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 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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In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” the raw realities of the cruel and unforgiving Vietnam War are authentically depicted. Just in the first five paragraphs sex‚ narcotics‚ and death‚ largely controversial topics in this country‚ are reasonably apparent. One character‚ Lieutenant Jimmy Cross‚ may be physically present but conveys every sign of distraction. He seems to be in a more copacetic quarter of his mind. In this quarter he finds elation and comfort when he thinks of the (so he thinks
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Title: The Things They Carried Analyzed Essay Throughout The Things They Carried‚ Tim O’Brien uses both truth and fiction to potray the events and feelings a soldier encounters during war. While using fiction‚ O’Brien also applies symbolism through the use of women to show certain aspects of what men in the Vietnam War experienced mentally. O’Brien includes his ten year old daughter‚ Kathleen‚ who is oblivious to the tragedies of war. As well as his daughter‚ O’Brien introduces a young girl
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The Weight The soldiers who served during the Vietnam War carried more than their fair share of tangible and intangible items. The soldiers bore the weight of their packs‚ they lugged around heavy equipment‚ and they struggled to cope with the violence and death that surrounded them. But the heaviest item that they would bear would not be by choice at all. Every passing day that the soldiers served in this war‚ more weight would be added to this item. When the time came for the soldiers to
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Tim O’Brien beautifully details the war zone and its aftereffects on specific veterans in The Things They Carried. Some war veterans leave their respective battle with war stories and life lessons to tell‚ but others leave empty-handed with an empty soul. Despite remedies recently implanted for veterans‚ Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) continues to negatively impact not only certain veterans but also society. To begin with‚ veterans who are diagnosed with PTSD have difficulty adjusting to the
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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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telling a story. In The Things They Carried storytelling appears plenty of times. It’s a reoccurring theme that displays itself throughout multiple chapters. In the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story” The narrator explains how a war story should never be believed or told. On page 65‚ it goes on to say‚ “If a story seems moral‚ do not believe it…...if at the end of the war story you feel uplifted then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie.” This shows how people will add or
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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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Utkarsh Jain War is one of humanity’s oldest vices. The keystone elements in human history are how soldiers respond to armed conflict and the stress of the war. The harsh conditions of war puts serious pressure on soldiers. Fighting a war is not a typical job that most of us go through. The soldiers are putting a very high risk to their own life and that is the biggest factor causing stress. They are not aware if the next bullet has their name of it. The knowledge and guilt of killing someone is
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