In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien‚ many negatives of being a soldier are presented. These negatives‚ being shown as emotional burdens‚ are prevalent throughout each character in The Things They Carried. More intensely shown is Norman Bowker. He carried strong burdens throughout the story as well as the end of it. The social aspect of the Vietnam War affected the soldiers in The Things They Carried by forcing them to get involved with illegal drugs‚ and find themselves stuck with emotional
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“Story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth." This concept may be confusing to those who read Tim O’Brien’s book‚ The Things They Carried‚ for the first time. By using a number of different literary devices‚ such as juxtaposition‚ paradox‚ metaphors‚ and metafiction‚ O’Brien separates truth and fact from one and the other in his novel about his time in the Vietnam War. He shows the truth of what he was feeling through the war and after without being factual. O’Brien’s explanation for not
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Lions for Lambs and TTTC Essay War novels can be one of two things: vivid accounts and harrowing tales‚ or instructional accounts and heart wrenching tales. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is without a doubt an exemplar of the latter. In parallel with O’Brien’s book‚ philanthropist Robert Redford directs and produces his film Lions for Lambs to this very same end. Lions for Lambs features a similar brand of invocative‚ yet gravely reformative storyline. As a result of these similarities
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Both Tim O’Brien’s "The Things They Carried" and T. Coraghessan Boyle’s "Greasy Lake" display characters’ similar reactions to violence‚ but in different settings and circumstances. In "The Things They Carried‚" Fist Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a soldier in the Vietnam War who finds solace and escape in fantasies of a young woman from home. One of Cross’s soldiers dies due to his daydreaming and forces him to abandon these fantasies. In "Greasy Lake‚" the main character finds enjoyment in picking
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watching people die in front of you‚ getting shot at and having to come home and return to “normal”. That is what Tim O’Brien had to go through. It took him 20 years to be able to come to terms with memories and write a novel. The novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a nonlinear book‚ which is a book that is told out of order. O’Brien made the novel this way because that is how memories work. He wanted a place to gather his thoughts and feelings about vietnam. This novel is about his memories
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AP English Language 21 September 2010 O’Brien’s Diction The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a historical fiction novel that presents a variety of anecdotes and dialogues exposing the reality and impact of the Vietnam War. The stories of several characters let the readers understand the wide impact of the war. O’Brien presents all these stories by the use of dialogue‚ and he does this successfully by maneuvering his diction. By the use of slang‚ soldier jargon‚ and vulgar language the author
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The Power of the Truth Novelist Tim O’Brian once said “A lie‚ sometimes‚ can be truer than the truth‚ which is why fiction gets written.” In his novel The Things They Carried‚ O’Brian argues that “story-truth is sometimes truer than happening-truth” (171). O’Brian opposes the idea of absolute truth‚ and believes that all truths are subject to change. He believes that a fictional story can be more true than an actual event. However‚ a story‚ no matter what story‚ cannot be more true than an actual
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single man. How can we really know what the truth is? In Tim O’Brien “the things they carried’ what really defines a war story being true? Its never moral‚ the uncertainty‚ or is it the horror and honor? The things that happen in war are never moral. War has a dirty bloody‚ gorier‚ and violent side to it. Well that’s what war is? "War is nuts war is fun‚ war is thrilling‚ and war is drudgery war makes you a
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A Character Analyzes on Lieutenant Jimmy Cross Those who experience the Vietnam War were greatly impacted by it. In the story “The Things they Carried”‚ by Tim O’Brien‚ the author is able to share a first hand view of one soldiers experience and impact of the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross undergoes many difficulties throughout the story. His main Conflict is being able to distinguish what portrays as a fantasy to present truth. By observing O’Brien’s style of writing‚ it is discovered
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exist. A thorough and valid account of battle‚ sticking without fail to the truth of the story‚ will inevitably be changed by either the soldier’s aggrandizement‚ or the loss of memory needed to translate the brain’s images into words. This results in there being a very thin line between
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