The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien Essay

O’Brien wrote the book “The Things They Carried” to share the stories of the Vietnam War and to expose the truth through writing. Tim O’Brien grew up in a small town in Minnesota and was fascinated by literature and writing. As a kid he “hated Boy Scouts and bugs and rifles”, instead he would go down to the library and read books like “Huckleberry Finn” and “Tom Sawyer” (NEA Big Read). Although he went to college and graduated with a political science degree and wanted to become a writer, he was…

Composition II Essay Outline “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, is short story is about the soldiers during The Vietnam war and their struggles to maintain their lives. The author talks about how that their mental burdens they carry outweigh the physical burdens that those in war must carry. (O’Brien 1-12). In the story the narrator states, "They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing--these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own…

There are many instances of isolation throughout The Things They Carried, a great example of this is Norman Bowker. We learn that after the war Bowker came home and felt like there was nobody he could talk to. His dad was there sometimes, but his best friend had drowned in a lake, and his sweetheart was married. Everybody else that he knew was from the war. All of these things added up to a very intense feeling of isolation. He tried to connect with other people, but all he can think about are…

War has plagued humankind for as long as history cares to ever recount. With war, has always come burdens, which lay upon the shoulders and hearts of those cast into its maw. In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”, the men of Alpha Company yield prime examples of the withering effects of the Vietnam War on the soul, body, and mind. Among the many hefty burdens borne by the various men of Alpha Company, the death of a friend or comrade is perhaps the heaviest; overwhelming those who are…

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried both explore the fluid nature of good and evil. In the “Young Goodman Brown,” the main character, Goodman Brown, wanted to experience the world for one night, and so left his faith behind while he set himself up for a night of adventure. He went through the forest and met the devil, and when he came back, he was not the same man as when he left. The things they carried”, talks about soldiers who are in the…

Essay 4: “The Things They Carried” People naturally carry items that they need as we go through the day. On the other hand, ever person carries around an emotional burden that goes with them everywhere they go. In "The Things They Carried" author Tom O’Brien reveals what it was like for US soldiers to endure carrying large amounts of essential items and emotional burdens during the Vietnam war. The narrator says, "The things they carried were largely determined by necessity," as he tells the…

“The Things They Carried”- People are inclined to display a confident image of themselves because they fear that if they do not, others will see them as weak. Device Concrete Detail Commentary Personification of intangibles to represent the true burdens of war “They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could…

signifier or marker of foreign identity or a clash of upheld ideals and standards. From the perspective of American soldiers in the Vietnam War, the “other” is not just the racial military enemy, but also the Americans back at home. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried accounts a series of fictional and real events of American soldiers serving the Vietnam War, thereby reflecting the racial othering of the Vietnamese enemy and the foreign othering of the civilians physically disconnected from…

by the severity of our situations. In the “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the author shows us a metamorphosis or a change within an average American girl “... perky and fresh faced, like a cheerleader” and changes her into someone lost who “seemed to disappear inside herself ” When introducing the story of the sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong that Rat Kiley tells, O’Brien prompts that Rat tells stories that seem “improbable, some well beyond that, but…

Cowardice and Courage VS. Embarrassment Throughout The Things They Carried, O’Brien shares the horror and truth going into the Vietnam War. He shares very touching and brutal stories throughout his book, sharing the specific jobs the men had and the specific things they must carry. Going into the Vietnam War soldiers are seen as our heroes but deep down inside can they consider themselves heroes. Tim O’Brien shows what he beliefs about masculinity and courage throughout his stories…