"Boom-down‚ and you were dead‚ never partly dead.": An Examination of Responsibility in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried The Things They Carried‚ a collection of short stories written by Tim O’Brien and published in 1990‚ is a story which takes place during the Vietnam war. The Vietnam war was a battle originally between North and South Vietnam. The United States army was brought in on behalf of South Vietnam. The costs of the Vietnam war were extremely high with approximately three million
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In the poem‚ My Papa’s Waltz‚ Theodore Roethke reminisces about his youth of tangled empathy of concern and unconditional appreciation regarding his predecessor besides the imperfections his predecessor has. Theodore Roethke shows the emotions of concern and appreciation through word choice‚ imagery and metaphors in the poem My Papa’s Waltz. Roethke’s word choices highlight the mixed emotions he feels regarding his predecessor. Through the combination of the words “death” and “waltzing” (l. 3-4)
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The concept of death has always been a blurry topic to discuss but what if the concept of death was wrapped around a war‚ would that make things better? When people talk about death all they think about is the one person‚ their life‚ their life story and what all they have been through. In The Things They Carried the author uses death to help portray certain characters in their own unique way whether it’s from describing the way they died‚ or just what they had to look forward to‚ all the way back
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Many people‚ in some point in their lives will experience a death of a loved one and will try to cope with it as best as they can. In “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien‚ O’Brien talks about his war stories and how he and the soldiers handled the deaths of the soldiers while at war. The soldiers had to deal with the stress‚ sadness‚ and guilt when seeing their partner get killed. O’Brien talks about the different coping mechanisms the soldiers use when facing the death of a fellow comadre. The
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The Things They Carried – Discussion Research 1. “A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.” In his stories‚ Tim plays with the truth. He has been doing this since he was a young boy‚ wishing his girlfriend back to life. He realizes that if you try hard enough and are creative enough‚ you can bring the dead back to life in stories. It doesn’t matter whether the stories are exactly true--you can change the name‚ or location‚ or even parts
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Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a very uniquely written book. This book is comprised of countless stories that‚ though are out of order‚ intertwine and capture the reader’s attention through the end of the novel. This book‚ which is more a collection of short stories rather than one story that has a beginning and an end‚ uses a format that will keep the reader coming back for more. Typically‚ a novel contains four basic parts: a beginning‚ middle‚ climax‚ and the end. The beginning
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The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien 1 | Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers‚ pocket knives‚ heat tabs‚ wristwatches‚ dog tags‚ mosquito repellent‚ chewing gum‚ candy‚ cigarettes‚ salt tablets‚ packets of Kool-Aid‚ lighters‚ matches‚ sewing kits‚ Military Payment Certificates‚ C rations‚ and two or three canteens of water. (pg. 2) | Most of these items I understand that they have to have them. There are a few though that I don’t think are a necessity or a near-necessity
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experience unimaginable stress that can make them appear weak or strong. Which is the biggest contradiction that war presents; war makes you strong and war makes you weak. There are numerous examples which can easily be found in the book The things they carried by Tim O’brien. Two stories that demonstrate it best are “the man I killed” and “speaking of courage.” Looking back through history also farther promotes the idea‚ like when America created the atomic bomb‚ and started a draft. Tim O’brian
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Literature is a reflection of the truth. The Things They carried portrayed the Vietnam war accurately. O’Brien took us deep into the emotions of the veterans and it made the readers sympathize with them. O’Brien wrote about the raw emotions of the veterans and that made readers truly sympathize for the veterans. Veterans go through an unexplainable experience that average civilians can never understand. That makes it hard for veterans to talk about their experiences to an extent that someone will
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and unguarded) was suddenly gone; when you land‚ everything you see is different. Would you feel a loss? Within the works of The Things They Carried‚ Girl‚ Interrupted‚ and “Letter from Marion Kempner”‚ the characters experience loss in several ways. The central theme in these three works is a sense of loss. Tim O’Brien‚ the author of The Things They Carried‚ experienced many instances of this feeling‚ particularly with losing relationships and innocence. He writes about his friend Jimmy
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