The Things They Carried Essays

Throughout “The Things They Carried” and “Spin” the men were scared. The biggest piece the men carried were their reputations. Fulfilling the reputation of their fathers was an immense fear of the men at war. They were scared about the unknowns. They used methods to cover and cope with their fear. The men had to carry an abundance of tangibles and intangibles but it the end the intangibles weighed more than the tangibles. The men carried their reputations put there by their fathers. Their fathers

significance in my life. Though certain items you might find in my wallet and backpack, the others you will find on my body. As you read the story, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, each soldier not only carried physical items while in Vietnam, but they also carried psychological burdens as well.” (O’Brien, 108-119). We all carry things psychologically even if we don’t realize it. In my wallet you would find two family photos, one from Christmas 2013 of my oldest son grasping my hand and

Veterans’ trauma which is caused by the Vietnam War. This finally facilitates the formation of the main themes in O’Brien’s works — “guilt, complicity, culpability, and moral courage” (Colella 6). His remarkable novel The Things They Carried “was selected by The New York

Symbolism in the novel The Things They Carried is used often throughout the stories. Tim O’brien uses the analogy of animals to show symbolism during the war. The water buffalo and the puppy dying symbolize the young men’s loss of innocence and anger about the war. During the war, the men were very young which resulted in lots of pranks pulled on each other. Ted Lavender had adopted an orphan puppy, whom he would feed it and carry the puppy on his rucksack. One day Azar strapped the puppy to a Claymore

Vietnam: An Analysis of a Soldier’s Connection With War Itself in The Things They Carried. “War is like love, it always finds a way.” -Bertolt Brecht War , like love, is always present can be a person’s worst nightmare, since it always finds ways to emotionally or physically impact one’s life. Mary Anne and Norman Bowker in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried both possess a strong sense of self certainty, however the war challenges

Usually when someone is murdered, people expect the murderer to feel culpable. This though, is not the case in war. When in war, a soldier is taught that the enemy deserves to die, for no other reason than that they are the nation’s enemy. When Tim O’Brien kills a man during the Vietnam War, he is shocked that the man is not the buff, wicked, and terrifying enemy he was expecting. This realization overwhelms him in guilt. O’Brien’s guilt has him so fixated on the life of his victim that his own presence

Excerpt from Novel Response “They carried the soldier’s greatest fear which was the fear of blushing. Men killed and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment.” (O’Brien pg. 20) Chapter: The Things They Carried. This quote can help to convey the recurring theme of physical and emotional burdens, along with the psychological

"The Things They Carried," reflects the saga of drafted soldiers during the Vietnam era who were sent to the Vietnam War. The author, Tim O’Brien, describes the things that the men carry during their tour of duty. The items carried are both physical and impalpable items and what these things are is subject to the individual soldier. They carry the necessities for survival in the jungles of Vietnam as well as the personal things each soldier feels necessary to make life as comfortable as possible

Novelist, William Timothy O´Brien is best known for his fictional novel, The Things They Carried, in which he recounts short stories of his experience in the Vietnam War. His odyssey began with him getting drafted into the war while he was in college and after the war becoming a journalist. In The Things They Carried, by William Timothy O’Brien, O'Brien entails the novel with a fictional character Jimmy Cross who then through the use of similes, imagery, and verbiage depicts the significance and

In the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’brien, the character Tim, struggles with whether or not he wants to run away to Canada or go fight in Vietnam. After days of contemplating, thinking what was the right decision here. He either could conform to society and go to war