Things they carried essay

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1. “The Man I Killed” from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, includes a list of physical attributes of a man that O’Brien kills and the actual killing of the man. The poem “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy talks about a man shooting down his foe. These two pieces of literature are similar because they both talk about killing someone, they have the same negative tone, and both feel guilty about killing a human being. These pieces of work are alike because they incorporate murder in the writings. “The body lay almost entirely in shade” (O’Brien 129). O’Brien killed a man and the body is laying in the shade and is lifeless. The poem includes the shooting that occurs between the man and his foe. The tones of both of these pieces of literature are very negative. They both talk about death and dying, which is very negative. At the end of each pieces of literature, they both include the misery that both men feel after assassinating a human being. . These are pieces are also divergent because the chapter from The Things They Carried included more personal items about the man that doesn’t live and in the poem. In Tim O’Brien’s chapter, O’Brien gives a description about the man that he kills. “His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip and teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other eye was a star-shaped hole, and his eyebrows were thin and arched like a woman’s” (O’Brien 124). O’Brien makes the description about the dead man to make it personal. The poem by Thomas Hardy does not give an illustration about the man that is dead. I believe that The Things They Carried chapter was more effective because it shows that the person that dies is personal and not just a solider from the opposing side.
2. When Tim O’Brien starts with a desc...

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...lls this story with a lot of passion and emotion, but also includes a deeper meaning with it.
7. I think the Vietnam War affects O’Brien because it changes his view on life. O’Brien now sees life as very valuable and can be taken away very quickly. O’Brien sees that life can be taken away very quickly. O’Brien also notices that emotionally he is stronger then he believes he is. “I realize it is as Tim trying to save Timmy’s life with a story” (O’Brien 246). With the death of Linda, O’Brien realizes that he is stronger because he got through it. O’Brien continues to tell stories about the war because he wants to pass the message about the gruesome war that he endured. O’Brien craves to tell how the war can change someone physically and emotionally. O’Brien includes the message about Linda because he desires to show how the war can bring the emotional side to someone.

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