The Things They Carried: Summary And Analysis

The things the soldiers carried defined their character, both the physical things and the metaphorical things. All of the men physically carried their gear, which included things like their helmet, jungle boots, grenades, firearms, and sometimes each other. Mentally they had to carry their brutal memories of war and the terrible things they encountered. 1st Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letter from his girlfriend Martha, 2 photographs of her, and a pebble good luck charm; all of these things show that he is compassionate and cares deeply about his girlfriend. He also carried the lives of his men on his shoulders. Dave Jensen can be characterized as a hygienic person; he carried extra socks, a toothbrush, floss, soap, and foot powder. Along with his hygienic items, he carried a rabbit 's foot for good luck. Many other men carried things that symbolized important things; Norman Bowker carried a tongue from an enemy and a diary, Rat Kiley carried comic books, and Kiowa carried a pair of moccasins, an illustrated new testament, and his grandfather’s hatchet. Each man carried memories, stress, and knowledge. Personally I carry memories, that are each important in their own ways, and I carry a little wooden lady bug with me for good luck.

Tatyana Smith 1363908 English III Honors Jody, Hollis Seminar: The Things They Carried O’Brien, Tim. The things They Carried. New York: Houghton Mufflin, 1990.Print. 1.

War. It's dirty. It's heavy. It's often unpredictable. Brutality and death become the lives of young men as they march through unfamiliar territory, looking for a new kill, watchful for any new killers.

“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a short story written about the Vietnam War. The title has two meanings. The first is their duties and equipment for the war. The second, the emotional sorrows they were put through while at war. Their wants and needs, the constant worry of death were just a few of the emotional baggage they carried. During the Vietnam War, like all wars, there were hard times. Being a soldier wasn’t easy. Soldiers always see death, whether it be another soldier or an enemy. In “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien explores the motivation of solders in the Vietnam War to understand their role in combat, to stay in good health, and accept the death of a fellow soldier.

In an excerpt from “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, the unnamed narrator uses third person to describe the literal things that Vietnam War Veterans carried physically as well as what they carried mentally and emotionally with them. The thoughts and endeavors of Jimmy Cross, the lieutenant of an Army unit in the Vietnam War are described by the narrator. Other members of the unit are introduced to the story as well through descriptions of the things they are carrying, examples are Henry Dobbins who carries extra food, Ted Lavender who carries tranquilizer pills, and Kiowa who carries a hatchet.

In the list of all the things the soldiers carried, what item was most surprising? Which item did you find most evocative of the war? Foot powder was most surprising to me. This also shows us how much these soldiers had to travel in the war.

In The Things They Carried the idea of spinning, in various forms captivated me the most. From the start, I knew I wanted to display the young girl from “Style” in my collage since I thought it would be the best way to insert myself into the piece. I wanted to express how war spins from hell and violence, to beauty and peace. O’Brien tells many stories that seem terrible, but end with some beauty or peace behind it. O’Brien juggles the idea of spinning, from the girl dancing surrounded by wreckage, to O’Brien’s mind spinning out of the control of rational thought as he wonders what could have been of the man he killed, and to the beauty O’Brien found in his dream with Linda, turning Linda’s traumatic death into a peaceful

The text, ‘The Things They Carried', is an excellent example which reveals how individuals are changed for the worse through their first hand experience of war. Following the lives of the men both during and after the war in a series of short stories, the impact of the war is accurately portrayed, and provides a rare insight into the guilt stricken minds of soldiers. ‘The Things They Carried' shows the impact of the war in its many forms: the suicide of an ex-soldier upon his return home; the lessening sanity of a medic as the constant death surrounds him; the trauma and guilt of all the soldiers after seeing their friends die, and feeling as if they could have saved them; and the deaths of the soldiers, the most negative impact a war

     In Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, numerous themes are illustrated by the author. Through the portrayal of a number of characters, Tim O’Brien suggests that to adapt to Vietnam is not always more difficult than to revert back to the lives they once knew. Correspondingly the theme of change is omnipresent throughout the novel, specifically in the depiction of numerous characters.

Tim O'Brien does a fantastic job of blurring the lines of what is true and what is fiction in The Things They Carried. In fact, he often points out that he has made entire stories up, after the fact. He defends his decisions by proposing that what he has done is, in fact, not lie, but rather tell a story-truth. He argues that his reason for doing this is to bring the story to life more than it could live through the happening-truth. 'I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth' (O'Brien, 183). O'Brien believes that, when accompanied by vivid details which essentially make the reader view the scene as a dream, story-truths can carry greater emotional truths than ever possible to

“War is hell, but that’s not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead.” (80)

In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien the author tells about his experiences in the Vietnam war by telling various war stories. The quote, "It has been said of war that it is a world where the past has a strong grip on the present, where machines seemed sometimes to have more will power than me, where nice boys (girls) were attracted to them, where bodies ruptured and burned and stand, where the evil thing trying to kill you could look disconnecting human and where except in your imagination it was impossible to be heroic." relates to each of his stories.

In “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien the theme of “carrying” both physical and emotional objects by the main characters can be found in the novel. While these men carry the same standard physical army gear, they differentiate with personal tangible and intangible items. From Lieutenant Cross’s responsibility of his men, to Henry Dobbin’s girlfriend’s pantyhose for its magic, each man faced the war with these things attached.

This quote helps O’Brien to portray the theme of motivation by shame. Curt Lemon fainted in a scene before the last one where he got a good tooth pulled out. He was afraid of the dentist that was on sight, and because of this he was embarrassed because he fainted. He didn’t want to face the other guys because he knew that they

I am confronting you about a book that my 7th grade son, Micah White, brought home from school on October 10, 2016. The book is titled The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. This book is about the Vietnam war. It talks about what the men brought with them into the war, and then ultimately what they bring back home in their minds. Now I am not sure if you have read this book before, but I was shocked by what my son was talking about that was in the book. There is such foul language, violence and gore in the book. Making it inappropriate for 13 year old's. I believe that this book should not be available for any middle school student that knows nothing of the Vietnam war or what those men went through. I believe that they are just too young to understand.