Carried Minimalism Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
830 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Things They Carried Minimalism Analysis
The excerpt of “The Things They Carried” inspired me to write about minimalism and the burden that excessive amounts of possessions can create and how ultimately it can weigh down an individual’s happiness. It inspired me to write about this topic by listing off all the things the soldiers in the story had to carry and how much each thing weighed. It made me think about how unhappy carrying the heavy equipment might have made each soldier and how unhappy I was with the things weighing me down. To introduce an audience who knew nothing about minimalism I’d introduce them to it by talking about the primary purpose of minimalism. The primary purpose of minimalism is to declutter a person’s life and get rid of unessential things that just end …show more content…
“What does minimalism mean to you?” This is a question I have gotten from people who I’ve talked in the past, because as with all social movements minimalism can mean different things to different people. To me minimalism is a lifestyle choice where you remove things in your life that are not useful or act as dead weight serving no purpose other than to just exist. For me removing these things allowed me to focus on my possessions that were useful to me or brought me some sort of joy. “How could having a lot of possessions be harmful?” This is another question intend to answer in my paper. I do not remember all the science behind why it is harmful, but in my personal experience part of the problem of have too many possessions is having too many options. While it is nice on paper to have a lot of options, when ever I had to make a decision on which of my possessions to make use of for instance whether I go outside and play basketball, stay inside and watch a movie, or play a video game no matter which option I chose in the end I’d still have this feeling of dissatisfaction like I could have been spending my time doing something else. Although I do plan to use scientific research to back this claim up in the essay. “What are the benefits of Minimalism.” This question is probably the one that is the easiest to answer. Some of the benefits of minimalism can include less household clutter, less money spent of things you won’t use, a healthier mind, and a more fulfilled life. While I can’t provide hard evidence for those last two things they do seem to be common among people who become minimalists. For this issue I need to learn more of the specifics about the data behind becoming a minimalist, and the science behind why clutter is bad for mental health. To obtain this information I will use the internet to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a very descriptive story about a group of soldiers and their experiences during and after the Vietnam War. Included in this story of their experiences , is the physical weight of the objects they had to carry during the war. O’Brien not only tells the reader about the physical weight of war material , but also of the mental and emotional weight the war had on the soldiers. He goes into depth about the burdens of guilt, love, memory and terror the war had on his fellow men. O’Brien is sure to exaggerate these emotions in the story and makes it apparent to the reader that the physical weight of the war is heavy, but the emotional and mental weight are both heavier.…

    • 2108 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For this assignment, we are going to create an essay, using O'Brien's model, of the things we carry. I expect us to adhere to the techniques of the short story, using the repetition of phrases such as “I carry” and “The things I carry.” The repetition is part of what makes this short story effective. I expect us to use repetition at least 20 times in our essays. Also, with almost every tangible item the soldiers carry, O'Brien tells us how much the item weighs. I expect us to do the same. Obviously don't go weigh items, just take a guess.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien takes us back to the Vietnam War. He demonstrates to the reader that not only does each United States soldier carry something physical with them, but they also carry an emotional burden as well. What each man carries is a combination of thoughts, emotions, and past experiences.…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jimmy Cross Symbolism

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “The Things They Carried” is a story about what is most important to a soldier, practical and emotional. Jimmy Cross tells how pictures, letters, bibles, and journals were just as important as guns, medical supplies, and radio contact. A soldier couldn’t do what he does without some ties to real life, beyond the war. As Jimmy Cross said, “It wasn’t cruelty, just stage presence. They were actors and the war came at them in 3-D.” The letters and pictures helped them stay grounded, a hope for a life outside of the war.…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Military personnel fighting for our country and swear to protect the citizens of the United States carry a heavy burden. Everyone has an items or two that they carry for emotional reasons, a picture of our children in our wallets, a key chain that has sentimental meaning to just the thought of family or friends to help use manage our day. Tim O’Brien short story can carry over to everyone lives. His metaphors show physical, mental and emotional impacts items had on his characters and forces the reader to take a glimpse into the readers own lives. Fousing the reader to consider what is important and the impact items we carry can have on…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tim O’Brien authored the novel “The Things They Carried” a novel filled with short stories about the Vietnam War. The first passage in the collection lists the numerous things the solders in O’Brien’s platoon carried. Varying from weapons, to thoughts of loved ones back home. Distorting the line between the tangible and intangible, O’Brien writes about the things like bibles, pantyhose, moccasins, and pictures. Things the men carried tangibly, but are used to give them something to think about other than the waning darkness of the war, that making them intangible. The intangible things are used to escape the war; weighing heavier than anything tangible possibly could. Specifically, they are burdened with death. The men carry the intangible burden of death, something always on their minds and weighing more than anything tangible they could ever carry. They did what they could not to acknowledge death, each using their own techniques try and put a spin on and lift the emotional baggage of war and war’s mortality.…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a short story base on the lives of a group of soldiers during the later years of the war in Vietnam. In this story, O’Brien examines the burdens of the soldiers and the effects that these burdens can have on man in life-threatening situations. The author describes these burdens referring to the weight that the soldiers carry. These soldiers have to go trough great physical strain but also mental and emotional difficulties that weigh them down immeasurably.…

    • 2078 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thesis Statement: In “The Things They Carried,” the soldier uses physical objects to calm their secret fears. This symbolizes emotions, spiritual burdens within the objects that symbolize times, places, and also what they feared. Another thing we are not aware of is when the author mentions dust which is a constant reminder to the soldiers that they are not safe.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tim O’Brien’s, The Things They Carried, contained different memoirs that truly bring the actions of war to life for the reader. Obrien’s book expresses the real feelings a solider faces while getting ready to go into war, in war, and post war. Through his vivid descriptions the reader is able to emphasize with the emotional burdens and stresses solders must go through while on duty. We are able to observe the different coping mechanisms solders must endure, including, cutting them selves off from reality and preoccupying their mind with other, sometimes meaningless, thoughts .The chapter that had the largest impact on myself was “Night Life.” For me this passage truly depicted not just the physical, but mental battle soldiers must go through; and the extreme measures taken to relive themselves from the intensity of battle.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The fiction novel written by Tim O’Brien called The Things They Carried uses a lot of nonfiction stories within the novel. O’Brien also uses characterization of the soldiers in the platoon to illustrate the emotional weight that they carry. Tim O’Brien in The Things They Carried mentions,” By and large they carried these things inside, maintaining the masks of composure”(21). He focuses on Jimmy Cross, Mark Fossie, Kiowa, Curt Lemon and several other soldiers in the platoon including himself.…

    • 1234 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The characters of the story “The Things They Carried” mainly were inflicted with two kinds of weights: physical and emotional burden. In the first chapter, Tim O’ Brien sets up his storytelling by writing long lists of the things the soldiers were carrying in the War in Vietnam. Beyond the basic gears of war, he goes on mentioning the personal luggage that varied from person to person, mostly depending on their necessity, helping the reader to get to know the protagonists in a deeper sense this way. To know their souls, their customs, and the way they would probably live their “normal” lives. A letter, a photograph, a bible, the drugs, condoms, comic books, and a pair of moccasins are all life-story-telling property.…

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The use of symbolism in this story is really amazing. Using the items soldiers tend to take with them to combat zone Tim O’Brien is able to tell a lot about what really soldiers have in mind, their characters and even what might be going on in their personal life. I find this a story interesting to me because when I was deployed I carried things to keep me going. Personal little items I carried with me had a meaning. In this story, although the writer is talking about things that soldiers carried with them, he is passing a message with a different meaning. He is not just telling an interesting story but also describes each of the main characters by telling the readers what these characters carry. Some of the characters carried things demanded by necessity and while some carried emotions and love. All these things they carried symbolized something.…

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is an enormously detailed fictional account of a wartime scenario in which jimmy Cross (the story’s main character) grows as a person, and the emotional and physical baggage of wartime are brought to light. The most obvious and prominent feature of O’Brien’s writing is a repetition of detail. O’brien also passively analyzes the effects of wartime on the underdeveloped psyche by giving the reader close up insight into common tribulations of war, but not in a necessarily expositorial sense.. He takes us into the minds of mere kids as they cope with the unbelievable and under-talked-about effects or rationalizing death, discomfort and loneliness as well as the themes of heroism, physical and mental pain, and a loss of innocence. Obrien achieves this through extended description, imagery and tone coupled with an intimate relationship with the stories main characters.…

    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story “The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien, the author uses symbolism to show the physical and emotional burdens the solder carry with them. Throughout the story we hear just about everything that just about ever soldier carried. And no matter how random it be, whether it be a condom, a gun, letters a pebble or a bible it still gave those emotional men hope and comfort in that they…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the story "The Things They Carried," Tim O 'Brien talks a group of soldiers in the Vietnam War. He does this by describing the items that each of them carries with him during the march. The things that the soldiers carry with them are both physical and mental items and what these things are depends upon the soldier. They carry the basic "necessities" for survival and the bare minimum to make life as civilized as possible. But they also carry memories, and fears, and it is mental items like these that are the main focus of the story. The weight of these items is as real as that of any physical ones, and unlike those physical objects, they are not easily gotten rid of.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays