StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

The things they carried - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Instructor Date The Things They Carried Considered as the combination of interconnected stories and a novel, Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” is a great fascination for book lovers, extracted from intricate traditions of literature…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER97.9% of users find it useful
The things they carried
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The things they carried"

Download file to see previous pages

The author, as a central character, is a veteran from Vietnam War. The major part of the book is concerned with the author trying to recall form the past some memorable events. The story presents a bunch of soldiers Rat Kiley, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, Mitchell Sanders, Kiowa, Ted Lavender, Norman Bowker, and others. Ted Lavendar is shown to die almost at the start of the story. The author is part of the army that carried several things from guns, grenades, lice and emotions of fear, guilt, dreams, love and hate.

The things were closely related to family and jobs but indirectly through amalgam of emotions. In the beginning, the soldiers carried guns and grenades during Vietnam War to have strong armed combination of troops. The most valuable thing they carried was love which made them realize that wars only create massive destruction and love is the only ultimate binding between life and happiness. The novel depicts the fear of death and losing your loved ones carried by soldiers who feel guilty for not being able to save people close to their heart.

Soldiers also carried dreams along with them to savor their dear ones and to be able to live with them yet again. The author has mentioned a number of things that were carried by soldiers before leaving for war. The author highlights the metaphoric value of things that were carried by soldiers; Jimmy Cross carried a pebble which was given to him by Martha and that too under his tongue. The purpose described by the author is that it provides relief by allowing him to get distracted from his duties as a soldier.

Martha's opinion is that the pebble was picked up from a shore which is a place where things converge or diverge; so the pebble reflects her emotions towards Jimmy. Soldiers carried a lot of weaponry with them; mostly depending upon their level of fear of the war. O'Brien repeatedly mentions the weight of the weapons; "The weapon weighed 7.5 pounds unloaded, 8.2 pounds with its full 20 round magazine. The riflemen carried anywhere from 12 to 20 magazines.adding on another 8.4 pounds at minimum, 14 pounds at maximum".

It appears that the writer is very well aware of the burden that these soldiers were carrying. This burden is not only in the physical form, but also in terms of the worry that had about their homes and families they were leaving behind. Moreover, the burden of keeping their homes safe from the enemy demands special attention. Phrases like "..they carried gravity" are clearly a reflection that the life of soldiers is not easy and they have to carry a variety of burdens and only one of them is the physical burden, the remaining are mental burdens in nature.

The writer seems very concerned about the mental burdens since they are not tangible and there is no way a soldier can get rid of them. Rat Kiley carried morphine whereas Henry Dobbins carried huge weapon. It appears that writer intends to highlight how different departments of the army are closely related yet segregated according to their duties. The one who is carrying morphine is aware of the puzzle that he is about to solve when trying to provide relief to the injured patients. His concern is the management of pain; and he seems truly aware that the pain of combat injury is grave enough to be relieved only by high potency pain-killers like morphine.

On the contrary, the huge man Henry is worried about the challenges that he is about to face during combat situations. His willingness to carry the huge weapon despite its weight is truly reflective of his worry. Both

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The things they carried Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/literature/1497517-the-things-they-carried
(The Things They Carried Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words)
https://studentshare.org/literature/1497517-the-things-they-carried.
“The Things They Carried Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/literature/1497517-the-things-they-carried.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The things they carried

The Things They Carried

Running Head: the things they carried the things they carried: A Realistic Portrayal of War Name School Professor Date the things they carried: A Realistic Portrayal of War Tim O'Brien's “the things they carried” is a typical war story set in Vietnam.... “the things they carried” won him a Pulitzer Prize and the respect of critiques and contemporaries.... O'Brien details the things that the characters carry, giving a notion that he has actually seen all of them....
3 Pages (750 words) Assignment

The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien

In the essay “the things they carried by Tim O'Brien” the author looks at a collection of interrelated stories.... Background and Research Issues: the things they carried has been praised for the writer's ambition in attempting to convey the horror of war and the power of storytelling.... What are the elements in every individual narrative of the things they carried that contribute to the unity of the stories 2.... What has been the writer's innovative narrative strategy or form which is developed in the work the things they carried Conclusion: The research paper on O'Brien's the things they carried focuses on an analysis of the various components of its distinct stories or chapters, which together provides a central unity to the work....
2 Pages (500 words) Book Report/Review

The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien

10 August 2008 "the things they carried," by Tim O'Brien In 'Things They Carried', Tim O'Brien depicts casualties of Vietnam war and grievances faced by soldiers in the foreign land.... the things they carried ... In 'things they carried', Tim O'Brien depicts casualties of Vietnam war and grievances faced by soldiers in the foreign land.... It seems he knows that he would never have a chance to touch Martha and kiss her again: "whenever he looked at the photographs, he thought of new things he should've done" (O'Brien)....
2 Pages (500 words) Book Report/Review

The Things They Carried ( Tim o'brien)

Writers of… Tim O' Brien makes intensive use of symbolism as a vehicle in his representation of thoughtful themes in the story such as effects of war, emotional and physical burdens. One of the most Symbolism in the things they carried the things they carried is an anthology of 22 chapters narrated by a character Tim O' Brien.... the things they carried: a work of fiction....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Analysis: the things they carried

One of the most well-known of these books is “the things they carried,” a collection of different but related short stories written by Tim O'Brien that explores the things that the American soldiers carried with them to the battlefield, which on the surface are only material things, but when closely looked into symbolize things far greater and more important.... the things they carried.... he title of the book emphasizes the things that the soldiers carried with them....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

The things they carried by tim o'brien

the things they carried' is an amazing set of short stories complied by Tim O'Brien on the basis of the life of a squad of American soldiers during the Vietnam War.... The reading is the things they carried: A Critical Review ‘the things they carried' is an amazing set of short stories complied by Tim O'Brien on the basis of the life of a squad of American soldiers during the Vietnam War.... ‘the things they carried' cannot be compared to any general work meant for the reader's expectation about satisfaction to be at an average level....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien

 This review "the things they carried by Tim O'Brien" discusses the novel articulation of his experiences at the Vietnam War.... the things they carried takes its inspirations from the Vietnam War and the experiences of the author, considering his anti-war feelings.... In the things they carried, the author presents a memoir of his experiences as a soldier, retracing the events of the Vietnam War.... nbsp;Only a few lines later, O'Brien tells us that “the things they carried” were out of necessity, from where the book gets its name....
8 Pages (2000 words) Book Report/Review

The Things They Carried: Jimmy Cross

This paper "the things they carried: Jimmy Cross" discusses Hemingway's work the things they carried that is truly a literary masterpiece because it gives readers a possibility to see the inside of war in opposition to official statistics or simple mentioning of winners and losers.... Certainly, noteworthy mentioning is that the story “the things they carried” was written by a man who experienced this bittersweet taste of military life and managed to express his emotions and observations in the text effectively....
8 Pages (2000 words) Book Report/Review
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us