“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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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 of the truth of the events taking place. Therefore it is this conciliation of truth that he uses to recreate his discourse of Vietnam using fictional form combined with a clear exhibition of facts and figures such as in “The Things They Carried” (O’Brien‚ 3-21). Nevertheless
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Lieutenant Jimmy Cross Many people tend to overlook the great obstacles and combats that our soldiers put themselves into in order to keep us safe‚but have they looked deeper into the minds of each soldier and the story they carry. In the book The Things They Carried Tim O`Brien helps convey the true characteristics of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross throughout not only the Vietnam War but through the mental battle he suffers everyday dealing with the sorrows he carries. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross‚ was the leader of
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Lions for Lambs and TTTC Essay War novels can be one of two things: vivid accounts and harrowing tales‚ or instructional accounts and heart wrenching tales. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is without a doubt an exemplar of the latter. In parallel with O’Brien’s book‚ philanthropist Robert Redford directs and produces his film Lions for Lambs to this very same end. Lions for Lambs features a similar brand of invocative‚ yet gravely reformative storyline. As a result of these similarities
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Both Tim O’Brien’s "The Things They Carried" and T. Coraghessan Boyle’s "Greasy Lake" display characters’ similar reactions to violence‚ but in different settings and circumstances. In "The Things They Carried‚" Fist Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a soldier in the Vietnam War who finds solace and escape in fantasies of a young woman from home. One of Cross’s soldiers dies due to his daydreaming and forces him to abandon these fantasies. In "Greasy Lake‚" the main character finds enjoyment in picking
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In the book titled‚ The Things They Carried‚ the author‚ Tim O ’ Brien‚ depicts a world where traumatic memories and crushing emotional baggage are far heavier than any combat pack or assortment of weapons that has ever burdened the back of a soldier. The author‚ O ’Brien‚ explores the physical and emotional burdens that the soldiers of the Vietnam War "hump" or carry with them. The author portrays the things the soldiers carry throughout the story as both literally tangible items and figuratively
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American Dream The Things They Carried - Log 1 The American Dream is the desire to succeed. Success can be achieved through hard work‚ and with hard work and success the American Dream can lead to happiness as well. The American Dream is attainable by all. It does not depend on social class‚ race‚ ethnicity‚ gender‚ sexuality or anything that makes the person an individual. It relies on the ability to work hard and to strive for change. In the novel‚ The Things They Carried‚ each character transforms
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The Power of the Truth Novelist Tim O’Brian once said “A lie‚ sometimes‚ can be truer than the truth‚ which is why fiction gets written.” In his novel The Things They Carried‚ O’Brian argues that “story-truth is sometimes truer than happening-truth” (171). O’Brian opposes the idea of absolute truth‚ and believes that all truths are subject to change. He believes that a fictional story can be more true than an actual event. However‚ a story‚ no matter what story‚ cannot be more true than an actual
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to know that things weren’t always like this‚ infact all of this happened in the last 100 years or so. In the last 100 years our Technology‚ War‚ and Society has drastically changed. First of all War back then was very different from what now‚ our tactics‚ weapons‚ and even experiences were not as cruel as they are now. Back then people use to love telling their own war story how brave they were but about 100 years ago all of that changed. In the article The Things They Carried the author was
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The Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis Essay In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien‚ O’Brien uses many short stories to describe his experience in Vietnam. The story that captured many aspects of writing was “How to Tell a True War Story” because it acts as a guide to writing a true story. O’Brien uses many different rhetorical strategies‚ narrative techniques‚ and establishes a theme in this story to help develop his characters and story line. Tim O’Brien uses several rhetorical strategies
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