The Things They Carried

words; going on for pages at a time on one topic and not sparing a single detail. This, of course, is part of his charm, which is why his vignettes are never lacking in any rhetorical devices. However, in his “The Man I Killed” from his The Things They Carried the rhetorical devices become much less prominent, because the protagonist, Tim O’Brien, retreats into himself. Instead the reader must then shift gears to understand O’Brien’s message—the feeling, shock, obsession, and delusion that comes…

Illusions of Love In Tim O’Brien’s short story “The Things They Carried,” First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is torn between the love he deserts at home and the troops he is assigned to protect in Vietnam. Under multiple circumstances Lieutenant Cross is found daydreaming about his “love” for Martha rather than focusing on the task at hand. Lieutenant Cross is blind in thinking that Martha returns the love that he endures for her; however, she still seems to remain in the forefront of his mind. Ted…

ellipses are not necessarily ever the same, two given circles will always be similar. Intrinsically, people’s perceptions always have a possibility for differentiation between one another, but the underlying truths will always be the same. In The Things They Carried, different perceptions are certainly present, but the underlying messages of the stories are what make the book true. Though being a “work of fiction” may imply that the stories like Sweetheart of the Song…

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…

should have long been forgotten, I let myself be carried away into the silent screams of delirium (quote from Amanda Steele).” In traumatic life-threatening events, such as rape, divorce, death, abandonment, and even war, a psychiatric disorder known as PTSD may form, leaving people in distress, isolation, and in numerous other states. It’s a tough mountain to climb, and many people have difficulties dealing with it. In the book, The Things They Carried—a novel by Tim O’Brien, about a platoon of…

the approach of first-person narratives in both Night by Elie Wiesel and The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the reader can hear about and recount the events as they happened from the individual’s perspectives the way that those individuals experienced the events. In Night, where Elie recounts his experiences as a survivor of the Holocaust and a prisoner in multiple concentration camps, and The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, where Tim recounts his traumatic and life-changing time as a…

most emotional and horrific events in the lives of those who must partake in it. Many soldiers begin to question, “why me?” and begin to think about what is happening back home. In Thomas Hardy’s, The Man He Killed, and Tim O’Brien’s, “The Things They Carried”, these ideas are explored. The depth of these authors diction compels the reader to be thankful that they do not have to set foot on the battlefield, presenting the loneliness, anger and confusion of these weakened soldiers. Both Hardy and…

long as humans have. Although every war has its own mitigating factors that started them and are fought by different people, the abstract concept of war has yet to change since humans fought each other with sticks and stones. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried provides specific insight into the effects War had on the soldiers of the American Alpha Company in the Vietnam War and commentary on the actual concept of war. When people think of war they often focus on the reason for the war, the…

with stories that would bewilder the psyche of any common citizen. These stories highlight the extreme difference between the lives of a soldier both at home, and in the horrific situations of a field of combat. In Tim O’ Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried accurately conveys the removal that former soldiers felt by being ripped away from home by explaining with exquisite word choice and diction, the fear and horror that young men felt when the draft notice arrived in their homes, telling…

valuable life lessons that helped him to live a long peaceful life post war unlike his comrade Norman Bowker who took his life due to being unable to find a way to cope with the mental pressures he had. The text states, “They carried each other. they carried their own lives. they carried shameful memories. skimming across the surface of my own…