Courage, courage and weakness; these are what tie The Things They Carry together. The Things They Carry shows the story of a platoon of American soldiers and their personal struggles throughout their tour in the Vietnam War. Courage is pulled into the story when the men in it do selfless acts in which Courage is transpired, or when they fail to be courageous which in turn shows weakness. Now for weakness, weakness is shown when one of the characters fails to do what they believe in or fails to control and or help fix a situation. Both of these occur regularly as the story goes. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carry involves mass amounts of courage throughout the book where soldiers carelessly put themselves in the line of duty to protect …show more content… Tim did not want to go to war but his family insisted that it was his duty, so instead of following his heart he took the “cowards way out’ and went to war no questions asked. Courage ties along with weakness. A man can be courageous and still be weak; He can be weak but also show courage. Norman and Tim are just two examples of courage and weakness intertwining during the events of The Things They Carry, for Tim Going to war takes courage no doubt about it, but Tim was weak for not standing up for his own personal beliefs as a pacifist, and being someone who just did not want to leave. For Norman He showed courage for letting his friend go and giving himself a chance at life, but his guilt for losing his friend resulted in him gaining weakness. Courage and weakness are what tie The Things They Carry together. Courage and weakness are without a doubt shown throughout the story in the eyes of these American soldiers, but those two things are just small ideals in a bigger part of the war. Both are a piece of the bigger picture in which honor is created by all the courage and weakness and guilt and brotherhood ad memory and love, Show More
