Civil War General Sherman once said‚ “War is hell.” He was right. In the short story “The Things They Carried‚” Tim O’Brien shows us the hell that our soldiers suffered. The narrator shows us a captivating‚ and up-close story about our soldiers in the Vietnam War. While the title relates to the story about things carried‚ but the soldiers carry more than just the physical burdens-in many cases‚ they are weighed down by emotional baggage. The emotional baggage that lies heavy in their hearts
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shame and loneliness. In The Things They Carried it is clear that most of the soldiers in the war do not come back with a sense of pride or honor. Most come back wishing they had never gone at all. Tim O’Brien reveals that because Vietnam precipitated such traumatic experiences‚ his storytelling is a great way to cope with his shame and loneliness‚ emphasizing that the war experience is not one of patriotism and heroism‚ but one of loneliness and guilt. The "things" part of the title represents
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plants the seeds of terror in the young man by imposing him his radical‚ yet catchy theories of life. In the beginning of the book‚ when he meets Dorian‚ he tells him "[An influenced person’s] virtues are not real to him. His sins‚ if there are such things as sins‚ are borrowed. As Lady Narborough notes to Dorian‚ there is little (if any) distinction between ethics and appearance: “you are made to be good—you look so good.” Lord Henry‚ his corrupter. The Supremacy of Youth and Beauty
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Andrew Kronaizl Sarah Garelik English 210 April 8‚ 2011 The Things They Carried “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien puts the reader in the mind of a few characters who fought together in the Vietnam War. Throughout the story it becomes apparent that these “men” are nothing but children‚ children who have no business being in the jungles of Vietnam. A war with an unclear purpose in a very foreign land is one that children are least suited for. They do a very unsatisfactory job fighting
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slang‚ O’Brien doesn’t make the conversation sound formal. He avoids making the conversation sound scripted. Journal Entry #18 A.) Simile‚ page 151. “Her eyes were as fluffy and airy-light as cotton candy.” B.) A simile is a comparison of two things using the words ‘as’ and ‘like.’ Here‚ the author is comparing the appearance of cotton candy and eyes. C.) O’Brien compares the fluffiness and airy-light appearance of cotton candy to the subject’s eyes. By doing so‚ he illustrates to his audience
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“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
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The Things They Carried: Catharsis and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder “Men killed‚ and died‚ because they were embarrassed not to” (O’Brien 20). Tim O’Brien is the author of The Things They Carried‚ a fictional memoir written from the perspective of the narrator‚ whose name is also Tim O’Brien. This fictional O’Brien’s experiences cover many themes‚ most notably those of fear‚ guilt and humiliation. In this novel‚ O’Brien uses a distinct blend of fact and fiction as an outlet for his actual experiences
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Lieutenant Jimmy Cross Many people tend to overlook the great obstacles and combats that our soldiers put themselves into in order to keep us safe‚but have they looked deeper into the minds of each soldier and the story they carry. In the book The Things They Carried Tim O`Brien helps convey the true characteristics of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross throughout not only the Vietnam War but through the mental battle he suffers everyday dealing with the sorrows he carries. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross‚ was the leader of
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both memories and the current happenings in one’s life. In the beginning of The Things They Carried‚ by Tim O’Brien‚ O’Brien describes the lasting turmoil both he and Lieutenant Jimmy Cross feel as a result of the war: “... Jimmy rubbed his eyes and said he’d never forgiven himself for Lavender’s death. It was something that would never go away‚ he said quietly‚ and I nodded and told him I feel the same about certain things” (26). The tragedies of war can never be understood by one who has not experienced
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As an individual’s‚ we carried something in our lives that meant something that could be a small object or something inside us. In “The Things They Carried‚” many outlook on the things the soldiers carried or dealt. It shows us the many reasons why and how the soldiers possessed these things individually and how it was important for them. This doesn’t happen only in the war but in a daily day‚ we carry something special that has meaning. It could be any small object that tells something about us
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