Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis

One literary technique prominent in The Things They Carried, particularly in the story by the same name, is symbolism. Throughout this story, O’Brien mentions all the things that the soldiers carry with them, both physical and emotional. However, the physical items that the men carried is more than just

In the story, “The Things They Carried”, author Tim O’Brien described specific items that each of his soldiers carried with them to the Vietnam War front. The items that the soldiers carried were for mental protection; they believed that the things they carried would take their minds off all the terror and violence that was going on around them. The protagonist, Lieutenant Jimmy cross, carries out letters from a girl named Martha, which leads to him losing his focus for the war and a lack of protection for his fellow soldiers. The death of Ted Lavender tested Lieutenant Cross’ loyalty to his men, his imagination of Martha, and the significance relating to each of the items the soldiers’ carry.

One of the most overlooked aspects in the life of a soldier is the weight of the things they carry. In Tim O'Brien's story, "The Things They Carried," O'Brien details the plight of Vietnam soldiers along with how they shoulder the numerous burdens placed upon them. Literally, the heavy supplies weigh down each soldier -- but the physical load imposed on each soldier symbolizes the psychological baggage a soldier carries during war. Though O'Brien lists the things each soldier carries, the focal point centers around the leader, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, and his roles in the war. Lt. Cross has multiple burdens, but his emotional baggage is

While the Vietnam War was a complex political pursuit that lasted only a few years, the impact of the war on millions of soldiers and civilians extended for many years beyond its termination. Soldiers killed or were killed; those who survived suffered from physical wounds or were plagued by PTSD from being wounded, watching their platoon mates die violently or dealing with the moral implications of their own violence on enemy fighters. Inspired by his experiences in the war, Tim O’Brien, a former soldier, wrote The Things They Carried, a collection of fictional and true war stories that embody the

Most authors who write about war stories write vividly; this is the same with Tim O’Brien as he describes the lives of the soldiers by using his own experiences as knowledge. In his short story “The Things They Carried” he skillfully reveals realistic scenes that portray psychological, physical and mental burdens carried by every soldier. He illustrates these burdens by discussing the weights that the soldiers carry, their psychological stress and the mental stress they have to undergo as each of them endure the harshness and ambiguity of the Vietnam War. One question we have to ask ourselves is if the three kinds of burdens carried by the soldier’s are equal in size? “As if in slow motion, frame by frame, the world would take on the old

In "The Things They Carried," O'Brien made reference to the Vietnam war that was closely associated with the physical, psychological, and emotional weight the soldiers beared.  The overall method of presentation of this story incorporated many different outlooks on the things the soldiers carried, dealt with, and were forced to adapt to.  In addition to this, O'Brien showed us the many reasons why and how the soldiers posessed these things individually and collectively and how they were associated directly and indirectly.  The strong historical content in "The Things They Carried" helped emphasize the focus of the story and establish a clearer understanding of details in the

Through The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien moves beyond the horror of fighting in the Vietnam War to examine with sensitivity and insight the nature of courage and fear. Included, is a collection of interrelated stories. A few of the stories are brutal, while others are flawed, blurring the distinction between fact and fiction. All the stories, however, deal with one platoon. Some are about the wartime experiences of soldiers, and others are about a 43-year-old writer reminiscing about his platoon’s experiences. In the beginning chapter, O’Brien rambles about the items the soldiers carry into battle, ranging from can openers, pocketknives, and mosquito repellent o

Henry Dobbins carried his girlfriend’s panty-hose around his neck. Norman Bowker carried a thumb from a corpse that was given to him by Mitchell Sanders. Towards the end of the story Lieutenant Cross realizes he is not doing his job well if he is thinking about Martha. After Lavender is shot, Cross decides that he is going to straighten up and be the leader he should have been all along. Cross blames himself for Lavender’s death.” He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of war.”(O’Brien 101) Immediately, Cross has a talk about his new expectations.”Commencing immediately, he’d tell them, they would no longer abandon equipment along the route of march. They would police up their acts, they would get their shit together, and keep it together, and maintain it neatly and in a good working order.”(O’Brien 105) After Lavender is killed, Cross has the motivation to fulfill his role in war as the leader of the platoon.

The Vietnam War began in 1954, consisting of many extensive, horrific years of battle that seemed to create more harm to the United States and its soldiers rather than to North Vietnam. The 500,000 United States military personnel returned home with the loss of the war and the loss of their friends on their minds. Although the physical and emotional experiences that the men went through is unfathomable, Tim O’Brien does a great job portraying what life as a soldier was truly like in the Vietnam War. In the book The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien depicts the unstable emotional and psychological condition of the American soldiers through the symbolism of their belongings and personal anecdotes from their lives.

The Vietnam War. A war that many Americans believed unfair and unnecessary. “Why am I being sent off to fight in a war I don’t know anything about? Will I ever return again?” Many draftees asked themselves these questions hoping to find comfort in the answers. But there was little to no hope, and they knew it. They were being drafted and they could do absolutely nothing about it, only hope that at the end they would be returning to the enlightened faces of their loved ones, something that not many Vietnam soldiers expected to ever see again. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, portrays his experience in the war along with his fellow squad members, in their fight for survival against the Vietcong. In The Things They Carried, each

The Things They Carried is a collection of stories about the Vietnam War that the author, Tim O’Brien, uses to convey his experiences and feelings about the war. The book is filled with stories about the men of Alpha Company and their lives in Vietnam and afterwards back in the United States. O’Brien captures the reader with graphic descriptions of the war that make one feel as if they were in Vietnam. The characters are unique and the reader feels sadness and compassion for them by the end of the novel. To O’Brien the novel is not only a compilation of stories, but also a release of the fears, sadness, and anger that he has felt because of the Vietnam War.

Tim O'Brien builds an argument in “The Things They Carried” to convey the realities felt by the soldiers in the vietnam war through many ways. His purpose of this book was to make people aware of all the soldiers struggles and what they when through. He conveyed his message through the use of of evidence, like facts and examples to support his claims made. He uses reasoning to develop his ideas and last but not least Tim O'Brien uses word choice and appeal to emotion to add to the ideas expressed throughout the passage. To begin with, Tim O’Brien has many claims throughout “The Things They Carried” but each and every one of those claims would be nothing without the evidence that he gives along with facts and examples.

In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien uses many short stories to describe his experience in Vietnam. The story that captured many aspects of writing was “How to Tell a True War Story” because it acts as a guide to writing a true story. O’Brien uses many different rhetorical strategies, narrative techniques, and establishes a theme in this story to help develop his characters and story line.

By making this decision, he shows weakness. As a result of giving up the thing that helps him deal with pain, he becomes harsher and more controlling. Essentially, he loses his admirable qualities. He becomes more and more a product of war. The kindness and sensitivity that once made him so honorable suddenly disappears. He makes life harder for his men. "Their days would seem longer and their loads heavier" (404). He becomes a leader who resembles the harshness of war. By being harder on his men, he isn't helping the situation. They need someone who is strong enough to pull them through the devastation and confusion they are being forced to deal with. They need the strength that he used to have. This point of view shows Cross being stronger at the beginning because he is recognizing that he has something besides the war to live for. After he loses that, he loses the strength that he possessed with it.

Jimmy Cross is the First Lieutenant who carries “the responsibility for the lives of his men” (O’Brien 429). Cross let his imagined love get in the way of his responsibilities and one of his men was killed. Cross carries the weight of Lavender’s death and adds that to the weight of his renewed responsibility to his men (427-437).