Things They Carried Analysis

887 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The things they carried war essay

The novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, is an assortment of stories about the truth of war and what it can teach us. O’Brien uses the shift of perspectives to give us an opportunity to better grasp these experiences not only through his eyes, but through his comrades as well. In The Things They Carried many of the stories share a common theme of shame, truth, and guilt. O’Brien uses these common threads to show the significance of the war experience and how it changed the soldiers.
According to O’Brien there are different meanings to the word courage. Is courage standing for what you believe in and risk ridicule, or is it courage to put aside your values and do what you are expected to do? We can see this internal dilemma when O’brien is hit with a draft notice and expected to rush into a war he does not believe in. He is torn, and his conscious told him to run but what it came down to in the end “was a sense of shame.” (page number) The war not only questions O’briens values, it questioned most that took part in it. During the vietnam war, people watch as theyu sent their troops overseas for a reason they werent really sure of. By the end of it they could not only trust themselves but the government that was representing. This belief that you had to be courageous and avoid shame was what everyone thought. In the story we could see that they all had to put on this facade that they were brave enough to be there even if they did not want to, this was evident when Curt Lemon had the dentist “[yank] out a perfectly good tooth” (page) These soldiers thought they had to prove themselves to one another when in reality they did not have to. They all knew that they none of them really had the courage to do what they want, thats...

... middle of paper ...

...well. It can be easy to blame oneself because it can be hard to look at the what if; these men were certain that they were directly responsible for these deaths and its a burden they are going to have to carry for their life or come to peace with it.
In conclusion, through the authors underlying messages within the stories, the readers are able to grasp the feeling that the war left with these soldiers. The war not only challenged their morals, but it left them with a feeling of shame and guilt. O’brien was able to capture their raw emotions through him shifting the perspectives in the novel, capturing his comrades point of view, stressing the importance of the truth. I feel as though introducing us to the truth of the emotion behind the war instead of the actual story truth, it made a bigger impact on me and I feel about the war and sympathize with the veterans.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Tim O 'Brien's The Things They Carried'

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “The Dentist” Curt Lemon had a more than healthy tooth ripped out to prove he was brave. This wasn 't really a form of courage but more of a shield to protect himself from the fear and weakness that drove him to dislike the dentist in the first place. In “On the Rainy River” Tim does not believe in the war. He has no clue why the war even began in the first place, and has no idea who the president of North Vietnam is for that matter. Tim believes that he is “above” the war but the pressure from his community forces him to be shipped off to war. Hesitant to go, Tim knows he must go so that he does not look like a coward in front of his family and friends. He does not believe that men go to war due to there overwhelming urge to fight for their country or to show off their bravery but to show that they are courageous instead of cowardly. Although soldier’s are glorified as brave and strong, they still fear embarrassment and shame. When Tim lost his first crush due to a fighting battle with cancer, he never recovered from the affects death had on him. O’Brien’s shows that his fears ran deeper than being cowardly— he feared death more than

    Read More

  • Coping Methods in the Things They Carried

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “The Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien uses this story as a coping mechanism; to tell part of his stories and others that are fiction from the Vietnamese War. This is shown by using a fictions character’s voice, deeper meaning in what soldier’s carried, motivation in decision making, telling a war story, becoming a new person and the outcome of a war in one person. Tim O’ Brien uses a psychological approach to tell his sorrows, and some happiness from his stories from the war. Each part, each story is supposed to represent a deeper meaning on how O’Brien dealt, and will deal with his past. In war, a way to discover and to invent new ways to release oneself from the pressure of it, O’ Brien’s writing is all about it; this stories will makes the reader understand his burden.

    Read More

  • On The Rainy River O Brien Analysis

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the early stages of the story O’Brien is faced with a “moral emergency”, though the draft letter sent to him in the early summer of 1968 stirred up many more feelings than that of just a moral nature. O’Brien experienced unease within his conscience about how this particular war had no “imperative of its cause”; people were dying for reasons unknown. This news also hit him in a deeply emotional way; he became quite livid with the entire idea of

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried by Tim O'brien

    1433 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...eing a war story, The Things They Carried is a human story, a story which at its core, delves into intrapersonal and emotional repercussions of warfare that only a story written by one of the war’s own can be properly crafted.

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

    1422 Words  | 3 Pages

    A work's infallibility cannot be defined by imagination's input, facts become false when they are exaggerated. The Things They Carried, is a collection of short stories that revolve around The Vietnam War. Tim O'Brien takes the reader back in time to the late 1960s, and contemplates on experiences that emotionally scarred Vietnam soldiers. O'Brien shares multiple war stories that are claimed to be authentic during the war, and migrates to the 1980s in states like Iowa and MA to discuss how these stories have influenced his life. The Things They Carried, is a collection of false war stories, the stories' authenticity is altered in hopes of evoking strong emotions from readers.

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried Character Analysis Essay

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    O Brien 's point of view is an accurate one as he himself because he is a Vietnam veteran. The title of the short story is meaningful because it describes each soldier’s personality and how he handles conflict within the mind and outside of the body during times of strife. The title fits the life as a soldier perfectly because it shows the reality that war is more than just strategy and attacking of forces. O’Brien narrates the story from two points of view: as the author and the view of the characters. His style keeps the reader informed on both the background of things and the story itself at the same

    Read More

  • Symbolism in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    Written by author Tim O’Brien after his own experience in Vietnam, “The Things They Carried” is a short story that introduces the reader to the experiences of soldiers away at war. O’Brien uses potent metaphors with a third person narrator to shape each character. In doing so, the reader is able to sympathize with the internal and external struggles the men endure. These symbolic comparisons often give even the smallest details great literary weight, due to their dual meanings. The symbolism in “The Things They Carried” guides the reader through the complex development of characters by establishing their humanity during the inhumane circumstance of war, articulating what the men need for emotional and spiritual survival, and by revealing the character’s psychological burdens.

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    Symbolism in stories is dependent on how the author writes, the title, and the characters. Titles in literature are very important to the symbolism of a story an example of this is Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”. As the story goes on it shows not only the literal meaning of what they carried but also symbolically the burdens that they had mentally.

    Read More

  • Myth of Courage Exposed in The Things They Carried

    2673 Words  | 6 Pages

    As students we are brainwashed by ancient myths such as The Iliad, where war is extolled and the valorous warrior praised. Yet, modern novels such as Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried (THINGS) challenge those very notions. Like The Iliad, THINGS is about war. It is about battles and soldiers, victory and survival, yet the message O'Brien gives us in THINGS runs almost contradictory to the traditional war story. Whereas traditional stories of war take place on battlefields where soldier battles soldier and the mettle of man is tested, O'Brien's battle occurs in the shadowy, private place of a soldier's mind. Like the Vietnam War itself, THINGS forces Americans to question the foundations of their beliefs and values because it calls attention to the inner conscience. More than a war story, O'Brien's The Things They Carried is an expose on personal courage. Gone are the brave and glorious warriors such as those found in the battle of Troy. In THINGS, they are replaced by young men who experience not glory or bravery, but fear, horror, and a personal sense of shame. As mythic courage clashes with the modern's experience of it, a battle is waged in THINGS that isn't confined to the rice-patties, jungles, and shit-fields of Vietnam. Carrying more than the typical soldier's wares, O'Brien's narrator is armed with an arsenal of feelings and words that slash away at an invisible enemy that is the myth of courage, on an invisible battlefield that is the Vietnam veteran's mind.

    Read More

  • The Vietnam War In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

    1201 Words  | 3 Pages

    “War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead,” (80). In the fiction novel The Things They Carried, the author Tim O’Brien reminisces fighting in the Vietnam War and the aftermath of the war with his platoon mates through short stories and memories. He goes in depth about the emotional trauma and physical battles they face, what they carry, and how Vietnam and war has changed them forever. O’Brien’s stories describe the harsh nature of the Vietnam War, and how it causes soldiers to lose their innocence, to become guilt-ridden and regretful, and to transform into a paranoid shell of who they were before the war.

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried: A Soldier's Burden

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...often times tragic and can ruin the lives of those who fight. The effects of war can last for years, possibly even for the rest of the soldiers life and can also have an effect on those in the lives of the soldier as well. Soldiers carry the memories of things they saw and did during war with them as they try and regain their former lives once the war is over, which is often a difficult task. O’Brien gives his readers some insight into what goes on in the mind of a soldier during combat and long after coming home.

    Read More

  • Coping Mechanisms Used for Survival in The Things They Carried

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel, “The Things They Carried”, is about the experiences of Tim O’Brian and his fellow platoon members during their time fighting in the Vietnam War. They face much adversity that can only be encountered in the horrors of fighting a war. The men experience death of friends, civilians, enemies and at points loss of their rationale. In turn, the soldiers use a spectrum of methods to cope with the hardships of war, dark humor, daydreaming, and violent actions all allow an escape from the horrors of Vietnam that they experience most days.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Friendship in The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

    1389 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Things They Carried is a collection of stories about the Vietnam War that the author, Tim O'Brien, uses to convey his experiences and feelings about the war. The book is filled with stories about the men of Alpha Company and their lives in Vietnam and afterwards back in the United States. O'Brien captures the reader with graphic descriptions of the war that make one feel as if they were in Vietnam. The characters are unique and the reader feels sadness and compassion for them by the end of the novel. To O'Brien the novel is not only a compilation of stories, but also a release of the fears, sadness, and anger that he has felt because of the Vietnam War.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Friendship in The Things They Carried

    1356 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Things They Carried is a collection of stories about the Vietnam War that the author, Tim O’Brien, uses to convey his experiences and feelings about the war. The book is filled with stories about the men of Alpha Company and their lives in Vietnam and afterwards back in the United States. O’Brien captures the reader with graphic descriptions of the war that make one feel as if they were in Vietnam. The characters are unique and the reader feels sadness and compassion for them by the end of the novel. To O’Brien the novel is not only a compilation of stories, but also a release of the fears, sadness, and anger that he has felt because of the Vietnam War.

    Read More

  • Truth in The Things They Carried by Tim O´brien

    809 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Tim O’Brien’s novel, “The Things They Carried,” imaginations can be both beneficial and corrosive. This novel consists of story, truth and real truth. Throughout the novel, imagination plays a big role. Tim O’Brien wrote his book about the war, mainly based on his memory of the war. He did not remember every detail of the war, thus he made up some false details to the stories to make it seem more interesting.

    Read More

More about Things They Carried Analysis

Open Document