Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

Tim O’Brien uses literary devices such as Imagery and repetition to show how conflict affects humanity. It changed the way they think to care for what they have and the time they have with the people they care for. In the book it says “And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. It's about special way thar dawn spreads out on a river when you must cross the river and march into the mountain and do things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen” (81). It’s telling us that you should care for what you have and the memories and the sorrows.

The Vietnam War began in 1955 and ended in 1976. The North Vietnamese government and the Vietnamese Congress fought against France and then America, and eventually against South Vietnam to reunify Vietnam under communist rule. In Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, he tells some of his experiences during the Vietnam War. During the war, he learns that it’s not only the violence that makes war such a dreaded experience, but the intangible weight that each soldier carries.

He felt shame for the death of Kiowa so he went back to Vietnam to find peace in himself. Tim O’Brien felt he was not to blame himself for the death of Kiowa because he knew better. He did feel shame though because he still feels he could have done something different that would have kept Kiowa alive. He never could find out what it was that he could have done differently which makes him want to go back to Vietnam to see the spot of Kiowa’s death. Tim O’Brien wrote about himself stating, “A few months after completing “In The Field,” I returned with my daughter to Vietnam, where we visited the sight of Kiowa’s death, and where I looked for signs of forgiveness or personal grace or whatever else the land might offer” (O’Brien 173). The return to Vietnam does not only help him find forgiveness, but life altogether. This means that whole entire life has been pretty much leading to this moment forever sense Kiowa died. Ever since Kiowa died O’Brien has always felt that something was wrong with himself. It was not necessarily shame or guilt, but finally getting over the fact that a true friend that meant something to him has

Griffin Poff Mrs. Mitchel English III CP, period 4/5 8 March 2023 The Things They Carried: Tim O'Brien's connection to mental struggles caused by war Thesis: During a time when people gained more knowledge of PTSD Tim O’Brien wrote The Things They Carried about his personal experiences in Vietnam and the mental struggle they carried throughout the war. Biographical sketch Early life Birth Family Draft When it happened Writing career When it started Mostly known for The Things They Carried (1990) The physical list The mental struggles O'Brien was the author and narrator Anti-war attributes College Canada War Same time Same people

Very few authors who write fictional stories decide to mix fact with fiction to demonstrate certain ideas, however that is exactly what author Tim O’Brien does in the book The Things They Carried, to demonstrate what these soldiers had carried in the Vietnam War and after the war.

In “The Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien uses this story as a coping mechanism; to tell part of his stories and others that are fiction from the Vietnamese War. This is shown by using a fictions character’s voice, deeper meaning in what soldier’s carried, motivation in decision making, telling a war story, becoming a new person and the outcome of a war in one person. Tim O’ Brien uses a psychological approach to tell his sorrows, and some happiness from his stories from the war. Each part, each story is supposed to represent a deeper meaning on how O’Brien dealt, and will deal with his past. In war, a way to

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change” (Mary Shelley, Frankenstein). War can be a drastic change for the life of a person as war can ultimately morph them into a slave of the battlefield. In the book The Things They Carried, Tim O’ Brien describes the experiences of people in the Vietnam War and how they have become changed individuals from their past lives before combat. War pummels you with things that transcend your typical escapades and the more you try to understand them, the more you get sucked into the void of combat. The increased time the characters are in the battlefield, the more they have to think about it, thus shaping who they are. Only time can determine how much war can affect you.

The author of the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien has shown alienation of feelings such as unrequited love, helplessness, and hesitation. Jimmy Cross fell in love with Martha, but then realized she did not have the same feelings for him. Jimmy Cross’s friend Ted Lavender has died, and he regrets it so much because he just always thinks of his imaginary lover. Then, O'Brien was afraid of going to war after the draft was sent, but he had little choice so he had to go. Being away from home can cause dramatic changes in someone in an alienating or beneficial way.

In The Things They Carried, Tim had a flashback of the first man he had killed. While on ambush with Kiowa, he threw a grenade at a Vietnamese soldier walking the My Khe trail but he immediately regretted it. Tim sat and stared at the man, thinking about everything he took away from the young soldier all because of one decision. While reflecting upon that decision, Tim says, “Sometimes I forgive myself, other times I don’t. In the ordinary hours of life I try not to dwell on it, but now and then, when I’m reading a newspaper or just sitting alone in a room, I’ll look up and see the young man step out of the morning fog” (O’Brien 128). He felt as if he had lost dignity rather than gained it. Even though he was just doing what he had been trained to do, he felt that what he had done was not right and let it eat away at him for years to come. When his daughter asked him if he had ever killed anybody he told her no because he didn’t feel right telling her what he had done, which I believe was a hardship many soldiers had to face. John Musgrave is a veteran of the Vietnam War and went through an event very similar to Tim’s. In the article “Vietnam Reckoning”, John says, “I only killed one human being in Vietnam, and that was the first man I ever killed. I was sick with guilt about killing the guy and thinking

“The only certain thing during the Vietnam War was that nothing was certain” the war the soldiers were going into was uncertain, the country was unknown full of jungles and diseases waiting to infect, and most of them felt uncertain that the United States should even be in the war since it was a war of politics to eliminate the worlds influence of communism (Kaplan). Of all the uncertainty, the only thing real to the soldiers was imagination; imagination became reality. “Imagination was a killer,” imagination caused the death of Ted Lavender from his drugs that departs him from reality, the burning of Martha’s uncertain love, and stricken fear into the soldiers (O’ Brien 235). Elizabeth Piedmont-Marton phrases fear as “infinitely heavy with the weighed fear,” and this fear caused a prolonged salvation. They needed to be saved from the god forsaken war and country that was out to kill them with each and every step they took into the jungle. Johnathan Tran believes that stories, “relives the lives of dead people.” O’ Brien goes on to mention a childhood memory of his nine year old friend named Linda who was bullied, and O’ Brien had no confidence to stand up to her bully and her torment right then and there. She died of cancer shortly after. But for O’Brien, she lives on to stay in his memories to be brought back to life in the power of his stories of her (Tran). The power of salvation from stories are derived from forgiveness, and to tell a story of someone that is to employ good feelings and thoughts of them. One of the objects carried by the soldiers that is infinite in abundance is the amount of stories to be told and the amount of power from these

These stories are a form of his emotions and thoughts that he can’t express to others. Furthermore, the stories I feel also help him deal with the PTSD instead of runaway from it . But in the case of Norman Bowker could’nt. Tim stated that Norman “ At one point he had enrolled in junior college in his hometown, but the course work, he said, seemed too abstract, too distant, with nothing real or tangible at stake, certainly not the stakes of a war.”(156) From this I could see that sadly Norman Bowker was living the war even when the war was over. He should’nt have to feel that he doesn't deserve a life that is outside of war. And the reason I feel that he feels this way is that there is no one who he can talk to because they don’t understand but

Although he later admits to not personally killing him, this story is more real and truer to O’Brien himself than the former. Throughout this story he does not give procedural event details, yet he spends the majority of the chapter imagining and creating the detailed life of a dead Vietcong soldier who’s body was seen near My Khe. He gives him a story, humanizing the man as an attempt to honor his life. O’Brien does not speak dialogue for the entire story, despite Kiowa’s gentle reassurance, instead he is writing the story of the soldier, from the details of his face to the intricacies of his family. O’Brien determines that, “The young man would not have wanted to be a soldier and in his heart feared performing badly in battle” (127). O’Brien so badly wants to give a reason for this trauma, but that’s war: dead bodies for no reason. He feels the heavy weight of responsibility for being a part of this war and offers to share his story to keep the man alive. O’Brien relates deeply to him because they are both out there together. Through story, O’Brien offers us as readers the real truth; what it really feels like to be a soldier in the jungle seeing dead soldiers as opposed to reading

O’Brien writes the novel to look at select experiences, not the Vietnam War as a whole. The reader looks at the novel on a person by person basis, one being the event of looking for Kiowa’s body. This experience is a break from the political side of war, a thing they do for themselves or their friend rather than for their country. There are three perspectives when looking for Kiowa’s body. Lieutenant Cross, an unnamed soldier, and the rest of the troop each have their own perception.

War can be and has been proven to be a deeply scarring experience for many soldiers. Evidently, nothing can prepare them for warfare, seeing close friends die, and narrowly escaping death themselves. Yet, the worst part of it all is having to live with those memories for a lifetime and the inability to forget. “But the thing about remembering is that you don 't forget” (O’brien 34, 1998). The war which is fought in the minds of soldiers lasts a lifetime, and its effects stretch far beyond the actual battle that is being fought. War can significantly affect a soldier mentally, as seen in the novel “The things they carried” by Tim O 'brien, an interview with Richard Dlugoz, and the poem “Coming Home” by Joe Wheeler.

Soldiers may not always be prepared to return to their civilian life after witnessing danger and casualties while being away. Some seemed to deal with it by keeping their mind busy with pastime activities such as writing, while others just cannot imagine a future after. Tim O’Brien is one of the people who found writing as a way to exercise the mind and break free. The Things They Carried is considered to be O’Brien’s way to release his memories and stories in order to move on with life. He is now forty-three years old and still writes