American author Tim O’Brien drew on his experiences as a soldier in the Vietnam War to write his novel The Things They Carried (1990). He uses imagery, or artful descriptions, to help readers imagine these experiences and appreciate the reality of combat far from home….
The Things They Carried Essay Examples and Topics
by Tim O'Brien
The Things They Carried by Tim O’brien: the Character of Mary Anne Bell
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Every person has their own story. In the novel “The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien talks about his experiences of being thrown into the Vietnam war as a young innocent soldier and explains how not only did he become strongly affected by the…
“For the common soldier,” Tim O’Brien writes in “How to Tell a True War Story,” “war has the feel—the spiritual texture—of a great ghostly fog, thick and permanent. There is no clarity. Everything swirls. The old rules are no longer binding, the old truths no…
Coming Home from the War as Described in The Things They Carried and Soldier's Home
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Tim O’Brien’s chapter “Speaking of Courage” from his book “The Things They Carried” is very similar to Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Soldier’s Home” when it comes to the way they tell the story of men coming home from war. Although both authors use a different…
The Man He Killed and The Things They Carried: the Horrific Reality of the War
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The draft. It brought many men into a war that they did not understand. It brought them across the Pacific Ocean to a small country in a civil war. This country was Vietnam. The Things They Carried is a fictional book based in Vietnam during…
Symbols of Transformation in the Man He Killed and The Things They Carried
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In The Things They Carried, Tim O’brien shows how symbolism enforces the power of storytelling through the many personality shifts within a variation of characters. Throughout the novel, one is exposed to a various amount of ideas and concepts that all connect together in an…
“The Thing They Carried” started and finished being told as an outsider looking in perspective from the point of view of a solitary storyteller. Regularly, by a character named Tim O’Brien. This method permits us to see the experience of war by finding out about…
"The Things They Carried": the Wasteness of the Vietnam War
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The Vietnam War is one of the most important wars to date. There were over 1 million total casualties, many of whom were innocent civilians. Tim O’Brien was one of the soldiers in this war, and he documents some of his experiences in The Things…
In Tim O’Brien’s, The Things They Carried analysis, he speaks about the war and how it affected him and everyone else. Using the psychological lens, the reader might notice what pain and suffering these men are going through. O’Brien explains what the men carry physically…
The things they carried novel is about soldiers facing the war in Vietnam. The story drawbacks to the things about and the feelings that the soldiers carry in their hearts while they are facing the war. The story that starts from the chapter dentist brings…
The Things They Carried explores the experiences and emotional rollercoaster faced by war soldiers, during the Vietnam War. Tim O’Brien explores these emotional experiences from his perspective, but he also gives an insight into his fellow soldiers’ thoughts during warfare. Tim O’Brien is primarily faced…
The Things They Carried is a book with a very high degree of emotional background. The soldiers featured in the stories have had to carry a lot of different sentiments like guilt, disgust, confusion, but most importantly is the one that gets them through the…
There is a part of the conscience that makes one think twice before telling someone a lie or not saying the whole truth. This can cause people to realize what they are about to do- some realize that lying is unnecessary and others continue to…
Illusions and Reality in The Things They Carried and Greasy Lake
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The Things They Carried revolves around a couple of military men during the Vietnam war, each man carrying objects determined by ‘necessity’ and sharing the burden of war. The plot lies in Jimmy Cross’s need to reinforce himself to battle reality, which is here distinctly…
Summary of The Things They Carried Chapter 9, Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong
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We all know true war stories cannot be trusted and taken account of, the story of Mary Anne was not a trustworthy story either. Months after her escape into the wilderness Mary Anne had a rendezvous with Fossie and their confrontation was not a small…
Tim O'Brien
United States
Historical Fiction
March 28, 1990
Tim O'Brien, Lt. Jimmy Cross, Bob "Rat" Kiley, Norman Bowker, Henry Dobbins, Kiowa, Mitchell Sanders, Ted Lavender, Curt Lemon, Azar
The Things They Carried is a true war story based on O'Brien's service in the Vietnam War.