Major Themes In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien (2023)

648 Words |3 Pages

“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a short story set during the Vietnam War. In the story, O’Brien lists many different items soldiers in the Alpha Company carried with them as they humped across the rugged terrain. Many carried necessities such as rations, matches, ammunition and things of that nature; however, many soldiers also carried quite peculiar objects such as condoms, pantyhose, and M&Ms. Readers can grasp a closer insight of the characters’ lives after further examination of the symbolism and meaning of the things they carried. Three characters in this story that carried interesting belongings are Kiowa, Ted Lavender, and Jimmy Cross.

1292 Words |6 Pages

Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.

248 Words |1 Pages

In the book, The Things They Carried, the narrator, and author, Tim O'Brien faces several different obstacles that he has to overcome. The main one that he goes through all starts when he gets his draft notice for the Vietnam Wa. He has to decide whether or not he should be brave, and fight. Or if he should pack up his things, and leave for Canada. For some people, making the decision to go to war or to flee would be a no brainer, but it was a different story for Tim O' Brien. He went through a very tough time when making his decision. In the chapter, "Spin", he talks about his situation when deciding if he should stay or not. He says that he pretty much goes crazy and hardly ever sleeps because the thought of war scares him so much. He

540 Words |3 Pages

Symbolism in O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, plays a huge part in trying to support the author’s message. O’Brien uses symbols everywhere such as with the characters and to help develop the structure of the novel. The author decides to hide some of the symbols while some of the other symbols are in the open, making the symbols easy for the readers to pick up or understand clearly. The author uses symbolism in different forms, mainly intangible for an example. The main point of using symbols in a novel is to engage the readers, wanting them to continue reading, get the hidden messages across, and mainly addressing the theme.

539 Words |3 Pages

Unlike, defeating Hitler, this war served no major purpose to the United States yet many people lost their lives because of it. Norman Bowker was opposed to the war but got stuck fighting in it anyway and indirectly lost his life because of it. After the war, Bowker carried such an emotional burden that it eventually led to his suicide. He carried this emotional burden an entire ten years after the war which is more painful than the temporary things carried during the war. “Bowker followed the tar road on its seven-mile loop around the lake, then he started all over again, driving slowly, feeling safe inside his father’s big Chevy,” (131) Norman is carrying such an emotional burden that it is taking over his life causing him to blindly drive around a lake reminding him of his time in war at the shit field. This is an issue that can take over the rest of Norman Bowker's life preventing him from forgetting about the

163 Words |1 Pages

In his 1990 novel, The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien uses various motifs,Some of the motifs used are the haze, the jungle, the muck, and the darkness of night. Throughout the stories, the narrator repeatedly describes the vapors and haze that settled over the landscape. For instance, the narrator describes the 'wet and swirly and tangled up' haze that obscures the jungle. The vapors spook the soldiers, making them feel tense, as if something or someone is haunting them. As it's said at one point in the story, when there is haze, 'you can't see jack, you can't find your own pecker to piss with.' In one scene, the narrator wades through fog and thinks about

928 Words |4 Pages

Most war stories are labeled as fiction or nonfiction; however Tim O’Brien breaks this rule in The Things They Carried by creating a fictitious story that yet seeps the truth, and labelling it as a work of fiction. The book is compiled of various stories that correlate together, but it can be unclear what is fact and what is fiction. O’Brien purposely does this to draw in the reader to question what is and what isn’t, and no one exactly knows the right answer. By utilizing intentional, rhetorical tactics, O’Brien has the power of blurring the lines between fact and fiction; which allows the reader to distinguish between fact and fiction in chapters, such as “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, “Stockings”, and “Speaking of Courage”.

1147 Words |5 Pages

People all across the world carry a variety of objects and emotions. Specifically, in the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’ Brien characters carry certain objects that act as coping mechanisms throughout the war. Three characters that dealt with the Vietnam War through the use of objects were Henry Dobbins, Jimmy Cross, and Kiowa.

559 Words |3 Pages

Bowker saw Kiowa begin to sink into the mud and grabbed his boot to try and pull him out. Unsuccessful, Bowker let Kiowa go in order to save himself from sinking into the mud. Bowker tried to save Kiowa but believed it was in his best interest to continue without him. Bowker believes he could have saved Kiowa, if it had not been for the smell ,and won the Silver Star. (O’Brien, 2010, p.143). Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was determined to find Kiowa’s body the morning after his death. Cross believed Kiowa was a fine soldier and human being and there was no way he would allow such a good man to be lost under the sewage . Jimmy Cross believed he had made a mistake setting up camp where he did, and felt sick about it (O’Brien, 2010, p.157). If Lieutenant Cross had not set up camp where he did he believed Kiowa could still be fighting with them and now held the responsibility to write a letter to

954 Words |4 Pages

In Tim O’brien’s short story, “The Things They Carried,” O’brien explains more than just what people face at war. O’Brien gives detail of each burden, struggle, and memory each soldier carries into the war. He describes of a battle more destructive than a war filled with guns, bombs, and knives. He describes of a mind battle, one in which is the hardest any man can face. A mind battle controls your every decision. O’Brien explains it is important to have your mind battle-free so distractions will not flood your attempt of making successful decisions.

186 Words |1 Pages

Tim O’Brien and Chris Kyle both use literary devices to contrast two different ideas of war. “There’s no place to go. Not just in this lousy little town. In general. My life, I mean. It’s almost like I got killed over In Nam…” (O’Brien 150). The author, Tim O’Brien uses Norman Bowker a character in “The Things They Carried” to symbolize the conflicts of trying to find the meaning of life soldiers went through after the war. Symbolism conveys Tim O’Brien’s purpose for the readers to perceive the negative connotations that come from war and the impact it takes on the soldiers’ lives. Whereas Chris Kyle’s use of synecdoche refers to all the soldiers demonstrating the connotation of war, manliness. Kyle’s objective for using synecdoche is to have

607 Words |3 Pages

Authors tend to make their opening scene the most important because in all reality it is the first chapter that hooks the reader. To help make this scene the most important, authors add themes and interesting information to convey the reader. In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien uses themes such as courage, guilt, and the truth of the war to project his feelings. The significance of the opening scene is used to provide background information about the characters, the war, and the things they carried so that the reader can make connections to the rest of the novel and understand what is going on in later chapters. The Things They Carried has an effective opening scene because it shows what each individual soldier carried and the physical

727 Words |3 Pages

It is interesting to read the war stories as told by Tim O’brien in “The Things We Carried”. There are several captivating depictions illustrating to readers what the standard criteria are for truth during storytelling. He maps for us how to determine the truth of a war story. Emphasizing the perspective of the author. O’brien makes the statement that being a real or actual event is not a prerequisite for truth. O’briens requirement for a true war story are not always precise. For example, O’Brien states that a true war story “embarrasses you,” (O’brien 270) “never seems to end,” (273). He further decribes them as having an “ uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil,” (270) and that they “are contradictory.” (275). Through the authors

795 Words |4 Pages

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, is an emotion provoking collection of short stories about the Vietnam War. One of those stories, The Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong, is about Rat Kiley, who had the reputation of “heating up the truth, to make it burn so hot that you would feel exactly what he felt” and that quality is displayed in his account of a girl named Mary Anne. In Rat’s story, Mark Fossie, a medic, flew in his girlfriend, Mary Anne, to Vietnam where she gets enveloped and changed by the excitement of the war. Rat Kiley created the story of Mary Anne to characterize changes that happen to all people who go to war. Rat also highlights the idea that we have “these blinders on about women”.

1063 Words |5 Pages

Ultimately, the companionship made at war is an important reason why soldiers miss war. Junger voices that a “connection to the other man he was with” is something that helps a soldier continue day by day. Talking. Eating. Playing. Sleeping. Fighting for their lives together. When a soldier is doing these actions with another person day in and day out, an attachment is formed that can be stronger than even family ties. This is a strong motive for why a soldier may not want to leave. In addition to Junger’s voice, Tim O’ Brien wrote a passage that illustrates the feelings of those who lose this connection. “I felt something shift inside me. It was anger, partly, but it was also a sense of pure and total loss: I didn't fit anymore.” Imagine being at someone’s side for the better part of a few years just to be cut away from that person, losing all companionship, the mutual respect and promise of protection has dissipated and what remains is bitter alienation. It will cause the toughest soul to desire the camaraderie he once had. In essence, soldiers are thrown into situations where their lives depend on other people. Fairly tight bonds form and when soldiers return home, causing the ties to sever; solitude is experienced. This is why soldiers miss the