... what the soldiers carried, which not only covers the physical items but bleeds into the emotional and psychological baggage of the war. Even after the war, the soldiers still had to "hump" the pain, guilt, nightmares, and deaths that continue to burden their thoughts. Every character carried items specific to their rank, necessity, mission, superstition, background, girlfriends, and many other factors. In The Things They Carried, Tim O"Brien and Jimmy Cross carried many of the ... same items for survival and sanity, but their personal items and those hidden deep within the thought and c...

• Word Count: 1691
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Tim O"Brien's The Things They Carried is a tale that deals not only with the risk of war, but also with the emotional effects it has on the young soldiers. Lt. Jimmy Cross is the designated leader. All of the men in the troop carried various items with them, both physically and emotionally. After the death of one of his soldiers, Cross is forced to reexamine his actions and realize the mistakes he has made ... became clear to me that Lt. Jimmy Cross will not be able to forget about Martha, and that he is not an effective military leader. The things that Lt. Cross carries are different than th...

• Word Count: 440
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... Tim O"Brien's "The Things They Carried" the soldiers carry guns, ammunition, and body armor to keep them as safe and as protected as possible. Each one carries things important to them as well as the standard issued items. They carry pictures and letters helping them remember girls they have left behind and who they want to see. Depending on the type of person such things as tranquilizers or marijuana are carried. But each ... soldier carries these items for fear of getting shot and killed. They have to take their mind off of the war and the fighting if just for ... a couple of minutes...

• Word Count: 1179
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

In the short story, "The Things They Carried," Tim O"Brien writes about the soldiers of Vietnam and the self versus war or nature that all of them had to carry with them. In this story, O"Brien writes about the intangible things that the soldiers carry with them such as memories and fears and also the actual material things that they carried. However, the weight of these intangible things had a much heavier load than the real material things. The intangible things are ... the men carried showed what kind of person that they were. The things that they carried defined what kind of person that ...

• Word Count: 459
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... " change in character is just the beginning of The Things They Carried. As the book continues to document what happened to the men O"Brien fought alongside, the reader continues to notice the peculiar way men change when faced with extremes. O"Brien's The Things They Carried probes deeply into the human conscience and presents it in such a way that it stirs the reader. In one chapter O"Brien ... remembers a man he killed. The only man he killed in Vietnam. The book goes on to vividly describe the ... and planes that have forever molded him into something completely different than what he...

• Word Count: 982
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... , a well-told story can actually allow the dead to continue to survive. O'Brien and the rest of the men are able to find relieve in the imaginary that the real cannot offer to them. About the things they carried O'Brien uses creative details as information about the soldiers.  First, he talks about necessities in what they carried and slowly moves on to show another world ... judgment about the individual examining only small things he carries with him. By describing the weight of what they carried and the weight of the weapon make the reader feel the reality. Using these details in the ...

• Word Count: 1752
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In the novel "The Things They Carried," the theme of death shows up multiple times when the author, Tim O'Brien, talks about his experience in the Vietnam War. Death is displayed when O'Brien discusses the man he killed, when he witnesses his first death in Vietnam and about the death of his school love, Linda. He explains to the readers how he is able to come to terms with death and ... progresses he brings notice to the beauty of life and death. O'Brien grows throughout the story in his understanding and his coping methods in regard to death. In the book, The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien...

• Word Count: 805
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The Things They Carried " I"ll never die. I"m skimming across the surface of my own history, doing loops and spins, and when I take a high leap into the dark and come down thirty years later, I realize it is as Tim is trying to save Timmy's life with a story."(pg.246). In the final chapter "The Lives of the Dead," O"Brien uses his memories of Linda as a means of finding closure to the novel ... is because stories can save and change an individual and this particular story has had the most influence on Tim's life. Linda and the stories, dreams, and imaginations have brought together the stori...

• Word Count: 948
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... adjust. It makes them find different ways to cope with war. This is the reason that causes the characters in a book called, The Things They Carried, by Tim O"Brien to have to change due to their situation. They are in the Vietnam war and the horror of death is always hanging over their heads. They have to find ways to cope with that incomparable fright. Their knowledge of death ... and its closeness causes the men in the story to alter their behavior by modifying emotions ... to handle the war, the men had to ease the anxiety of death, they had to feature certain actions to do that. The...

• Word Count: 1194
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

An hour. Sixty minutes. 120 seconds. A lifetime. An hour can be all these things and more. To Mrs. Mallard, in Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" an hour encompasses her re-birth, life and ultimate death. Knowing Mrs. Mallard ... find her receiving word from her sister, Josephine, that Mr. Mallard has been involved in a train wreck, and is listed among those " leading the list of "killed." Her medical condition has everyone concerned for her health, and afraid this shock may cause her undue stress, and although unspoken, ... long." Realizing she can't stay in the room forever, she opens th...

• Word Count: 748
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Over the past seven years, I have had a stomach condition. Doctors have not been able to diagnose what it is. This condition causes me to throw up randomly and without warning. My mother has spent endless nights in the hospital with me, screaming at doctors because they are doctors, and they are supposed to know what is wrong. Of course when something is wrong, we want to know what is wrong right then and there. Sadly, this is not always possible, because doctors have run so many tests but still have no answers. My mother has taken me from doctor to doctor in an attempt to figure out what migh...

• Word Count: 1453
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Traditional customs of the Ibo tribe greatly influenced the ways and practices of its kinsmen. Some of the traditions were carried out within a family's private world. Other traditions were recognized throughout the whole village. The customs were made in celebration of the unique culture of Umuofian people. Many of the traditions of the Ibo tribe took place with in the home. It was a tradtion for the man of the house to sleep in his own hut, or obi. The man's obi was seen as almost a sacared place, were the children or wives were rarely allowed. When any man had a visitor they would meet in ...

• Word Count: 665
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... until your fingers are broken? (31)" She specifically is redundant by saying "on this earth," implying that there is another way of life after the passing from this earth. There is a certain obsession with corruption and she becomes paranoid that Beulah and Dolly are referring to her as corrupt. ... different from Carol and responds, "I want to live and I don't care if they know I"m alive or not." Carol believes they are alike in the way that they put on their own kind of show, to prove to an audience the life they both possess. Carol's character is ironic, because she used to have stron...

• Word Count: 1480
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... beginning to become a daily ritual as the poor become poorer. Just as a fire in nature burns the ground of excess debris, the plague will eliminate society of its excess in population. The Great Mortality originated in China, particularly in the Gobi Desert. It was caused by the Y. Pestis Bacilli bacteria, which was carried over on brown and black rats with the infected fleas through trade routes from Northern ... China to the Black Sea regions of what is now ... proclaimed this by marching for 33 days of self-mortification in groups of 50-300, where they would sing songs to God and pr...

• Word Count: 1138
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... us a description of these events so we can draw conclusions on the mentality of the Northmen and see how they view things in the world. Again Eaters of the Dead provides us with better historical information when it comes to the myths in the Northmens life. Another part of the Viking life that "Beowulf does not mention is the Viking Gods. This is probably because it is written in England ... provides us with more useful information about the Vikings. The best examples of Viking life in Beowulf comes from the parts of the poem that describe death and burial. At the beginning of the poem,...

• Word Count: 2063
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... born with her character, but developed it through her relationships. Over a lifetime a person builds character and becomes recognized by it. This is the case with Ellen Weatherall, the woman we all know as Granny. From joy to bitter hardships, Granny has weathered all life has offered in her eighty years. Through ... it was his decision. Her strength no longer focused on surviving, but on being with her children and remembering what good times they all had. While there were many enjoyable things that went on in her family, there were also hardships. Throughout her marriage and to her dyi...

• Word Count: 1448
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... be on her own. Not only does she have to begin making her own decisions but she will also have to learn how to not live under the control of her father. After such a traumatic event, one may undergo some personality changes and/or go though some type of phase. "After her ... with the expectations from the people who live in the town, Emily has been under someone else's control for most of her life. "She carried her head high enough-even when we believed that she was fallen" (35). The death of her father was the start of Emily having to learn to take control of the things in ... her life....

• Word Count: 682
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... shows a need for a pro-euthanasia law. Many often wonder when euthanasia is considered the best choice. Polls taken between the years of 1989-1990 found that 5-7 Americans of every 10 believe that the terminally ill should be able to die with the doctor's assistance legally. This was only to be carried out when there is no other "rational" decision. According to Dr. Jack Kevorkian, ... extending life through scientific means, doctors bring as much misery as joy for patients. If medicine did not advance, many patients would not believe to request it. Doctors may get carried away and pre...

• Word Count: 1890
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... they do, since in a rough area you never know what will happen next. The suspense is built up by the training of the dog, as each day the widow keeps the dog waiting for her food, keeping her hungry until the big day of savagery. It is also not clear at first why the widow is doing all the training which increases the suspense. The preparation for the ... plenty of detailed descriptive writing including scenery and death.. Many things in the story were outstanding and descriptive - mainly the training of the dog and the way the two deaths happened. The story needed long descriptive passa...

• Word Count: 3319
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: High School

Three symbols that are prevalent in The Things They Carried were the pictures and letters the men had, the Song Tra Bong, and Linda. He uses these symbols to have objects and people represent abstract ideas. The pictures and letters symbolized their past and what they left behind them when they went to the war. In the jungle, life is hard. These items help them cope with the troubles there and remind them of ... what life was like back at home. Jimmy Cross carried pictures and letters from Martha. He remembers the time he spent with her and ... he often wonders about her. He eventually burne...

• Word Count: 375
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... would make you want to stay inside forever. To be at such a place and see such death truly would make a person mad. The violence and hatred in this war scarred Vonnegut for the rest of his life, and he carried his memories and experiences with him throughout his years, and wrote about them in his literary masterpieces. Connecting Vonnegut's personal experiences with that ... . Both Vonnegut and Billy saw so much death throughout their time in the war; and death is something that is very hard to deal with. Not only did they see people die, but most people died because they were killed by ...

• Word Count: 1071
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... took place between Pilate and Macon (although he seemed pleased to know that they were going to busy their father in Virginia), and relations between Ruth and Macon were the same and would always be. Just as the consequences of Milkman's own stupidity would remain, and regret would always outweigh the things he was proud of having done. Hagar was dead and he had not ... lived her life to the fullest, never letting anything hold her down. Milkman realizes at this point that that is what 'flying' means, to be completely alive, to live life as Pilate had: to the fullest, without 'jewelry',...

• Word Count: 1472
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... in Belgium. A woman went boating on a Sunday, She took some cans of coke. That Monday she became very sick and was rushed into the hospital. She was put in ICU and that Wednesday she died. She had gotten a disease called Leptospirosis, a disease which rat urine contains. ... jaundice, liver and kidney complications. A test showed she was effected by the rat urine and this was the cause of the disease. A brief investigation by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta discovered the cause. The top of the can was encrusted with dried rat urine which is toxic and said to ... be lethal. The...

• Word Count: 419
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... returned to him. "I've lost everyone I ever loved, and I've carried all of it with me forever. But look at me: I"m still here, I"m still light on my feet, and the world is still a wonderful place." His life took a tragic turn when he began to "commit terrible crimes, do things beyond redemption, and do things beyond redemption". He believed some of his patients were "thoroughly ... learned he grows, much like any human. Life is one big lesson, every lesson learned leads to growth, emotionally and physically. The three main characters have gone through much emotional stress and growth. T...

• Word Count: 1118
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... father's death, Emily tries to play off that he hasn't died. Many try to enter, but she insists that nothing is wrong. Finally, after three days, she let the community in and they took away her dead father. Another example of Ms. Emily's inability to deal with change is seen when her taxes are coming to be collected. Colonel Sartoris had granted ... way for Ms. Emily to hold onto some image of a father figure. Ms. Emily's father carried a strong hold on her up until the point of his death. Being the only male figure in Emily's life, it was impossible for Emily to meet and date other men...

• Word Count: 1509
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School