The Things They Carried Essay Questions Directions: Choose one of the following essay questions to respond to and develop a critically thoughtful‚ analytical essay. 1. Tone is an important aspect of writing in war literature. Examine the stories again and analyze the most prevalent tones O’Brien uses throughout the book. How does the use of these tones help to establish the meaning behind these stories and an overarching theme to this collection? 2. Consider the role of the narrator throughout
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The excerpt of “The Things They Carried” inspired me to write about minimalism and the burden that excessive amounts of possessions can create and how ultimately it can weigh down an individual’s happiness. It inspired me to write about this topic by listing off all the things the soldiers in the story had to carry and how much each thing weighed. It made me think about how unhappy carrying the heavy equipment might have made each soldier and how unhappy I was with the things weighing me down. To
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The historic fiction book “The things they Carried” is a marvelous book that melds a bunch of short stories together to create a unique flowing narrative. The many characters throughout the book give life to the harsh land of Vietnam‚ adding color to the palette of brown‚ fatigue green‚ and constant rain/blue. Characters like Kiowa‚ who brought compassion to Alpha Company‚ Rat Kiley‚ who brought sanity to Alpha Company before he went mad himself‚ Mitchell Sanders‚ who brought a form of moral code
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In the story‚ “The Things They Carried” the author describes the many tangible and intangible things the Lieutenant and soldiers carried in war. As a highschooler‚ I too‚ carry tangible and intangible things with me. Just like the characters in the story‚ these things weigh me down‚ either physically or mentally‚ distracting me from the pressures from school‚ but I learn to deal with them and keep moving forward. Some of the tangible things I carry in my backpack on a daily basis are my notebooks
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Wartime stories are often hard to tell in a narrative non-fiction piece due to the difficulties faced in said wartime conditions. Author Tim O’Brien attempts to address these issues in his novel The Things They Carried‚ which is a recollection of his war stories which are set in Vietnam. O’Brien’s method of circumventing the problems posed by relying on using imagination and invention to accurately display the truth‚ as he sees it. The concept of such can be seen in three chapters of the novel‚
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experimentation championed by writers of the modernist period (relying heavily‚ for example‚ on fragmentation‚ paradox‚ questionable narrators‚ etc.) and a reaction against Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist literature. Postmodern literature‚ like postmodernism as a whole‚ is difficult to define and there is little agreement on the exact characteristics‚ scope‚ and importance of postmodern literature. However‚ unifying features often coincide with Jean-François Lyotard’s concept of the "meta-narrative"
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and unguarded) was suddenly gone; when you land‚ everything you see is different. Would you feel a loss? Within the works of The Things They Carried‚ Girl‚ Interrupted‚ and “Letter from Marion Kempner”‚ the characters experience loss in several ways. The central theme in these three works is a sense of loss. Tim O’Brien‚ the author of The Things They Carried‚ experienced many instances of this feeling‚ particularly with losing relationships and innocence. He writes about his friend Jimmy
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Effects of War Tim O’Brein is an author who often writes about war themed stories. He tries to make people feel and think about war‚ he himself was a war veteran. He served two years in the Vietnam War‚ the same war the Private First Class Paul Berlin is fighting in in the story. He makes points about how war can change a person‚ how war can scar your memories‚ and about how it can effect everybody. In the story he does not specify that war changes a person but you can tell there are behavioral
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The role of symbols in The Things They Carried Symbolism in O’Brien’s The Things They Carried runs rampant and plays a part in conveying the author’s message. O’Brien uses symbols to link ideas together. Symbols can be decrypted by the reader to unearth the true essence of the work. Symbols appear in all forms in the work‚ recurring as both tangible and intangible. O’Brien chooses to embed symbols everywhere in the text‚ in the structure‚ the characters. Some symbols are more discreetly
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“The Things They Carried” is about the thoughts and actions of Jimmy Cross‚ a lieutenant of an Army unit on active combat duty in the Vietnam War. Lt. Cross is worried by thoughts of Martha‚ a young woman he dated before he joined the Army. He thinks about letters she wrote him‚ whether or not she is a virgin. And about how much he loves her and wants her to love him. Her letters do not indicate that she feels the same way. The narrator lists things that the soldiers carry with them‚ both tangible
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