The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien represents the epitome of dehumanization that war inflicts on people. Each character is involved in a short story that makes up the entire novel; their different traits make up not only their personality but their entire persona and how their social role contributed to the overall message. The characters participation in the war leads to many tragic fates such as absurdity‚ trauma‚ and suicide. In the novel‚ Mary Anne‚ Tim O’Brien‚ and Norman Bowker’s lives
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On The Things They Carried Among all of the books I have read‚ and I have read a lot of books‚ I believe this one is the most intriguing when it comes to composition. Tim O’Brien‚ the author‚ has done what is rare in literature and composed a fictionalized autobiography. He brings together thoughts‚ ideas‚ emotions‚ and reality in order to create his own safe and satisfying reality. He tackles reader and author’s perspective and creates a work that deserves to be what The Milwaukee Journal calls
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about yourself.” In the quote moore describes the power that storytelling has on people. He explains to us that just because there is lies in the story‚ that doesn’t mean that we cannot take something away from it. Similarly in the novel‚ The Things They Carried‚ the author‚ Tim O’Brien‚ uses stories to tell us about his time serving in the war in Vietnam. And even though most of these stories are not entirely true‚ that does not mean we cannot learn from them. Storytelling is a tool that allows soldiers
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The truth is only believable if it is made up. The Things They Carried is an intriguing novel that stands out from many others in its genre. The author‚ Tim O’Brien‚ believes that story truth is truer than happening truth. This idea is prevalent throughout the novel‚ especially in the chapter called‚ “The Man I Killed.” Tim O’Brien explains his reasoning behind telling “The Man I Killed” the way he did in “Good Form” saying that “. . . a long time ago I walked through Quang Ngai Province as a foot
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worked‚ and from there it was a natural progression to learning how to use the weapon" (98). As the story goes on it shows that she is becoming more of a soldier. She in the end acted very differently than most women‚ this for women was a positive thing because it is giving her power‚ and a new look on life. This can be negative as well because Mark Fossie lost the girl he once loved. Her image continues to become more negative‚ once Mary Anne goes crazy and starts sleeping with the greenies. She
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therefore‚ construction of a new morality is inescapable. Within the stories in The Things They Carried‚ soldiers are required to do so during and after the Vietnam War. War breeds monstrosities and wanton cruelty. When faced with two evils‚ picking the lesser immoral option is not necessarily something to be frowned upon. This is what separates a soldier’s morality and a civilian’s morality. Civilians see things through a black-and-white perspective; fundamental standards that must be obeyed to
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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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events of violence or gore‚ but‚ rather‚ one that extracts the raw emotions of all who were involved. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien achieves this perfect balance between truth‚ empathy‚ and fiction. American author‚ Elliot Ackerman‚ shares that different experiences or events can encapsulate “the war in miniature”. Composed of short stories‚ each chapter in The Things They Carried could be interpreted as an example of “the war in miniature”. However‚ the chapter that most eloquently encompasses
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Angel Caisapanta Professor Wells English 1102 14 February‚ 2011 “The Things They Carried” In the short story “The Things They Carried‚” written by Tim O’Brien‚ there is a lot of symbolism in each specific object that was mentioned. According to Dictionary.com‚ a symbolism is the practice of representing things by symbols‚ or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character. A symbol is something used for or regarded as representing something else; a material object representing something
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Journal Entry 2 The short story‚ “The Things They Carried”‚ by Tim O’brien‚ was my favorite reading of this week. The author states what the company is carrying‚ as well as emotional burdens that they carry. I think that theme of this story can be summarized as “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. As I stated in the discussion‚ I think this story makes a profound point about trauma and emotional stress. Physical burdens are easily observable. For example‚ when people see someone in a wheelchair their
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