Buried Social Issues Exposed in The Things They Carried
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is a wonderful and personal look into one of this countries darkest times. The vivid imagery that the author uses lets the reader actually experience the feeling of actually being in the war. By using the cultural studies method of literary criticism, we can use the social conditions during the time of the writing to explore beneath the surface. What we find underneath just might be more interesting than the story itself.
In the story "Enemies", Lee Strunk and Dave Jenson get into a fistfight over a missing jackknife. "Stupid" (p.63) is the way the author describes the fight, but yet he describes in vivid detail the gory battle and its emotional outcome.
If we look at society of the 1960's, we find that America was going through a period when sharing was a common value. "Free love" and "Peace, love, and Rock-n-Roll" were the battle cry of a whole sub-culture that was revolting against the stuffiness of their parents. (Bob Dylan versus Ward Clever) This counter-culture was not very interested in individualistic ideas as we can see by the droves of groupies that followed (and still follow) the Grateful Dead. The United States Army had basically the same effect on the young boys that were volunteered for war. They were stripped of their individualism and made into a team- a fighting machine. The only way for them to have any real sense of individuality was to grasp onto a few small personal possessions that they were allowed to keep or those that were contraband.
On the other hand, growing up in the early 1980's and 1990's (the ME generation) makes it difficult to understand how a sim...
... middle of paper ...
...he time. When Dave feels that he can no longer tolerate the situation, "He borrowed a pistol, gripped it by the barrel, and used it like a hammer to break his own nose". (63) Again like society of the time, the "establishment" felt that they needed to break up "sit-ins" and peace marches because they thought the protestors were going to get violent anyway. It was a type of pro-active violence.
In conclusion, there are numerous ways of unwrapping the many layers of a piece of literature. The most simplistic of these ways looks primarily at the words and their basic meaning. The more complex, such as the cultural studies method, will divulge deeper insight and motivation by the author. You may discover more than just a story about a fight over a jackknife. In the end, you may learn a lesson in human psychology and socio-economics.
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a very uniquely written book. This book is comprised of countless stories that, though are out of order, intertwine and capture the reader’s attention through the end of the novel. This book, which is more a collection of short stories rather than one story that has a beginning and an end, uses a format that will keep the reader coming back for more.
The Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger once said “Perjor est bello timor ipse belli”, which translates to: “the dread of war is worse than war itself”. With this quote, Seneca identifies that war has both its physical and mental tolls on its participants. The psychological and emotional scars of war do much more damage to a solider than the actual physical battles. Tim O’ Brien repeats this idea many years later in his novel “The Things They Carried”, by describing how emotional burdens outweigh the physical loads that those in war must endure. What keeps them alive is the hope that they may one day return home to their loved ones. Yet, the weight of these intangible “items” such as “grief, terror, love, longing” overshadow the physical load they must endure since they are not easily cast away.
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.
Literary Analysis Essay on The Things They Carried The book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is fiction and truth wound together to create a frustrating and addicting novel of fiction about the Vietnam war. O’Brien created stories by using his experiences during the Vietnam whether they are true stories or not is an unattainable knowledge for the reader, the only person of that knowledge is only O 'Brien himself. Through his writing he emphasized the the fact that you cannot perfectly recall the experiences of your past when your telling a story but the way it is told is “true sometime than the happening-truth(O’Brien 171) which helps give The Things They Carried depth beyond that of a “true”, true story. O’Brien has many characters in his book, some change throughout the book and others +are introduced briefly and change dramatically during their time in war and the transition to back home after the war.
The Romanov family story is one that ends in tragedy and mystery. The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia for over 300 years coming to an end with Nicholas II. The book The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, & The Fall of Imperial Russia, written by Candace Fleming, tells the story of Tsar Nicholas II of how he came to become the Tsar and fell trying to protect his family. Fleming tells the story of young Nicholas coming to power when his father, Alexander III, died and how ill-prepared Nicholas was to rule due to his father’s inferior teaching skills. The story goes on to Nicholas meeting his future wife, Alexandra, and how they had four daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Marie and Anastasia. With each daughter came a disappointment of not having an heir
Tina Chen’s critical essay provides information on how returning soldiers aren’t able to connect to society and the theme of alienation and displacement that O’Brien discussed in his stories. To explain, soldiers returning from war feel alienated because they cannot come to terms with what they saw and what they did in battle. Next, Chen discusses how O’Brien talks about soldiers reminiscing about home instead of focusing in the field and how, when something bad happens, it is because they weren’t focused on the field. Finally, when soldiers returned home they felt alienated from the country and
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.
The Things They Carried represents a compound documentary novel written by a Vietnam veteran, Tim O'Brien, in whose accounts on the Vietnam war one encounters graphical depictions of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Thus, the stories "Speaking of Courage," "The Man I Killed," "How to Tell a True War Story," "Enemies" and "Friends," "Stockings," and "The Sweetheart of The Song Tra Bong "all encompass various examples of PTSD.
The Things They Carried is a funny little book in the sense that it isn’t told how most books are. It goes from war to camping on the borderline of Canada, back to war, and then into present day times. It works marvelously well, showing you what actually happened and then what he thought about what happened and what he could have done to change the outcome. There are many things that I think people can learn from his experiences in the Vietnam war and the way he tells those stories and lessons really bring you along for the ride.
In Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, numerous themes are illustrated by the author. Through the portrayal of a number of characters, Tim O’Brien suggests that to adapt to Vietnam is not always more difficult than to revert back to the lives they once knew. Correspondingly the theme of change is omnipresent throughout the novel, specifically in the depiction of numerous characters.
When Ralph and Jack placed their own personal needs of being in control of the other boys, order on the island broke down. Ralph stated that he was chief and as long as he was voted chief, the boys would do as they were told to, as stated in the chapter, The Beast from the Water, ‘You voted me for chief. Now you do as I say’ (81). This quotation incorporates the fact that Ralph has grown aware of the fact that he has the power to make decisions that affect the rest of the boys deeply and that he has the top power on the island at that point. Becoming chief was not necessarily a personal need for Ralph at first, but as events occur, he became aware of the fact that he has ultimate authority and will do make sure the boys complete their tasks in order sustain order, even if it meant disciplining them. When Ralph held the meeting by the beach at night in chapter five, chaos ensued as a result of his personal need of being...
Rastafarians believe that Haile Selassie is the messiah, who they refer to as “Jah” or God. They believe that one day he will lead them to the Promised Land. Although, Selassie died in 1975, his death is not accepted by many due to the fact that they believe he will come back one day; reincarnation. Selassie was known as “Ras Tafari Makonnen”, and this is how the name of the religion came to be. Rastafarianism began as a social stand against white people and middle-classes, because they viewed them as oppressors. They also wanted to recapture and reestablish their African heritage, because many of them felt that by being captured and taken to the Caribbean by slave traders, they were defrauded out of their heritage.
Tsar Nikolay Alexandrovich Romanov was the last Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias. The eldest son of Alexander III, he was born on May 18, 1868, in Tsarskoe Solo, Russia (Nicholas II). Nicholas received his education through a network of private tutors who taught him many languages, including very strong English. One of these tutors and the most influential was a renowned university professor named Konstantin Pobedonostsev (Nicholas II). Pobedonostsev is known for teaching Nicholas that the Romanov family ruled as ‘agents of God’ and that the unlimited powers of a Tsar could never be surrendered without throwing away a precious and ancient part of Russian tradition (Nicholas II). Nicholas spent many happy years as a young military commander in the Imperial Guard, a position he expected to hold for a long time. During these years, Princess Alix of Germany agreed to be his wife. Just as everything seemed to be going perfectly for the young man, tragedy struck.
Literature has many purposes, and opens doors to unique worlds. Through Literature, we discover ourselves and world time and again.
Literature is rarely, if ever, merely a story that the author is trying to tell. It is imperative that the reader digs deep within the story to accurately analyze and understand the message the author is trying to portray. Authors tend to hide themselves in their stories. The reader can learn about the author through literary elements such as symbolism, diction, and structure. A good example of this is Robert Frost’s poems The Road Not Taken and Nothing Gold can Stay in which he uses ordinary language unlike many other poets that became more experimental (Frost, Robert. “1.”).