The Things They Carried Essay

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a short story about a platoon that consisted of 17 men, led by Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, and their experiences during the Vietnam War. The story is centered around the terrible conditions of Vietnam and the many items carried by the soldiers that were not only needed for survival, but also personal items that helped them get through each day. Each soldier carried the same necessities, some of them are: a flak jacket, a plastic poncho, pocket knives,…

are a lot of ways that you can take a story and read it to make sense of what the author is trying to say. In the story The Things They Carried the easiest form to understand this story is if you read it with a mindset of biographical criticism. This essay will explain in detail why biographical criticism is the best method to use. When reading the story “The Things They Carried” one can say that this is nothing but another classic love story, and maybe even has some similarities to a lot of…

shameful for things they possibly are not able to fix, but wish they could fix. Shame is a hard feeling to get over, especially if someone dies that you really care about and love. In the story, men and friends die, causing the other men to feel shameful for actions they did or did not do. Shame is a theme that is represented throughout the story The Things They Carried. The men face a lot of adversity but have to find a way to fight through it. In the first vignette “The Things They Carried”,…

book The Things They Carried, author Tim O’Brien tells the horrific experiences of a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. This platoon goes through many hardships, which on the way cause many people to die and to completely change their personalities. O’Brien depicts the awful emotional and psychological conditions the American soldiers experienced during the Vietnam War. The way O’Brien depicts these topics by talking about many points like the items the soldiers carried, the…

can make us do things that we think are going to help us not feel guilt or shame anymore, which is not always good because guilt and shame are only felt when we do something bad. In the Alpha Company, which is the platoon where the men in the story The Things They Carried were apart of, the men carry many different things, which includes both items and emotions. Guilt and shame are included in these emotions that they carry. Guilt and shame also had an impact on the things they carried as well.…

Sometimes a mask is easier to put on when the alternative is to be a coward. Tim O'Brien, in his short story "The Things They Carried," pieces together what several soldiers experienced during the Vietnam war. Through the narrator, Tim O'Brien, the reader encounters his hatred of the war. In a passage within "The Things They Carried," O'Brien pursues the theme of masculinity by using simile, anaphora, and personification as figurative language, religious and moral symbolism, colloquial diction,…

Afterword to The Things They Carried, Spin Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, has been reviewed as an excellent work of fiction that “clearly demonstrated” O’Brien’s “unique artistic vision” (The Things They Carried). The section of the novel titled Spin is one that the author has put a great deal of effort into allowing the reader to easily visualize what Vietnam was like for him. O’Brien’s recollection of Vietnam is given in such a way that the audience feels as if they are right…

The Things They Carried War is a wretched battlefield. It twists the minds of soldiers, scarring them with experiences that can last a lifetime. During war, there are some experiences that one cannot verbally formulate into words that truly capture what had happened. As the author of “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’brien writes with a style that brings his stories to life, as it allows the readers to be able to feel the situation as if them themselves were in it. Tim O’Brien accomplishes such a…

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, drug addiction is a compulsion to seek out drugs at all costs. Love is similar in that desperation for love can lead to daunting consequences. In Tim O’Brien’s Historical Fiction Thriller “The Things They Carried” he writes about the consequences of love and how it affects everyone around you.The experiences of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross in Vietnam exemplified this notion, as his love for a distant lover lead to the death of a soldier. However,…

than 58,000 soldiers. The movie Letters Home from Vietnam shows real film from the war, and shows what the American troops really endured. The title to the book, “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien is symbolic because soldiers carry, not only physical but emotional things during war. In the short story, “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien describes the physical weight soldiers carry on…