The Things They Carried analysis paper Themes in The Things They Carried “In a story‚ which is a kind of dreaming‚ the dead sometimes smile and sit up and return to the world‚” writes Tim O’Brien in his novel The Things They Carried (225). Throughout the story‚ O’Brien discusses themes such as death‚ the loss of innocence‚ and truth. Not only does O’Brien successfully thematically connect his final story “The Lives of the Dead” to the rest of his book‚ he also creates a “true war story‚” as
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are “Boys” by Rich Moody and “The Things they Carried” by Tim O’Brien. “Boys” doesn’t use any paragraphs‚ and is told through the repeated words “Boys enter the house…” (Moody). The piece true there story of two twin boys who grow up as normal‚ mischievous boys. As they grow up‚ they go through hardships and drift apart. It isn’t until they exit the house after the paramedics take their father’s body or are they “no longer boys” (Moody). “The Things they Carried” features the story of an American
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The Vietnam War was the cause of thousands of deaths and remains a tragic and painful memory to those who survived. Tim O’Brien was once a soldier in this war. The Things they Carried emphasizes on his experience in the war. Also‚ to remember those who went to the Vietnam war and were soon to be forgotten. As we learn from the book he categorizes the truth in two ways (happening truth and story truth)‚ leaving us realizing that the truth is only how you see it. Telling a story in first person can
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The story of “The Things They Carried” took place during the Vietnam War. The author‚ Tim O’Brien describes each character by the things they carried. All of them carried necessary things which could help them go through the war – some were common‚ some were different‚ and depending on the soldier. Lieutenant Cross carried photographs of Martha‚ the girl with whom he fell in love. Due to an unclear relationship and a great distance‚ the more Lieutenant Cross thinks about Martha‚ the more he suffers
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Dee is the object of jealousy‚ awe‚ and agitation among her family members‚ while as an individual she searches for personal meaning and a stronger sense of self. Dee’s judgmental nature has affected Mama and Maggie‚ and desire for Dee’s approval runs deep in both of them—it even appears in Mama’s daydreams about a televised reunion. However‚ Dee does not make much of an effort to win the approval of Mama and Maggie. Unflappable‚ not easily intimidated‚ and brimming with confidence‚ Dee comes across
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Absolute Justice in Tim O’Brien’s "The Things They Carried" In society today‚ we live by tired clichés‚ swearing that “justice is blind” and preaching “equal justice under law” at every opportunity. We accept justice as something both natural and deserved‚ assuming that being fair is the same thing as being right‚ but only rarely do we realize the idealism of this mindset. Try as we might to ignore it‚ universal justice cannot exist in and of itself—there is no natural law that mandates an action
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Dialectical Journals of The Things They Carried Idea/Stylistic aspect | Quotation | Response | Truth | “Among the men in Alpha Company‚ Rat had a reputation for exaggeration and overstatement‚ a compulsion to rev up the facts…it was normal procedure to discount sixty or seventy percent of anything he had to say.” | The narrator‚ in making a seemingly offhanded comment about Rat’s tendency to lie‚ reveals another major point of the novel: the truth of a particular story is differing from person
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“Spin” Passage: The Things They Carried The function of the passage from the episode “Spin” is to introduce a different interpretation of the concept of “boredom‚” one that pertains to the war and the soldiers specifically and not often experienced by civilians. The type of boredom described by the narrator in the passage is tenser‚ and encompasses many more emotions that the Alpha Company comes across. Throughout the passage‚ the reader gets the idea that the soldiers are not bored in the irritated
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The Things They Carried: Chapter 1 Significant Quote: “In the accompanying letter‚ Martha wrote that she had found the pebble on the Jersey shoreline‚ precisely where the land touched the water at high tide‚ where things came together but also separated.” (8) Speaker: Tim O’Brien Audience: The reader Significance: This symbolizes Martha and Jimmy’s feelings for each other. They are separated by the war‚ but together in their minds. Questions: 1. What prompted the separate-but-together thought
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Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is not a novel about the Vietnam War. It is a story about the soldiers and their experiences and emotions that are brought about from the war. O’Brien makes several statements about war through these dynamic characters. He shows the violent nature of soldiers under the pressures of war‚ he makes an effective antiwar statement‚ and he comments on the reversal of a social deviation into the norm. By skillfully employing the stylistic technique of specific
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