Response to “The Things They Carried” Julianne Goldammer 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
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lives for the sake of not being titled as cowards. Some get to fight another day‚ some don’t‚ others get captured and become prisoners or hostages. But one thing is certain‚ for those who have experienced war know first hand that it has the power to change you as a person. In the short stories “Guests of the Nation“ and “The Things They Carried‚” authors Frank O’Connor and Tim O’Brien share the same central idea of the horrible effects of war. Both stories are about a young male soldier who faces
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The ‘things they carried’ in the fictionalized story of the Vietnam War are not only military supplies‚ guns‚ and ammunition‚ but they also are the “things” that comforted the soldiers and helped them through the tumultuous war. The Vietnam War was different from wars in the past but this story is similar and helps understand the “things they carried” and how helped the soldiers get through it. “It didn’t’ matter what they were‚ But they were the things they carried.” Tim O’Brien graduated in
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In the reading of the book‚ “The Things They Carried‚” by Tim O’Brien ‚ I had mixed emotion on this book because of how the events were organized and how O’Brien decide to narrator the book. For example in the beginning of the reading it was understandable and made sense‚ however after the first couple of chapters I did not know what or who was talking or being talked about. O’Brien would be talking about some war story or someone ‚ and in reality it was really Rat Kiley‚Curt Lemon or Azar talking
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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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Riham Hermiz T/TH 11-12:30 2/19/13 The Things They Carried There are a few things that I gathered from the story “The Things They Carried”. The boys were all young and inexperienced and it was clear they were drafted bodies for numerical gain. They carried both physical and emotional baggage‚ and it’s never clear which weighs more heavily on them. It seemed that to some of the boys‚ their emotional baggage weighed harsher on them than the physical baggage that they had to carry. Each boy
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Literary Analysis of “The Things That They Carried” In the short story “The Things That They Carried” Tim O’Brien uses the literary elements of characterization‚ setting and foreshadowing to support the theme of physical and mental burdens put on soldiers during the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was never the military type. He still wonders why he joined. His rank as lieutenant seems unreal. He never truly demonstrates leadership and separates himself from the rest of the Alpha Company as
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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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O’Brian’s “The Things They Carried”. My father fought in the Vietnam War‚ so my interest was in trying to understand the reason that we had such a strained relationship when I was growing up. I believe I have more of an understanding as to why he didn’t act like a grown up. He wanted those years that should have been his childhood back. In this short story the author showed the things they carried physically so that the reader could appreciate the significance of the things they carried emotionally
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Memories The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and The Road by Cormac McCarthy both deal with the profound affects that memories have upon the actions and understandings of men. In both novels memories weigh heavily on the main characters’ souls‚ but each man carries that burden differently. The results may vary but the impact of what has happened and what is remembered changes their perspectives and ultimately leads to a unique ending for each man. Do the memories that are carried shape or change
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