Soldiers In The Things They Carried Essay

Words: 602
Pages: 3
Open Document
In the short story, “The Things They Carried”, the soldiers portrayed in the story carry a colossal amount of tangible and intangible weight on their mission. They carry the basic essentials and the least amount of stuff possible to live, it all depends on the soldier. As well as the physical weight, the men also carry things like fear, grief, love and thought, which is the main focal point of the story. Although these men are soldiers in battle, everyone carries a similar emotional weight along them. “Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried a compass, maps, code books, binoculars, and a .45-caliber pistol” (O’Brien) and letters from a girl named Martha who he is in love with. Throughout the story, O’Brien constantly brings up Martha and how Lieutenant …show more content…
These men have so much fear because they don’t know what could happen next. They are away from home and death could be right around the corner. These mementos help the soldiers stay sane.
Although these men haul the load of battle on their backs, O’Brien shows us that they also tote hope along with them. All the men fear death, especially Lavender (that's why he has his premium dope and tranquilizers), but that little shed of light at the end of the tunnel that just maybe everything will end up okay at the end of the day. The constant backing from each ally grants them the ability to push on instead of giving up.
Physical and emotional concerns was a clear-cut theme in the narrative, “The Things They Carried.” It is filled with many forms of which the soldiers of the Vietnam War had to experience. There weren’t only countless physical baggage that each man had to bear with them, but contrasting psychological hardships came up as well. Although we all carry some sort of physical and emotional weight on our backs like many of these soldiers, it can never compare to what they had to experience. All these strains made the environment for the soldiers almost impractical to
Show More

Related Documents: Soldiers In The Things They Carried Essay

Essay on Death and War

described as “struggle against various kinds and degrees of authority.” Simply put, a zone of contact is where a new meaning for a word or phrase is made in a literary work, where a word is assigned a new description. Tim O’Brien’s war novel, The Things They Carried is chock full of zones of dialogic contact. Characteristic of O’Brien’s novel is extraordinary imagery in the dialogue of the characters. The author has the ability of making the reader literally feel what the character is saying and elaborate…

Words 1147 - Pages 5

The Things They Carried Analysis

Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a collection of essays, all centered on anecdotes of American soldiers during the Vietnam War. The seemingly straightforward recollections slowly reveal dense layers of personal and metaphorical meanings upon closer inspection, with the exploration of the characters’ emotions and the underlying motif of love creating the opportunity to trace how war changes a person in the realm of his emotions. The Vietnam warfare acts as a catalyst for all of the unsettling…

Words 1837 - Pages 8

TTTC Literary Analysis: The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Analysis Essay The Vietnam War was a conflict between the communist regime of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States from 1959 to 1975. Tim O’Brien, an American writer and a soldier at Vietnam, wrote the novel The Things They Carried. He writes about all of his experiences and stories in the battlefield. Moreover, this book how courage, cowardice, love, and hate can exist side by side within the soldiers and these are the things that keep the soldiers go on in…

Words 918 - Pages 4

Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

piled up and continue to be believed. This essay will clear up some of these rumors and provide a more accurate representation of the Vietnam War using the novel “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien and various other sources. Tim's novel is a true example of what life was like during the war, but using made-up characters. Every experience is told from his point of view to help the reader better understand the lies surrounding the Vietnam War. This essay will encourage people to dive deeper into…

Words 990 - Pages 4

Historical Analysis Essay

The short story “ The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien he wrote this story pertaining to the Vietnam War. The war actually changed to mindset of Tim O’Brien and it gave him even more of a reason to write about it. The Vietnam War drafted many 18 year olds to fight for their Country, being though most haven’t ever touched a gun. This story displayed from the young soldiers a physiological loss of innocence. Also the emotionally and physically trauma that a soldier have to deal with while in…

Words 1156 - Pages 5

They Things TheyCarried Essay

Guthrey EN 160 Lit & Comp 6 March 2014 Within the short story “The Things They Carried” the author, Tim O’Brien, recounts the experiences he had during the Vietnam War through the eyes of his fellow soldiers. Throughout the story O’Brien also describes the personalities of each one of his comrades, but without using any direct statements. He describes them through the art of symbolism. All the items listed in “The Things They Carried” are directly correlated to the characterization and overall nature…

Words 1155 - Pages 5

Miliary Essay

year 1965, you are a university student and you must leave within two weeks. Informal language, write a persuasive essay that explains why you should serve (or not serve) and convince others to do the same. You may refer to yourself as “this commentator” or “this critic” or “this draftee” or some third person variance. No first person allowed in this essay. Military Choice Essay This writer receives a letter from the Defense Department dated October 3, 2001. This writer is someone who has been…

Words 1201 - Pages 5

Lydia Stanley things they carried Essay

Lydia Stanley Missing Essay May 6, 2014 K. Evans “On O’Brien’s ‘The Things They Carried’: The Weight of the War” As readers enjoy this work, and its suspense and action, he or she might be surprised by the play on emotions that “The Things They Carried” contains. Within the lines and lingo of what seems to be a typical war story, O’Brien has carefully interwoven deeper, dual meanings when creating each character and what he carries on the journey through Vietnam in this work. Through examining…

Words 681 - Pages 3

Essay Vietnam War and Story

Redefining Truth in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried By: Rose Monahan May 2011 The Pennsylvania State University In an interview with Tobey C. Herzog, Tim O’Brien discussed the merits of truth by saying, “You have to understand about life itself. There is a truth as we live it; there is a truth as we tell it. Those two are not compatible all the time. There are times when the story truth can be truer, I think, than a happening truth” (120). Many literary scholars have struggled with the…

Words 3731 - Pages 15

The Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis

The Things They Carried Synthesis Essay Several war stories have been written over the years to help ordinary people get a feeling of what war is like and how brutal it is. Tim O’Brien wrote The Things They Carried as fiction but it can be believed as nonfiction. The story examines the life before, during, and after war. The story, “Soldier's Home” is written about a young man returning home from WWI. These stories share a common connection about how war changes people. Soldiers lose their sense…

Words 854 - Pages 4