The Things They Carried Essay

In “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien shares numerous war stories to illustrate the life of a soldier in the Vietnam War. Throughout the book, the narrator, Tim O’Brien, shares stories about the soldiers in his platoon during the war. He shares what each soldier carried and its significance. He also discusses the effects of the war on the soldiers’ life, including his own, by using themes. O’Brien utilizes several themes in his stories, such as love and guilt. O’Brien employed these themes…

In the excerpt from The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien effectively develops his philosophy that a soldier carries pride, and that they also hold the burden to do terrible things to others for justice and most of all they have to experience terrible things. through his creative use of a variety of syntax techniques. One such technique is his use of polysyndeton. . He writes, “War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling, war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead.” The effect of…

Throughout this book there are many examples of characters displaying PTSD and other problems. The stories “Speaking of Courage”, “The Man I killed”, “Stockings”, “How to Tell a True War Story”, and “The Sweetheart of The Song Tra Bong”, from Things They Carried all enclose multiple examples of PTSD. "The war was over and there was no place in particular to go" (137). This quote is a huge example of the isolation the veterans felt when they came back home. When they came back home they didn’t…

Tim O’Brien Searches For Meaning “And right then I submitted. I would go to the war- I would kill and maybe die because I was embarrassed not to” (O’Brien, 57). Tim O 'Brien’s book, The Things They Carried is a collection of stories of war that are not war stories, but a quest for the meaning of life that centers around a fictional version of O 'Brien’s division in Vietnam. Going into the war, the draft ruins his drive and sense of purpose, and this lack enthusiasm continues through the whole…

“The Man I Killed” was the chapter I chose to do my The Things They Carried project on. This chapter is extremely different than the other chapters in the book because it truly shows what it is like to take the life of another in a war. The murder of someone is almost always gruesome, especially when that person who has been killed was killed by grenade. When creating the face of the vietcong man I used a heated-up plastalina clay had the ability to be molded and carved out into the shape…

Analysis Paper: The Things They Carried Part One: The chapter entitled How to Tell a War Story contains a moment from Tim O’Brien’s’ time at war where he recalls when Rat Kiley shoots a baby water buffalo uncontrollably. Rat Kiley has recently lost his best friend Curt Lemon due to their own stupidity. Kiley proves to be in a very delicate state after this, which can explain why he takes his frustration and anger out on this baby buffalo. He doesn’t just shoot the buffalo once to end its’ life.…

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a reoccurring issue throughout the book The Things They Carried. The author, Tim O’Brien, tells war stories of several different men from the same Alpha Company in Vietnam. The harsh reality of the effects of the Vietnam War is described through the feelings and long-lasting impact it had on soldiers. The emotional and physiological problems faced by war veterans is addressed throughout this whole novel. Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD is something…

The events we remember throughout our lives get molded into an alternative version of the actual truth through retelling and embellishment. “Story truth” is the term Tim O’Brien uses to describe this variation of the truth. In his book, “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien uses “story truth” to compel his readers to feel what he experienced during his service in war. With “story truth,” O’Brien provides us with an account of his personal experiences, as well as an idea of what others may have…

For Mary Anne Bell, It seemed, Vietnam had the effect of a powerful drug: that mix of unnamed terror and unnamed pleasure that comes as the needle slips in and you know you’re risking something. The endorphins start to flow, and creep quietly through the moonlit nightscapes; you become intimate with danger; you’re in touch with the far side of yourself, as though it’s another hemisphere, and you want to string it out and go wherever the trip takes you and be host to all the possibilities inside…

of The Things They Carried and by the name of the chapter one could have guessed that this chapter revolves around the deceased. Most people would honor the fact that the author, Tim O’Brien, talks about keeping the dead alive with stories, but should that be respected? However, although it is good to respect and remember the dead, is it ethical to write about the deceased when they have no say in it or is there a fine line on when you can and when you can’t. In the Things They Carried the…