The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

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The novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien begins by Mr. O'Brien describing his dramatical events that happened during the middle of his Vietnam experience while he was fighting in the war. Mr. O'Brien received his draft notice in the month of June in the year of 1968. When he received this notice Mr. O'Brien had feelings of confusion, and that drove him to go north to the Canadian border, and it had him contemplating if he wanted to cross it or not because he does not want to be forced to fight in a war he really does not believe in. However, Mr. O'Brien finally decides that he would feel guilty if he avoided the war and he also feared that his family would be disappointed. Not only does this novel tell us readers about his particular experiences, but The Things They Carried also gives insight on the other soldiers and their stories about their missions while fighting for our country as well. With the Vietnam War being one of the most brutal wars to fight, these soldiers had interesting stories to tell, and with these stories being told about their experience in the Vietnam, it should make people realize the war is not an easy task and everyone is not built for it, and that our nation needs to support our troops.

First off, when Tim O'Brien wrote the novel, he titled it The Things They Carried, although he could have easily named the novel The Things I Carried, but he didn't because he knows that he was not in this alone. Each and every soldier has a different story to be told not only about their life prior to war, but when they were there as well. For example, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a platoon leader who is also the protagonist in the short story The Things They Carried. Mr. Cross is deeply in love with a y...

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...ntry. For taking upon those difficult tasks that the majority of American’s back out on should call for our nation to support our troops.

Works Cited

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: a Work of Fiction. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. Print.

"The Things They Carried; ISBN-13: 9780547391175." Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - Distinguished Book Publishing since 1832. Web. 10 May 2011. .

"Tim O’Brien The Things They Carried." UK Poet Blog, Creative Writing. Web. 10 May 2011. .

"Symbolism in Tim OBriens The Things They Carried - by Krystle Hernandez - Helium." Helium - Where Knowledge Rules. Web. 10 May 2011. .

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