Christian Mueller Professor Marek ENC1102 Sec 81 25 September 2013 Burdens of War Tim Obrien’s “The Things They Carried” To understand literature‚ especially the more abstract and intricate stuff‚ you must comprehend beyond the literal text. To really see the point an author is hinting at you must be able to read the covert messages masked within the overt ones. Not only must you take the authors background into consideration but also the time period that the piece takes place in. You must
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One of the central themes in The Things They Carried‚ is that fear of ruining one’s reputation served as motivation to the soldiers during the Vietnam War. Tim O’Brien conveys this theme using anecdotes about Curt Lemon‚ Rat Kiley‚ and himself as examples. Curt Lemon’s experience with the dentist during the war shows that his fear of losing his honorable reputation motivated him to take a risk that he normally would not take. Throughout his time as a soldier‚ Curt Lemon upheld a “macho man” reputation
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The Things They Carried‚ a war novel which contains a collection of short stories he had previously published. Through O’Brien’s use of commentary‚ self reflection and exaggeration‚ the reader comes to understand the moral complexities
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paranoid nature‚ illuminated through repetition‚ allowed for his fear take hold of his good judgement. This fatal flaw fused with conjunctions ultimately sparked his deterioration as mind games of war compounded by the crushing weight of the things he carried were too much for Lavender’s feeble frame. In the end‚ like most battles with war‚ war won and no amount a dope or paranoia could have prevented Ted’s death for war is unpredictable and preparation is useless when combatting the unknown. The
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Guilty Feelings At the beginning of the book The Things They Carried‚ author Tim O’Brien says‚ “They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief‚ terror‚ love‚ longing - these were intangibles‚ but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity‚ they had tangible weight” (Tim O’Brien). Soldiers in the Vietnam war carried home with them memories of ghosts‚ ghosts of people they killed‚ villages burned‚ and their own brethren dying in horrifying ways. Tim O’Brien tells about
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condition led him to establish a hopeless tone in the first chapter of The Things They Carried. The author’s interview introduces his PTSD caused by his service in the Vietnam War‚ stating through story telling he would like to release a psychological truth. The other authors within the interview describe unforgettable sights that haunt them forever. Particularly‚ O’Brien explains that a sense of being in the waste as a soldier‚ the wastage of life. This defines a hopeless tone that is set into the
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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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In the short story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien writes about a group of platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War and the variety of personal items the soldiers carries with them besides their equipment. The story talks about how each of them carries a significant item that helps them to hide their fears and bring them comfort. The main protagonist is Lieutenant Jimmy Cross who has an inner struggle between his civilian life and his current life of leading a group of platoon to
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Rationale The intention of the following text is to elaborate the use of meta-fiction and narrative layering in Tim OʼBrienʼs The Things They Carried through writing a narrated interview with Tim OʼBrien regarding Part Fourʼs study: Literature and Critical Study. Using quotations/transcriptions of Tim OʼBrienʼs statements within the fictional interview will support the structure of the text accordingly as a narration of an interview. First‚ I will address Tim OʼBrienʼs brief biography regarding
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The Things They Carried‚ a novel by Tim O’Brien‚ is a collection of war stories told from a fictional Vietnam veteran’s perspective. O’Brien elucidates the physical and emotional barrier war creates between men and women to help demonstrate the frustration soldiers have with women in war. O’Brien illustrates the physical and emotional barrier Vietnam creates between men and women. The letters soldiers write to their girlfriends in the United States demonstrate the physical barrier between the two
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