The Things They Carried Synthesis Essay

Synthesis Essay The novel “The Things They Carried” written by Tim O’Brien is a simple yet intriguing story about the items a troop of soldiers carried while stationed in Vietnam. Tim O’brien makes sure the story circles and centers around the horrible conditions of Vietnam. He also puts a voice in his writing so it seems like this topic was very difficult to write about. Throughout the story, O’brien seems to gain trust and courage in his writing and in his audience of young adults.. “The Things They Carried” describes the Vietnam experience and focuses on and prepares O’brien to discuss emotional issues and not just physical or environmental. In the chapter, “On the Rainy River” Shame and Guilt was shown numerous times throughout the chapter. “I survived, but it’s not a happy ending ending, I was a coward. I went to war”(On the …show more content…
“He took his boots off and socks, laid out his medical kit, doped himself up, and put round through his foot, nobody blamed him, sanders said” What we learned about Rat was wounded in the “Ghost soldiers” we assumed that it happened during battle. We never really saw Rat Kiley less than brave, that’s why it hurts the audience when he loses it. During “Night Life” he was scared because Vietnam or any war is scary at night, and the wilderness feels like it is alive. Tim O’brien shows shame and guilt, and mortality and death throughout his novel, “The Things They Carried.” Mortality and death; and shame and guilt interact and build on one another throughout the story. O’brien makes sure that one chapter or even two are one theme or both themes, he then makes a “tragedy” happen in order for the story to build off of the themes and so the story progresses. The reader felt that the novel was very real because O’brien puts his personal experience into the war, and told the story like it was his