story an example of this is Tim O’Brien’s "The Things They Carried". As the story goes on it shows not only the literal meaning of what they carried but also symbolically the burdens that they had mentally. In the literal sense O’Brien talks about what different members of a platoon in Vietnam carried. This helps him to move to a more symbolic sense at the end of the story. He starts by talking about necessities and slowly moves on to what they carried to remind them that there was a world out side
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Spring Book Review In The Things They Carried‚ Tim O’Brien tells the tale of not about war‚ but rather about war’s effect on one’s mentality. Ultimately‚ this novel is built on a foundation of the items that the soldiers of the Vietnam War carried. Whether it was the way Jimmy Cross uses the pebble to escape from his duties as a soldier or when Norman Bowker realizes that courage comes form within‚ not from receiving a Silver Star; O’Brien uses baggage as a symbol throughout the book to teach
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“War is hell‚ but that’s not the half of it‚ because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead.” (80) This passage is very significant to the reality of the soldiers in the Vietnam War and brings to life the setting of the entire novel. The soldiers were primarily teenagers and young men in their early twenties
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In Tim O ’Brian ’s "The Things They Carried‚" Lieutenant Jimmy Cross ’s obsession with Martha causes the death of Ted Lavender‚ an officer under his charge. The Lieutenant ’s mind was constantly distracted from the war by his thoughts of Martha. Jimmy has an obsession with her; he wants to know everything that goes on with her‚ and even around her. The Lieutenant has deep desires for her‚ but he pictures her the way her wants her to be. Daydreaming about Martha‚ instead of watching his surroundings
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Nick Grainger Eng 112 March 16‚ 2004 The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien was an infantryman in during Vietnam War. He used those experiences to write many short stories including The Things They Carried. The story portrays how‚ "the things they carried" were weightless in comparison to their feelings of love and loss‚ fear and shame‚ and the torturous memories of death. "They all carried emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief‚ terror‚ love‚ longing- these were intangibles‚ but the intangibles
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The Things They Carried What seems like a true account of his time in war‚ Tim O ’Brien makes The Things They Carried a generalization of his own experiences in Vietnam. Through the actions of soldiers we can begin to explore the effect war has on the human condition and the toll it plays on their minds. O ’Brien makes shame and physical and emotional burdens motivation. He also plays around with the idea of ambiguous truth and how to tell true war stories. That the difference between the "happening
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Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam novel The Things They Carried was written in many respects to reflect real events and while we soon come to the realization that the actual event is in the end irrelevant‚ these events still provide a vital backdrop for the reader to initially absorb then realize that they don’t actually matter. The Things They Carried is not a text book nor in any respects is it an accurate historical account‚ it is a collection of memories‚ feelings and actions and with O’Brien staying clear
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Randolph “Andre” Rivera Mrs. Moreland English 11 April 16‚ 2012 The Things They Carried In the book‚ The Things They Carried written by Tim O’Brien‚ the challenges faced by war are explained in the form of stories. The effects that war can have on a soldier in Vietnam are not solely limited to the physical state‚ but also the mental state‚ as is shown when O’Brien introduces the character Mary Anne Bell in chapter nine. The corruption that war brought to an individual’s life led to
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fight in defense of these values have them taken away because of their experiences at war. The negative effects are just as big as the positive effects of war. A nation can never really win in war because of this. Instead war just stays a neutral thing. There are many people who instead of staying in the middle‚ gravitate to either end of the spectrum. Some who fall on the far right believe that war is extremely necessary and disregard the negative aspects all together. Pacifists say that war understand
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The Things They Carried In “The Things They Carry” by Tim O’Brien‚ readers are taken on an in-depth emotional and physical journey with Alpha Company in Vietnam. O’Brien uses some basic but symbolic objects that soldiers carried in war to show an emotional connection with home. The emotional importance of the objects is specific to individual soldiers and carries a heavy burden on the emotional status of some soldiers. O’Brien puts heavy emphasis on personal objects and on the physical aspect
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