In the novel The Things They Carried‚ author Tim O’Brien offers the “happy ending” described by Fay Weldon through his own “spiritual reassessment and moral reconciliation.” While the novel itself is not a series of happy memories or events‚ the telling of them allows the author to come to terms with the loss of his innocence and his own limitations. As the author closes‚ he finally concludes that while his war-time experiences change him from the person he once was‚ telling stories is the way he
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Setting and Characterization in "Greasy Lake" The path to becoming an adult is lined with a variety of childhood and adolescent experiences‚ some more painful than others. In T. Coraghessen Boyle ’s short story‚ "Greasy Lake‚" Boyle masterfully uses the setting and the protagonist ’s experience to teach us an old but vital lesson: those who choose not to learn and grow from their past mistakes are destined to repeat them‚ and thus will never mature and realize their true potential. In the beginning
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Greasy Lake My intent is to share with you comparisons of what the author portrays his characters to be rather than who hey really are. Allusion played a significant role in how the author described a theme throughout this story where the characters thought of themselves as the epitome of being bad in the short story “Greasy Lake”(Boyle). The allusion is one of the many ways the author developed his characters into bad guys. The opening paragraph of the story paints a picture wit the first sentence
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Love: Motivation or Distraction? Love is something that everyone desires‚ but when the thought of love takes over your thought process; it can be very dangerous. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross knows the feeling of love and its dangerous effects. Lieutenant Cross is currently at war in Vietnam and he is repeatedly visited by the thought of his lover Martha. Martha is a student at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey‚ and this is where the lieutenant fell in love. He took her to a movie and during
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Martha was Jimmy Cross’ first “love”. He was obsessed with her even though she only thought of him as a friend. They wrote each other letters in a friendly way but Jimmy Cross thought of it as more than that. “He would sometimes taste the envelopes flaps‚ knowing her tongue had been there… More than anything he wanted Martha to love him as he loved her‚ but the letters were mostly chatty‚ elusive on the matter of love.” (1) Linda was O’Brien’s childhood love. She died at the age of nine because
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How was your understanding of cultural and contextual consideration of the work developed through the interactive oral? Through this discussion‚ I noticed how easy it was to relate to the social and cultural context issues that the soldiers went through in this book. For example‚ when Tim did not want to go to war and almost fled to Canada he realized that he rather go to war and die before he gets talked about by his community. This shows how far a person will go to prevent being embarrassed
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In the short story‚ "The Things They Carried”‚ Tim O’Brien writes about the soldiers of Vietnam and the burdens they had to carry with them. In this story‚ O’Brien uses symbolism‚ irony and the theme of burden and guilt to portray how the war has affected the men and the ways they cope. O’Brien’s usage of these literary devices serves as a remembrance of what the soldiers have left behind and a false sense of security about the violence and death that surrounds them. We are able to see the way each
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Samantha Schulz Mrs. Nilles English 12-5 05 November 2012 O’Brien’s Theme of Rejection and Disconnect Why does O’Brien use the theme of rejection to convey his experience in war? In the book‚ The Things They Carried‚ Tim O’Brien writes about his experience in the Vietnam War. He uses many themes to show how the war has changed the soldiers and how the citizens perceive the war. Throughout the book‚ he uses the theme of rejection to show the disconnection between the soldiers at war
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The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien Essay In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried‚ narrative elements shape an author’s idea‚ and can even contribute to how effective they were in re-telling their experiences. Without them‚ the story would be bland and boring to the reader‚ and sometimes unbelievable. Tim O’Brien effectively uses different points of view to retell the soldiers’ Vietnam War experiences. Tim O’Brien first used a change in point of view when Curt Lemmon died. In How to
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The Weight The soldiers who served during the Vietnam War carried more than their fair share of tangible and intangible items. The soldiers bore the weight of their packs‚ they lugged around heavy equipment‚ and they struggled to cope with the violence and death that surrounded them. But the heaviest item that they would bear would not be by choice at all. Every passing day that the soldiers served in this war‚ more weight would be added to this item. When the time came for the soldiers to
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