Preview

Literary Analysis: The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
456 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Literary Analysis: The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien
Cole Ruch
ENC II
D.Chapman
April 22, 2013
Literary analysis #1- The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien This prolific and award winning story by Tim O’Brien, focuses on the hardships faced by soldiers during the Vietnam War. O’Brien chronicles the lives of several soldiers as they battle through the jungles of the Vietnam. They story gives the readers the ability to go through the solders inability to accept the reality they are facing. The title of the story plays an important function in the story as throughout the story O’Brien makes mention of everything each soldier is carrying both physically and mentally. The summary of the story is quite simple; it chronicles the complex life of a particular Vietnam soldier. The story focuses on Jimmy Cross and is constant hardships of facing reality. The Lt. Cross leads his men through the Jungle of Vietnam. As the story goes on some of the men are killed and most of the story focuses on those who have died throughout the war. …show more content…
As for mentioned Jimmy Cross is the Lieutenant and more than any other character mentioned , is in a deep battle against not only the Viet-Kong but against himself accepting his own reality. Lt. Cross is constantly brought back to the memory of the girl he loves back home, Martha. He is brought back on visions of her, letters he wrote to her and wondering what she could possibly being doing back home. This constant snap of reality tares him up because his thoughts progressively get darker as he believes her virginity may be taken by someone other than
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    First Lieutenant Cross Analysis
    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages

    First Lieutenant Cross Analysis

    The story is told by an omniscient narrator focusing mainly on the character First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. Lieutenant Cross is in charge of a company of men who go on daily marches through Vietnam in search for the enemy, their sympathizers and supplies. He often daydreams of a college girl he is fond of back in New Jersey. Mitchell Sanders is the radio and telephone operator and known for being the ladies’ man. Kiowa is a Native American Baptist who carries an Illustrated New Testament with him. He also carries his grandfather’s old hunting hatchet given to him by his father and his grandmother’s distrust for the white man. Dan Jensen practices field hygiene by having with him a toothbrush, dental floss and bars of soap stolen from a hotel while on R&R. Henry Dobbins is a large man who carried extra rations and was excused from searching tunnels due to the size of his frame. He carries the M60, is especially fond of canned peaches, and wears his girlfriend's pantyhose around his neck as god luck. Rat Kiley is the medic, carrying a canvas satchel containing morphine, plasma, malaria pills and various medical supplies and comic books. Norman Bowker is a gentle guy, he keeps a diary with him and carries a thumb from a VC corpse that Mitchell Sanders had cut off and presented to him. Lee Strunk has a…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why Tim O'Brien Wrote This Book
    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Why Tim O'Brien Wrote This Book

    This novel is very different from the others that I have read. Tim O’Brien wrote this book to show how it was at Vietnam and what soldiers have to go thru. However he wrote this book under the genre of fiction because this way he could write things that were not true and still make it billable to the reader. Rather than him just saying things as they are. Perhaps if he told things as they really happen then the reader might not be interested of what was going on. Now the author wrote this book for two reasons.…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Comparing Soldier's Home 'And How To Tell A True War Story'
    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Comparing Soldier's Home 'And How To Tell A True War Story'

    Ernest Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” and Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell A True War Story” shows it is hard for soldiers to find a job, spouse, or settle back home and that the soldiers must lie to receive attention and tell the reality of the war. Also, Hemingway and O’Brien show a physical disconnect and a mental disconnect in which both soldiers were struggling to face to get back into…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    When one thinks of war, the general thought is that it inspires acts of patriotism and heroism. No one really looks deeper into the topic to find that along with patriotism and heroism there are often feelings of shame and loneliness. In The Things They Carried it is clear that most of the soldiers in the war do not come back with a sense of pride or honor. Most come back wishing they had never gone at all. Tim O'Brien reveals that because Vietnam precipitated such traumatic experiences, his storytelling is a great way to cope with his shame and loneliness, emphasizing that the war experience is not one of patriotism and heroism, but one of loneliness and guilt.…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Things They Carried Analysis Essay
    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Things They Carried Analysis Essay

    Tim O’Brien’s story about vietnam war is The Things They Carried. This work tells what the soldiers went through the time during Vietnam. As the story begins, it focuses on the Alpha Company is sent to fight in Vietnam war. The soldiers carry goods and personal items to be able to survive. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carries letters and pictures from a female named Martha. The first casualty for the company is Ted Lavender, shot dead. Cross blames himself for the death because he thinks he was too busy thinking about Martha to properly take care of his troops. O’Brien received a draft letter and he is not looking forward to going into war because he had just graduated Harvard for graduate school. He was stuck between wanting to run or doing what everyone expected which…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    The Vietnam Syndrome: America's Gut Feeling
    • 2638 Words
    • 11 Pages

    The Vietnam Syndrome: America's Gut Feeling

    The lesson from Oliver Stone’s Platoon was that America was unsuccessful in Vietnam because the troops were not unified. This is demonstrated through the split between the platoon with drama and fighting between the two groups. At the end of the film, as the main character is being air-lifted to a hospital he looks down and reflects, “We didn’t fight the enemy in Vietnam, we fought ourselves, and the enemy was in us.” This central idea of Stone’s film became a large portion of the syndrome.…

    • 2638 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Things They Carried Irony Analysis
    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Things They Carried Irony Analysis

    In the novel “The Things They Carried” author, Tim O’Brien, uses shifts in mood and irony to successfully exposes guilt of the items the men carried physically and emotionally which led to the fatal decisions while at war.…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Things They Carried Character Analysis Essay
    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Things They Carried Character Analysis Essay

    These men fight many battles throughout the Vietnam War. In the book and real life men go through what all the characters in The Things They Carried did. They lived the life of depression, PTSD and withdrawal from drugs. The burdens that they went through were as real as it gets and the fact that Norman Bowker committed suicide shows how difficult the Vietnam War really was and how the social expectations put on these men broke them…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mike Clark Narrative
    • 1580 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Mike Clark Narrative

    Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.” War creates many experiences that continues to play an evident role in many soldiers lives. One particular soldier, Mike Clark, globally shares his story of being a Vietnam veteran, and the difficult times that he underwent during the Vietnam War. Clark’s personal story is unique because of the difficult decisions he makes and the factors that cause him to make them. Clark explains the reality behind joining the military and witnessing the tragedies that are experienced during the war. While exploring Mike Clark’s Vietnam War story and remembering the war veterans, it is important to consider…

    • 1580 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Physical and Emotional Burdens Carried. The Things They Carried. -Tim O'Brien.
    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Physical and Emotional Burdens Carried. The Things They Carried. -Tim O'Brien.

    Cited: O 'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. New York, Boston: Mariner, 2009. Print.…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Helmet For My Pillow Analysis
    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Helmet For My Pillow Analysis

    The history of war is what many spend time reading about in textbooks. Few, however, experience war and all that it encompasses. David Leckie, a marine during World War II, uses his book, Helmet for My Pillow, to share with readers the truth of what it was like to be a soldier. Rather than skimming the surface of his time on Parris Island and the Pacific Islands, he goes into unmatched, excruciating detail; every trench dug, every shot fired, and every fallen soldier passed was recounted by Leckie. Setting this story apart from any other, the first-hand accounts of combat, unlikely descriptions of the day-to-day actions of the soldiers, and the heart that Leckie intertwines with each part of his story all combine to make this thought-provoking,…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Yellow Birds
    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Yellow Birds

    To begin, the story takes place in a few different places such as Al Tafar, Fort Dix, Kaiserslautern, Richmond, and Fort Knox. The novels start off when John meets his new comrade named Daniel Murphy; and becomes good friends with him despite their odd differences. Although the war has different effects on everyone once they live the experience, some cannot handle it as well as others. Murphy turns out to be the weak one between the two and after spending a few months there he snaps, escapes the base and is brutally murdered by the enemies. Once deployed, John is never the same man he had been back in Virginia. The theme of this story is how the war changes ones whole perspective on life, and changes the person drastically.…

    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Things They Carried Morality Analysis
    • 1035 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Things They Carried Morality Analysis

    He does not want to fight an unjustifiable war in Vietnam, but he does not want to be thought of as a coward. In this case, people would flee the country to escape enlistment. O’Brien decides to stay in fear of what his family and community may think of cowardice, not for nationalism. After all, American society has placed so much emphasis on patriotism than being righteous. This fear of shame motivates the reluctant O’Brien and others to participate in the war. This experience is emblematic of the moral dilemma between the misguided expectations of the group and an individual’s personal beliefs. It may seem trivial for soldiers to concern themselves about social acceptance, but it is a means to clear their heads in a chaotic time. Consequentially, they are more than willing to do irrational, absurd, and/or dangerous things to achieve that clarity. For example: Curt Lemon, another soldier, removed a perfectly healthy tooth to mitigate the perpetual shame he felt from fainting in a previous encounter with the dentist (O’Brien, 55). The combination of the stress of war, the unfamiliarity of a foreign country, and the inexperience of youth create psychological hazards that only intensify the innate dangers of war. Unfortunately, this is an unavoidable development in war. In order to preserve their social standing, soldiers willingly went against their…

    • 1035 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    the quiet american
    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages

    the quiet american

    Thomas Fowler is a British journalist covering the French war in Viet Nam for two years. Having a failed marriage, Fowler has begun a relationship with a Vietnamese girl, Phuong, “a professional dancer”. Love and life of Fowler are shaken up when Alden Pyle, a young idealistic man and the “quiet American”, appears. He arrives in Viet Nam as hero of The Third Force rather than suppose with a medical aid mission.…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Things They Carried
    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Things They Carried

    As the war goes on, Cross begins to grasp that he is responsible for the safety of his own men. Although he did not want to be, he understood that someone had to be the leader. While they were all in Vietnam for the war, Jimmy Cross’ men find him day dreaming frequently. His mind was on Martha, a woman he fell in love with while attending college in New Jersey. Even he would find himself day dreaming about old memories of her and what his future would be like with Martha. Lieutenant Cross carried various reminders of his love for her. He would often read letters from her and gaze at her photographs she sent him. He knew she did not love him back like how he loved her. Cross wished things were different between the two of…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More