The Things they Carried is seen as one of the most honest depictions of the Vietnam War that has ever been written. Tim O’Brien has a way of creating Vietnam around the reader. However‚ despite the clear depiction of war‚ this novel raises the question‚ “What is true?”. Through analyzing this novel‚ it is clear the author believes that the happening-truth of a story is far less important than the emotional-truth. One of the central chapters of the novel is titled‚ “The Man I Killed.” However‚ only
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War The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien represents the epitome of dehumanization that war inflicts on people. Each character is involved in a short story that makes up the entire novel; their different traits make up not only their personality but their entire persona and how their social role contributed to the overall message. The characters participation in the war leads to many tragic fates such as absurdity‚ trauma‚ and suicide. In the novel‚ Mary Anne‚ Tim O’Brien‚ and Norman
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Tim O’Brien walked through Vietnam as an infantryman during the Vietnam War. A war that took place 50 years ago now; a great majority of the population was not even born during the time of the war. It is easy to forget an event from such a long time ago‚ but O’Brien‚ it seems‚ can never forget. And he doesn’t want to forget. And he doesn’t want anyone else to forget. He wants the world to understand the war‚ and the toll it had. For that reason‚ he writes novels and stories chronicling the war‚ specifically
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There are many different controversies on the information in “The Things They Carried”. Some believe to tell a good story‚ there’s only facts and no truth‚ but some think that there needs to be all fictional elements and no facts to make a good story. A majority of people say that an excellent story starts with facts and adds in other elements like metaphors‚ symbolism‚ and imagery because visualizing the story helps the reader connect to the unfamiliar event. Using imagery is a smart way to engage
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for people to understand and internalize their emotions. Tim O’Brien expands upon this idea of coping with hardships in his novel The Things They Carried. With the setting taking place on the battlefield of the vietnam war‚ the way these men cope becomes one of the most prominent motifs in this novel. Every man in The Things They Carried has a different way of coping with the ramifications of war. This makes O’brien’s The Things They Carried the perfect read to analyze and understand how
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Depression‚ the Cold War‚ racial unrest‚ and the drug and crime waves.”(Donald M. Goldstein) Tim O’Brien‚ the author of the book‚ The Things They Carried‚ goes into his memory to his time serving in The Vietnam War. It explains his experiences with his fellow teammates and everything they went through. Being a nonlinear book‚ it gives you an almost real experience to life while being a soldier in Vietnam. O`Briens intended audience was future generations and he discussed shame/guilt and morality/death
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before having a formal introduction to the subject at hand. Due to this fact‚ people emphasize the importance of one upholding a respectable reputation‚ 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
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experienced many life changing things not just because the things that happened to them but the things they watch happen to others. While in the war there are many things that happens that will stick with people forever like deaths and life threatening injuries. People who have PTSD have many symptoms including flashbacks‚ social isolation‚
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"Boom-down‚ and you were dead‚ never partly dead.": An Examination of Responsibility in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried The Things They Carried‚ a collection of short stories written by Tim O’Brien and published in 1990‚ is a story which takes place during the Vietnam war. The Vietnam war was a battle originally between North and South Vietnam. The United States army was brought in on behalf of South Vietnam. The costs of the Vietnam war were extremely high with approximately three million
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Rebecca Porter Professor Ippolito Introduction to Literature February 9‚ 2014 An Analysis of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried‚ the narrator tells the story of a platoon of men serving in the military during the Vietnam War. The narrator of this story follows the men‚ led by Lieutenant Jimmy Cross through the treacherous‚ unknown terrain of Vietnam. As most of us know from stories told by Vietnam veterans‚ including my Uncle Ed who was a Navy Seal
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