The Coloured Veils of War In these short stories that stands vigil to the memories of one’s war, bonded by paper and ink. The themes of emotions and the surreal reality of death are common themes in these war stories, it's no different in the things they carried by Tim O’brien. In this book, the author covers a vast array of themes and subjects thought out his Experiences in the war.
In this collage of stories a common theme starts to form, that of truth and all the forms it takes. A theme of the emotional truth and story truth is truer than real-happening truth.O`brien weaves this theme of the subjective truth throughout the book in many ways. We see it in “How to Tell a True War Story” , “The Man i Killed” and “ambush”. this idea is executed and played out in “the Man i Killed” and “Ambush”. In these two chapters, the protagonist Tim O'brien killed a man in Vietnam. But the way the author O’brien tell the story in two …show more content…
This idea is exemplified earlier in the book with the handling of the death of Ted Lavender. In the story, the author talks about Lavender’s drug use and how he used them to calm his nerves. Ted had this saying when someone said, “how the war going today?” Ted would characteristically respond with “mellow”. An after Ted’s passing, while the men of his platoon prepared Ted’s body for recovery, instead of crying in self-silence, they talked. The men personified Ted’s character into their conversation. they talked about the war and “...Don’t need no pills. We got this incredible chopper on call. This one in a lifetime mind-trip.”(O’brien 219), and when a question was asked the soldiers’ would personify ted into their responses. They did this in a way to make light of death, away to dehumanize it. They acted in this way for many reasons, but mainly they did to save themselves from the distractions of grief and remorse. They did it to save themselves from their reality of
In this collage of stories a common theme starts to form, that of truth and all the forms it takes. A theme of the emotional truth and story truth is truer than real-happening truth.O`brien weaves this theme of the subjective truth throughout the book in many ways. We see it in “How to Tell a True War Story” , “The Man i Killed” and “ambush”. this idea is executed and played out in “the Man i Killed” and “Ambush”. In these two chapters, the protagonist Tim O'brien killed a man in Vietnam. But the way the author O’brien tell the story in two …show more content…
This idea is exemplified earlier in the book with the handling of the death of Ted Lavender. In the story, the author talks about Lavender’s drug use and how he used them to calm his nerves. Ted had this saying when someone said, “how the war going today?” Ted would characteristically respond with “mellow”. An after Ted’s passing, while the men of his platoon prepared Ted’s body for recovery, instead of crying in self-silence, they talked. The men personified Ted’s character into their conversation. they talked about the war and “...Don’t need no pills. We got this incredible chopper on call. This one in a lifetime mind-trip.”(O’brien 219), and when a question was asked the soldiers’ would personify ted into their responses. They did this in a way to make light of death, away to dehumanize it. They acted in this way for many reasons, but mainly they did to save themselves from the distractions of grief and remorse. They did it to save themselves from their reality of