Jeff Jackson Instructor Barbara Manuel English 112 3 March 2013 Shell Shock: A Bloodless Battlefield A storyteller of war‚ Tim O’Brien‚ author of The Things They Carried‚ keeps the reader mesmerized with PTSD stories of the Vietnam War. This novel represents a compound documentary written on accounts of the Vietnam War. Many of the stories in this book encompass various examples of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. There are graphical depictions
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A. Park The Things They Carried The symbols in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” are essential to understanding the soldiers and their lives during the Vietnam War. At the opening of the story‚ Lieutenant Jimmy Cross would dig into his foxhole and read the letters while imagining romance with Martha; however‚ at the end of the story after the death of Ted Lavender‚ he “crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters” (402). The inner feelings of Cross would be mistakenly
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The Things They Carried‚ more like the things that I will carry forever‚ if there is any book I would say is the worst‚ is this book. BUT‚ it’s bad for all the GOOD reasons. I’ve read other war books that are good and EASY in making me put myself in the main characters position‚ but this book is definitely the opposite. Author Tim O’Brien continuously purposefully betrays his audience in order to construct a ‘truthful’ war story that makes the readers WISH to be in the characters position‚ not because
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Surreal In The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien tends to use surrealism to tell his war stories. What is surrealism? It is a mix between fact and fantasy‚ which makes it bizarre. For example in the chapter How To Tell a War Story he tells three surreal stories. O’Brien tells us how to know when someone is telling a true story and when someone is lying. One of the story is about Mitchell Sanders telling about six men going crazy. They went crazy in the forest because they been up there for days not
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The novel “The Things They Carried” travels back to the time of the Vietnam War‚ and provides real-life experience from the author Tim O’Brien‚ as he and his fellow soldiers battle in Vietnam. This novel also describes the things that each soldier carries with them both literally and figuratively. What O’Brien may have been carrying after war compelled him to share his stories‚ and provide a truth behind the bloodshed. The Vietnam War is referred to as the “longest and most unpopular American War
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“The Things They Carried” focused on the experiences of soldiers who faced war and how they were effected mentally and emotionally. Many soldiers constantly needed to escape from the catastrophic reality of war. They used “things” as defenses against the reality of war and also to keep hold of themselves. Although these “things” were unique to their personalities‚ Tim O’ Brien uses these “things” to show detachment from reality of the soldiers. “The Things They Carried” took place in Vietnam from
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of a communist government from taking over south Vietnam. This was known as a “containment war”. They wanted to fight this war to stop the spread of communism. The war started in 1955 and lasted until the fall of Saigon in April 1975. The Things They Carried tells the stories from soldiers point of view and others experiences. Tim O’Brien‚ Jimmy Cross‚ and Kiowa were just a few of the men that were in the Alpha company. O’Brien‚ Tim‚ and Kiowa had some very cowardice and very courageous moments
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The Things They Carried was highly symbolic. The items that the men within the platoon had carried symbolized home and comfort. Each man had a unique item with them in the war that provided them with comfort and reassurance. These physical items carried the men through all of the hardships they endured by giving them a peace of mind and hope of returning to their former lives. From carrying a condom‚ a comic book‚ ammunition‚ the bible‚ photographs‚ and many other little material things‚ these
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The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien Essay In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried‚ narrative elements shape an author’s idea‚ and can even contribute to how effective they were in re-telling their experiences. Without them‚ the story would be bland and boring to the reader‚ and sometimes unbelievable. Tim O’Brien effectively uses different points of view to retell the soldiers’ Vietnam War experiences. Tim O’Brien first used a change in point of view when Curt Lemmon died. In How to
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In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien‚ O’Brien describes his personal experience in the Vietnam War. His experiences reflect many of his characters personal experiences. For the Vietnam War was one of the most gruesome wars ever fought by American Troops since the Civil War. Many of the long term effects of the war are still felt by are soldiers today. “They carried the soldier’s greatest fear‚ which was the fear of blushing. Men killed‚ and died‚ because they were embarrassed not to. It was
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