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The Things They Carried

            
             Throughout history, every war has great stories that need to be heard. For the Vietnam War those great stories are captured in Tim O"Brien's story "The things they carried". Tim O"Brien was one of the most influential and talented writers of his time, and in his stories he unveils the truth and the facts of war and tells the readers that war is not fun and games it is serious business.
             Tim O"Brien was born in a small town in Austin Minnesota on October 1,1946.He went to Macalester College and graduated in 1968 with a BA in political science. Though O"Brien was against the war in Vietnam he as forced to enter the armed forces soon after he graduated. After O"Brien got out of Vietnam he went to Harvard University. He eventually left Harvard to become a newspaper reporter which led the way to his brilliantly wrote novels. Besides "The Things They Carried," O"Brien wrote many other dazzling novels. Some of those novels are "If I Die In Combat Zone", " Going After Cacciato," and his most recent novel "In the Lake of the Woods"(Tim O"Brien's Biography).
             In these novels, O"Brien discusses one issue that leads to a discussion of seemingly opposite issues. His novel "If I Die In Combat Zone" was a memoir of his Vietnam Tour and he describes his trip Vietnam back to Minnesota. In this novel, he emphasizes how casually death can come by describing the period of relative relief after a successful ambush. He says how the soldier may feel relaxed but that fear that death can come is still imbedded in their brain. In his novel " Going After Cacciato" he begins the story with a list of the dead soldiers in the platoon and has the protagonist of the story working on the order of the list throughout the novel. His intent in this novel was to let the reader make judgments about the morality of the war. He did this by showing the reactions of the soldiers and the innocent victims of the war. In another one of his novels "In the Lake of the Woods" he puts the frightening descriptions of what it is like to be lost in the wilderness (Retelling the Story: O"Brien's Use of Repetition for Effect).


Essays Related to The Things They Carried

1. The Things They Carried

... beliefs and to keep in mind what they"re fighting for. For Kiowa, the bible served an important purpose. It was a constant reminder of his beliefs, of his family, and of his religion. This bible kept him going and was able to keep him strong to fight in the war. In "The Things They Carried" by Tim O"Brien, the soldiers carried many things but each had a valuable item that gave ... them intangible comfort that helped them get through the war. Without ... these objects, the soldiers might not have been as strong as ... ...

  • Word Count: 580
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

2. The Thing They Carried

... 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

3. The Things They Carried

An Analysis of "The Things They Carried" In Tim O"Brien's short story "The Things They Carried" he describes a group of American soldiers marching through Vietnam. The soldiers carried items that were basic "necessities" for survival during this terrible time in their lives. The men tried to take comfort in these personal objects and memories while they were away from home. The love struck narrator takes the reader along during the conflict to see the importance of these ... load of tangible objects. He missed his chance to better himself as a soldier. The soldiers in "The Things They Carried...

  • Word Count: 461
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

4. The Nature of war

... of Gump and he received the Medal of Honor for that. A short story written by Tim O'Brien called "The Things They Carried" was about things the soldiers carried. For example one soldier carried dope, another carried comic books, and another carried condoms. The short story tells about physical things that the soldiers carried during their service. But it actually symbolizes the emotional baggage carried by the soldiers when they were at war. They carry all the things that mean a great deal to ... them in life. The soldiers also carried emotions. "Song of Napalm" written by ... ...

  • Word Count: 983
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Things They Carried

... in this dangerous environment. The things they carried out of necessity might seem minor to a civilian. But, to soldiers in war, they are the difference between making it out alive and not making it out at all. Another reason for the things they carry came from the individual jobs the soldiers had. For example, the platoon leader, Jimmy Cross was the one in charge of the group of men. He carried special equipment to help ... O"Brien clearly demonstrates why he chose the title. The characters had to carry so many different things thought their missions. Some of the things they carried de...

  • Word Count: 651
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Things They Carried

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

7. The Things They Carried

"The Things They Carried" In the short story "The Things They Carried" Tim O"Brien faces Jimmy Cross with the problem of surviving while fighting in Vietnam. While trying to maintain his sanity, Jimmy struggles between his old self and the person he has to become. Jimmy has to make some difficult decisions while in his tour, and most of them come to his attention after his friend Ted Lavender ... to overcome another great hurdle in his strive for complete leadership. Individualities against Conformity. Everyone in the story had their own things they carried, some carried lucky pebbles like Jim...

  • Word Count: 841
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

8. The Things They Carried

In Tim O"brien's short story, "The Things They Carried," he describes a certain platoon humping through the jungle of Vietnam. He portrays the setting and characters by describing the varies items each man would carry. The things each soldier would carry were both tangible and intangible items. Each soldier carried their own burdens. They all carried the basic essentials for survival of war and the things that would make living possible by carrying the bare minimum of what ... by Martha which represented is his love for her- an emotional burden he could not rid himself of. The soldiers in "Th...

  • Word Count: 922
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

9. The Things they Carried

... girlfriend's pantyhose around his neck. (O"Brien 855). These items were carried for courage and luck, for they were in a dangerous situation all the time. The soldiers carried everything that could improve their quality of life in the situation they were in. The circumstances they were surrounded by magnified "The Things They Carried." The physical demands were great, and if you add the emotional weight of fear, dying, grief, and loneliness, this put an additional burden ... for the men to carry around. The soldiers had to carry around something ... ...

  • Word Count: 644
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

10. Physical and Emotional Weight - The Things They Carried

... burden of physical and emotion weight; Tim O'Brien uses war related imagery to symbolize the vim of storytelling in his book "The Things They Carried". The objects they carried often weighed of necessity to protect them from the bullets escaping the barrel of a Vietcong soldier and of the safety, although the author said it as "the illusion of safety" keeping their emotions from objects that kept themselves intact harboring ... every twelve inches in the jungle represent the moral in the story. The only thing certain about the war in Vietnam is that the readers experience truth througho...

  • Word Count: 1571
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

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