Tim O Essays

  • Tim Blake Nelson's O and Oliver Parker's Othello

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Shakespeare classic play Othello has been remade many times throughout the years whether it be through the big screen or on stage. Two of the larger known recreations of the play were made by Tim Blake Nelson ("O") and Oliver Parker (Othello). Both of these directors attempted to appeal to an audience made up of different people. Parker attempted to appeal to Shakespeare lovers; Nelson went the route of appealing to the youth (much like the 1996 adaption of Romeo and Juliet). One of the constant

  • Things They Carried Essay: Disembodiment

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    Disembodiment in The Things They Carried With some knowledge of war, one can begin to appreciate Tim O' Brien's The Things They Carried.  But when the work is viewed in its strict historical context, another layer of  meaning rises to the surface.  Tim O' Brien is a veteran; as a result there are many things he takes for granted (or so we think) and does not tell us.  America's involvement in the Vietnam war resulted from internal domestic politics rather than from the national spirit.  American

  • Comparing O' Brien's The Things They Carried and Ninh's The Sorrow of War

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    Comparing O' Brien's The Things They Carried and Ninh's The Sorrow of War Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War is a contrapuntal reading to American literature on the Vietnam War. But rather than stand in stark contrast to Tim O' Brien's The Things They Carried, The Sorrow of War is strangely similar, yet different at the same time. From a post-colonialist standpoint, one must take in account both works to get an accurate image of the war. The Sorrow of War is an excellent counterpoint because it is

  • Free College Essays - Psychological Approach to The Things They Carried

    778 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Psychological Approach to The Things They Carried In Tim O' Brian's, The Things They Carried, he talks about the Vietnam War and it's effects country.   O' Brian uses the psychological approach to tell the sorrows of war .  The things that they carried had all represented a part of each soldier.  In the days of the Vietnam war, they did not expect a woman to fight in a war. The story is better understood because the reader knows the background of the story and the characters personality

  • Things They Carried Essay: American Heroes

    871 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Things They Carried: American Heroes "Speaking of Courage" in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, is more than a story about a soldier's personal experience of the Vietnam War. It is more than a story about his fight for his country, God, and fellow soldiers, and not to mention his return home. "Speaking of Courage" is not only an allegorical story about the disconnection between Vietnam and the rest of the world, but also an allegory about the disconnection between the soldiers and the

  • Things They Carried Essay: Rebirth of a Spirit

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rebirth of a Spirit in The Things They Carried Speaking of courage is a story found in Tim O ' Brien's The Things They Carried about a solider named Norman Bowker who has returned home from the Vietnam War. As Bowker circles the town's "source of pride" he comes to realize that the town that he left so many years ago will never be the same. While his life was paused by the war, theirs weren't. He also comes to understand that while the people he once knew have changed that he has also changed

  • Exposing the Truth in Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong

    2203 Words  | 5 Pages

    Exposing the Truth in Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong "Dear Mom and Dad: The war that has taken my life, and many thousands of others before me, is immoral, unlawful, and an atrocity," (letter of anonymous soldier qtd. In Fussell 653). Tim O'Brien, a Vietnam war vet, had similar experiences as the soldier above. Even though O'Brien didn't die, the war still took away his life because a part of him will never be the same. Even in 1995, almost thirty years after the war, O'Brien wrote, "Last

  • Tim O’Brien’s How to tell a True War Story

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tim O’Brien’s “How to tell a True War Story” According to the author Tim O’Brien, people tend to readily accept the ‘facts’ presented of what happened during a war. People do not consider the existence of fallacies regarding the actual stories of what happens in wars, few consider that the ‘facts’ of an incident often change through people’s words. The film ‘Saving the Private Ryan’ by Steven Spielberg features both facts and seemingness part of the war story. Since it is so difficult to fully

  • Gender, Power, and Isolation in Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    phenomenon over a period of time" (Geurin 240)." When utilizing the cultural studies approach, the reader must search the whole text for an overall range of situations and reasons why culture would shape a society. This cultural evidence can be found in Tim O'Brien's "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" because of its wide use of gender construction, levels of power, and the theme of isolation. One of the major concerns in "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" is gender construction--especially when it comes

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in The Things They Carried

    2502 Words  | 6 Pages

    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 war was over and there was no place in particular to go"

  • The Things They Carried: On The Rainy River

    807 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tim O’Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, is still undecided of whether to doge the draft and lose the respect of his family and friends, or go to the Vietnam War and lose his life, in the chapter “On The Rainy River”. Elroy’s actions reveal his good qualities that help Tim make this important decision, without any words of judgment or criticism. Elroy’s actions reveal heroic qualities. He is a silent Observer who helps Tim overcome his fears. When Tim decided to leave his hometown of Worthington

  • Tim O’Brien's Going After Cacciato

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    fight for an unknown cause in a country they knew little about. When the United States finally pulled out of Southeast Asia, many were left scratching their heads. Over 58,000 young men died without really knowing why. Although it is a work of fiction, Tim O’Brien’s Going After Cacciato expresses the views of those who spent their lives in the jungles of Vietnam. The Vietnam War was not a war fought by volunteers; it was fought by men who were more or less forced to go. The American soldier was there

  • O'Brien's Things They Carried Essay: Experiences and Emotions

    1608 Words  | 4 Pages

    Experiences and Emotions in The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is not a novel about the Vietnam War.  “It is a story about the soldiers and their experiences and emotions that are brought about from the war” (King 182).  O'Brien makes several statements about war through these dynamic characters.  He shows the violent nature of soldiers under the pressures of war, he makes an effective antiwar statement, and he comments on the reversal of a social deviation into the

  • Free Things They Carried Essays: Instinct

    544 Words  | 2 Pages

    Human Instinct in The Things They Carried Fear is a strong emotion that is constantly haunting the minds of the men in Tim O'Brien's book, The Things They Carried. Fear is handled by different men in different ways. However, through the characters of Dave Jenson and Lee Struck in "Enemies" and "Friends," two opposing reactions can be seen. HCAL defines cultural studies as something that can "...either create community or cause division and alienation"(240). By using cultural studies it is possible

  • Comparing Mary Anne in Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong and Kurtz in Apocalypse Now

    2598 Words  | 6 Pages

    the beginning of their encounter, Kurtz knows why Willard was sent to find him and makes no effort to stop Willard from slaying him with a machete. With his mission accomplished, Willard boards the boat that will take him. back to civilization. Tim O'Brien's story "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" is like Apocalypse Now in that it is also about a character who "crossed to the other side." Her name is Mary Anne and her boyfriend, Mark Fossie, has her shipped over to Vietnam to be with him. However

  • Myth of Courage Exposed in The Things They Carried

    2673 Words  | 6 Pages

    there dead. . .but whatever death lays bare all wounds are marks of glory. (Homer 22.83-87) 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

  • Necessity in The Things They Carried

    2343 Words  | 5 Pages

    They Carried" by Tim O'Brien displays necessity in its destructive aspects as well as its sustaining ones. It thoroughly examines the burdens of the soldiers and the effects these burdens have on a man in a life-threatening situation. But in his examination of these things that the men carry, O'Brien poses a puzzling question: do these "necessities" that the men carry on their backs and in their minds keep them alive, or lead to their own demise? In "The Things They Carried," Tim O'Brien examines

  • To Go or Not To Go

    1036 Words  | 3 Pages

    To Go or Not To Go The Vietnam War was a very confrontational issue amongst numerous Americans during the 1960’s and 70’s. Many young Americans did not agree with fighting in the Vietnam War. In the essay “On the Rainy River,” by Tim O’Brien explains the struggle of a 21 year old American man who has been drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. The essay proposes the narrators predicament of not wanting to go to war and displays his reasons why. The narrator states that “American war in Vietnam seemed

  • Fact Verses Fiction in O'Brien's The Things They Carried

    1458 Words  | 3 Pages

    the events that took place? Does the reader need to trust the narrator? In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien examines what it takes to tell a good war story. He uses his own experiences in Vietnam in conjunction with his imagination to weave together a series of short stories into a novel. First, the reader must understand just what makes a good "war story". The protagonist of the novel, Tim O'Brien, gives us his interpretation of it in the chapter "How to Tell a True War Story". A true

  • Transformation in Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong

    811 Words  | 2 Pages

    Transformation in Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong In Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong, Tim O'Brien gives a dynamic example of how even the deep roots of ones culture can be modified. The focus is on the young lady, whose boyfriend manages to have her shipped over to Vietnam from the U.S. She is then thrown into a completely foreign culture that thousands of American GI's were experiencing. This change in culture affected the strongest and most skilled of America's ground troops. The affects on