“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien Due Friday‚ October 31‚ 2014 @ 11:59 p.m. on Schoology Questions for Discussion and Style & Structure or aguilar.english@gmail.com. *Please type your answers. Complete sentences and thoughts is always expected. Questions for Discussion 1. The story begins with a paragraph about Jimmy Cross and his relationship with Martha. What does Martha represent to Cross? Why might it be significant that Cross obsesses about whether or not she is a virgin? How
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The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha‚ a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were not love letters‚ but Lieutenant Cross was hoping‚ so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack. In the late afternoon‚ after a day’s march‚ he would dig his foxhole‚ wash his hands under a canteen‚ unwrap the letters‚ hold them with the tips of his fingers‚ and spend the last hour of light pretending
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to weapons soldiers brought mundane things like candy‚ cigarettes‚ and letters from their loved ones‚ O’Brien emphasizes their humanity. And in specifying the exact weight of several of the items‚ including food‚ weapons‚ and gear‚ he gives us a very tangible idea of what it was like to struggle under such weight. But the soldiers carry more than just physical burdens—in many cases‚ they are weighed down by emotional baggage. Jimmy Cross thinks that he carried the idea
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Literary Devices Used In The Things They Carried By: Tom Vennemann The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien expresses the importance of a story-truth‚ as opposed to a happening-truth by use of literary elements in his writing. The novel is about war and the guilt it leaves on everyone involved in the war. Story-truth is not exactly what happened‚ but uses part of the truth and part made up in order to express the truth of what emotion was felt‚ which an important thematic element in the novel is
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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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“The Things They Carried.” There are many ways shame can show itself during war although you wouldn’t think so since they are serving our country. It drives them to do things that they wish they had not. O’Brien really brings all of the possible shameful acts to the reader’s attention. Shame is the reason that Tim O’Brien decided to go to Vietnam. Many of the characters feel shame as a primary motivator‚ too. Not only does it lead them to war‚ but it keeps them there. It is the one thing that
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As an individual’s‚ we carried something in our lives that meant something that could be a small object or something inside us. In “The Things They Carried‚” many outlook on the things the soldiers carried or dealt. It shows us the many reasons why and how the soldiers possessed these things individually and how it was important for them. This doesn’t happen only in the war but in a daily day‚ we carry something special that has meaning. It could be any small object that tells something about us
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both memories and the current happenings in one’s life. In the beginning of The Things They Carried‚ by Tim O’Brien‚ O’Brien describes the lasting turmoil both he and Lieutenant Jimmy Cross feel as a result of the war: “... Jimmy rubbed his eyes and said he’d never forgiven himself for Lavender’s death. It was something that would never go away‚ he said quietly‚ and I nodded and told him I feel the same about certain things” (26). The tragedies of war can never be understood by one who has not experienced
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The Things They Carried it is clear that most of the soldiers in the war do not come back with a sense of pride or honor. Most come back wishing they had never gone at all. Tim O’Brien reveals that because Vietnam precipitated such traumatic experiences‚ his storytelling is a great way to cope with his shame and loneliness‚ emphasizing that the war experience is not one of patriotism and heroism‚ but one of loneliness and guilt. The "things" part of the title represents not only the physical things
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In Tim O’Brien’s novel‚ The Things They Carried‚ numerous themes are illustrated by the author. Through the portrayal of a number of characters‚ Tim O’Brien suggests that to adapt to Vietnam is not always more difficult than to revert back to the lives they once knew. Correspondingly the theme of change is omnipresent throughout the novel‚ specifically in the depiction of numerous characters. Tim O’Brien is drafted one month after graduating from Macalester College to fight a war he hated. Tim
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