As explained his own book‚ The Things They Carried‚ O’Brien was enjoying his post-graduate freedom‚ a steady job and a girlfriend at home during the summer of 1968 when he received the draft letter from the army. He describes how he reacted to receiving the letter: “I remember opening up the letter‚ scanning the first few lines‚ feeling the blood go thick behind my eyes… It couldn’t happen. I was above it” (O’Brien‚ Carried 41). His reaction shows that he‚ as an anti-war‚ educated
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“The Things They Carried” Thesis Statement: In “The Things They Carried‚” the soldier uses physical objects to calm their secret fears. This symbolizes emotions‚ spiritual burdens within the objects that symbolize times‚ places‚ and also what they feared. Another thing we are not aware of is when the author mentions dust which is a constant reminder to the soldiers that they are not safe. In this short story the narrator wanted to express the loneliness the soldiers felt and distressed because
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Tim O’Brien constructs a meticulous narrative in order to portray a true representation of war through his writing. It is well known however that truth always becomes a casualty through war resulting in a challenging approach for O’Brien. Although deemed a work of fiction‚ many of the stories within The Things They Carried reflect an almost autobiographical outlook through the characters combined with metafiction. O’Brien does well to create a distinction between the truth of the narrative and that
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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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Truth and non-truth are several aspects emphasized in Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried. Throughout the novel‚ O’Brien “[blurs] the lines between fiction and nonfiction” (Smith)‚ and explores how using fiction to convey the war affects the readers more as they learn about the soldiers. By using juxtaposition and by incorporating fictional parts in the novel‚ O’Brien shows how truth is less important in war stories than non-truth since non-truth makes the reader look at war stories at a
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The Things They Carried: Catharsis and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder “Men killed‚ and died‚ because they were embarrassed not to” (O’Brien 20). Tim O’Brien is the author of The Things They Carried‚ a fictional memoir written from the perspective of the narrator‚ whose name is also Tim O’Brien. This fictional O’Brien’s experiences cover many themes‚ most notably those of fear‚ guilt and humiliation. In this novel‚ O’Brien uses a distinct blend of fact and fiction as an outlet for his actual experiences
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Outline Literature Summary: “The Things They Carried”‚ published in 1990 tells a true story of Tim O’Brian‚ author and main character‚ who is drafted for the Vietnam war. He tells about the different items that him and his fellow soldiers carried with them to help cope with the traumatic environment that they were placed in. Thesis Statement: The Things They Carried is a perfect example that shows that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an issue as old as war‚ only recently have we discovered
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man; war makes you dead.” (Tim O’Brien‚ The Things They Carried) Ah‚ war stories . . . tales of heroism‚ bravery‚ and friendship forged in the heat of combat; a sweet homecoming won by a hair’s breath; and an uplifting moral. If these are the ingredients you want in a war story‚ check out your latest Hollywood war flick. The war stories you’re about to read are much less morally satisfying‚ and so much more fulfilling. True war stories are not about war. So tells us Tim O’Brien‚ a master in the
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The Things They Carried The Things They Carried is a novel by Tim O’Brien that makes someone face reality. War is crazy. Some things seem true and other things they just don’t know what to think. Surrealism means not real. Surrealism has a big part in the war. The hard thing is figuring out what’s not true and what is. It can be tricky‚ some things that may be false sound like they can’t be made up. Then that’s when their imagination takes over. They have to fight with their imagination and comprehend
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shame and loneliness. In 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
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