The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien Essay - 1103 Words

The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien â€Å"The Things They Carried† was a story about soldiers caught in the confusion of the Vietnam War. There are a lot of apparent themes that are dealt with when writing a story about war, especially about death. I enjoyed reading this story; however there were some things about it that I was concerned about. I would like to discuss the author’s style of writing, his meaning of the title â€Å"The Things They Carried† and the way the author and his characters deal with death. This story was written with a variety of styles, and it was in a non-traditional format. The main style seems to be a third person, limited omniscient story. However, this story also includes elements of flashback. In a traditional†¦show more content†¦Either your audience is liberal and understands the use of the words, or your audience is conservative, and they are offended and don’t finish reading. However, I also believe that the words are put in not for the vulgarity, bu t for an authentication of what was going on in the war. They were not used in every dialogue, or every sentence, but in places where you might â€Å"normally† hear them. All of these different elements together provided for a very dynamic story. I did pick up on the central themes in the story. One thing that was apparent was Lt. Jimmy Cross, and his use of his â€Å"girlfriend† Martha to deal with the war. Another is the death of one comrade, Ted Lavender, and how it affected the soldiers. And then there is the title, â€Å"The Things They Carried†, in which the author takes time to emphasize throughout the story. I felt that author also tried to mislead readers by the title, because the story is really not about the ‘Things†. In the story there are large passages in which the author describes, to the pound, the weight of the physical things that each of the soldiers carried. In each passage however, there was one statement or something that didn’t fit into the physical things category. The soldiers were also sectioned off into stereotypes, which I also believe was on purpose. For example â€Å"Ted Lavender, who was scared, carriedShow MoreRelatedThe Things They Carried by Tim Obrien1426 Words   |  6 PagesThe War at Home The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, transports the reader into the minds of veterans of the Vietnam conflict. The Vietnam War dramatically changed Tim O’Brien and his comrades, making their return home a turbulent and difficult transition. The study, titled, The War at Home: Effects of Vietnam-Era Military Service on Post-War Household Stability, uses the draft lottery as a â€Å"natural experiment† on the general male population. The purpose of the NBER (National Bureau of EconomicRead MoreThe Things They Carried by Tim O’brien1610 Words   |  7 PagesThe Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien Plot: 1. RISING ACTION †¢ In the summer of 1968, Tim O’Brien receives a draft notice. Despite a desire to follow his convictions and flee to Canada, he feels he would be embarrassed to refuse to fulfill his patriotic duty and so concedes to fight in Vietnam. CLIMAX †¢ During their tour of duty, the men of the Alpha Company must cope with the loss of their own men and the guilt that comes from killing and watching others die. FALLING ACTION †¢ After he returnsRead MoreThe Things They Carried by Tim OBrien1156 Words   |  5 PagesIn Tim O’Brien’s novel, â€Å"The Things They Carried,† imagination is seen to be both beneficial and harmful. This novel consists of a story truth and a real truth. Tim O’Brien writes the book about the Vietnam War based primarily on his memory of the war. He does not remember every detail of the war, thus he makes up some false details to make the story seem more interesting. He does not only describe his own experiences, but also describe the experiences of other characters. He wants the readers toRead MoreThe Things They Carried by Tim OBrien1154 Words   |  5 PagesThe novel The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien begins by Mr. OBrien describing his dramatical events that happened during the middle of his Vietnam experience while he was fighting in the war. Mr. OBrien received his draft notice in the month of June in the year of 1968. When he received this notice Mr. OBrien had feelings of confusion, and that drove him to go north to the Canadian border, and it had him contemplating if he wanted to cross it or not because he does not want to be forced toRead MoreThe Things They Carried by Tim OBrien793 Words   |  3 PagesIn the novel, The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien there is an ambiguity assigned to the life of a soldier in the Vietnam war, an ambiguity that represents no clear moral victor, no clear heroes, and seemingly no end. In the movie, Platoon, written and directed by Oliver Stone, the same ambiguity is depicted, with no clear moral direction, no clear heroes, and no clear resolution. In the short story, â€Å"How to Tell a True War Story,† O’Brien talks in great detail about how a true war story, andRead MoreThe Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien550 Words   |  2 Pagespersonnel documents are in order. These are just a few items that need to be checked off of a to-do list, or inventory if you will. In â€Å"The Things They Carried† by Tim O’Brien, the main character, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, runs through a series of events that he had his squad carried, both on their person and in their minds. â€Å"The Things They Carried† is about Cross and the soldiers under him and their activities in Vietnam during the war. The story begins with Cross introducing the objectRead MoreThe Things they Carried by Tim OBrien529 Words   |  2 PagesIn the story The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien didn’t mention anything about traditional war heroes. I think this was a great idea, because there are no traditional war heroes. A traditional war hero is someone who is fearless and someone who can’t be harmed mentally or emotionally. But in The Things They Carried the soldiers out on the front lines were emotionally and physically scarred. Tim O’Brien didn’t write about traditional war heroes, O’Brien wrote about normal people, people with differentRead More The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien580 Words   |  2 Pagesbook, The Things They Carried, author Tim O’Brien tells the captivating story of soldiers and everything they ha d to go through during the Vietnam War. He tells of the many things that change a person during a war and what helped many to get through it. One of the main things that helped them to get through was women. While women did not play a huge role in this book, they did play a very important role. Women were the†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Martha was the lady that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross loved. He carried letters andRead MoreOverview: The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien1510 Words   |  7 Pages The Things They Carried is a novel written by Vietnam Veteran Tim O’Brien. The Vietnam War took place between 1955 and 1975. Most of the soldiers fighting were young teenage men around the age of eighteen and nineteen years old. Like O’Brien many of these young men were pulled away from their families and life to fight a war they didn’t approve of or even know about. This had a strong affect on most of these men and O’Brien uses different ways to show how the Vietnam War affected them both physicallyRead MoreThe Things They Carried by Tim OBrien580 Words   |  2 Pagesdaydreaming and felt the pain of Lavenders death. He came to realize he was to blame for the death of Ted Lavender. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’ mind was mixed with the emotions of both Martha and the death of Ted Lavender. While Lavenders body was being carried to the chopper, all Lieutenant Cross could think about was Martha. He was thinking about how he loved her more than anything, even more than his men. He believed Ted Lavender was dead because he loved Martha so much and could not stop thinking about