The Things They Carried Essay Topics

The Things They Carried Essay
In The Things They Carried, every soldier carried something different; different equipment, different
memories, and different guilt. Their equipment would change as they travelled through the book, but
one common thing that the soldiers would all be forced to carry is the weight of losing one of their
own. Though it might weight differently from man to man, changing depending on how well they
knew the soldier, it is a weight they all felt. Though several soldiers died in The Things They
Carried, the loss of a soldier named Kiowa was different from the others. But why? What impact did
Kiowa have in The Things They Carried, and why did his death affect the other characters differently
than the previous deaths in the novel? To better...show more content...
"Shrugging, Kiowa pulled off his boots. He wanted to say more, just to lighten up his sleep, but
instead he opened his New Testament and arranged it beneath his head as a pillow. The fog made
things seem hollow and unattached. He tried not to think about Ted Lavender, but then he was
thinking how fast it was, no drama, down and dead, and how it was hard to feel anything except
surprise. It seemed unchristian. He wished he could find some great sadness, or even anger, but
the emotion wasn't there and he couldn't make it happen. Mostly he felt pleased to be alive. He
liked the smell of the New Testament under his cheek, the leather and ink and paper and glue,
whatever the chemicals were. He liked hearing the sounds of night. Even his fatigue, it felt fine,
the stiff muscles and the prickly awareness of his own body, a floating feeling. He enjoyed not
being dead. Lying there, Kiowa admired Lieutenant Jimmy Cross's capacity for grief. He wanted to
share the man's pain, he wanted to care as Jimmy Cross cared. And yet when he closed his eyes, all
he could think was Boom–down, and all he could feel was the pleasure of having his boots off and
the fog curling in around him and the damp soil and the Bible smells and the plush comfort of night.
(O'Brien, 17–18)"
Kiowa grows to become a sort of provider of stability and some means of morality for the group,
helping through
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The Things They Carried
In Tim O'Brien's novel, The Things They Carried, numerous themes are illustrated by the author.
Through the portrayal of a number of characters, Tim O'Brien suggests that to adapt to Vietnam is
not always more difficult than to revert back to the lives they once knew. Correspondingly the theme
of change is omnipresent throughout the novel, specifically in the depiction of numerous characters.
Tim O'Brien is drafted one month after graduating from Macalester College to fight a war he
hated. Tim O'Brien believed he was above the war, and as a result pursued the alternative of
escaping across the border to Canada. This understandable act is what Tim O'Brien considers an
...show more content...
Rat Kiley's metamorphosis occurs when the platoon switches to a routine of night movement
for 2 weeks. Rat is unable to adjust to this night life, and begins to act eccentric towards the
surrounding environment. Rat Kiley's hallucinations eventually leads to his demise when he shoots
himself in the foot to escape the war.
He shot himself... Nobody blamed him. Before the chopper came, there was time for goodbyes.
Lieutenant Cross went over and said he'd vouch that it was an accident... Everyone stood in a little
circle, feeling bad about it, trying to cheer him up with bullshit about the great night life in Japan.
(O'Brien 251)
Rat Kiley's company understood what happened, and no one could impugn his reason for doing so.
All the troops had their own demons to take care of, Rat Kiley just dealt with his in a different way.
Mary Anne, The sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong, experiences perhaps the most radical form of
change in the novel. Marry Anne, the innocent, curious, typical–American

Persuasive Essay: The Things They Carried
Peter Raimann A. Delcourt English – 057 11/29/16 Persuasive Essay: The Things They Carried Are
moral standards in the eye of the beholder? According to one author, "we've seriously lost our
way", going on to state, "we are like mean adrift at sea without a compass" (Hulme). In literature as
in biology, the mantra of form fits function applies and heightens a reader's appreciation of a
writer's choice and how they contribute to a work of literature. In Tim O'Brien's collection of short
stories, The Things They Carried, the narrative, the experience of reading and the alternating
Vietnam and modern day settings not only shape the author's world view, but reflect upon his own
experiences in the 1960's and 1970's war. The short stories within...show more content...
He knows that being willing to die so that he will not be embarrassed does not make him brave. He
also wishes he could be truly brave and stand up for what he believes in––truly believing that
Vietnam is wrong––but something holds him back. Knowing it is fear and shame. O'Brien does
not want to be called a coward, so he goes to war. Even years later, he sees this as pathetic. But
despite the grievances of the war, each fellow comrade and friend of his, had their own
interpretation of right and wrong whether or not that agrees with our personal "morals", today
(times have obviously greatly changed). As individuals, it agreed with them during their time of
service and more specifically, in combat. This is vital to the development of the story as a whole
because each and every one of them provides a struggle between war, circumstances and reality.
Ultimately, The Things They Carried suggests that, in war, the conventions of good and evil in
civilized society fall by the wayside. After Rat Kiley loses his best friend, Curt Lemon, to a booby
trap he tortures a baby water buffalo as everyone else looks on. No one tries to stop it. Mitchell
Sanders says that in Vietnam there are new sins created that have never existed before. War
re–defines morality, it changes the definition. Even the purpose of being there is lost on the soldiers
when they are down

In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien the author tells about his experiences in the
Vietnam war by telling various war stories. The quote, "It has been said of war that it is a world
where the past has a strong grip on the present, where machines seemed sometimes to have more
will power than me, where nice boys (girls) were attracted to them, where bodies ruptured and
burned and stand, where the evil thing trying to kill you could look disconnecting human and where
except in your imagination it was impossible to be heroic." relates to each of his stories.
The first part of the quote matches with the first story, The Things They Carried. The story told
about the items that each soldier took with them to the war. The quote...show more content...
He calls himself a coward for going to war which sounds very weird. The quote means it is very hard
to be brave during a war like Vietnam. Since the author turned in to a coward right when he was on
the edge of the border, this quote relates well to this story.
As you have read war is a very different type of world everything is turned around and it confuses
people. The author of the book The Things They Carried and the writer of the quote "It has been
said of war that it is a world where the past has a strong grip on the present, where machines
seemed sometimes to have more will power than me, where nice boys (girls) were attracted to
them, where bodies ruptured and burned and stand, where the evil thing trying to kill you could
look disconnecting human and where except in your imagination it was impossible to be heroic."
relates to each of his stories. Wrote about war so people could have a better understanding of

Christian Hernandez Professor Sarah Cantrell English 1102 "The Things They Carried":
Emotional side The story of "The Things They Carried" written by Tim O'Brien gives a good
outlook on how the Soldiers feel and think during the war . The story describes the different things
that the soldiers carry with them while at war. O'Brien talks about the different items in great detail
such as weight, color, shape and size but he also gives extraordinary details about not only their
personalities, but even more about their emotions with the personal things they carried with them.
Every single object that the men carry when they go to war plays an emotional touch in their lives.
There are certain things that they carried...show more content...
"I keep that in my pocket, just to get me through."" (Koppel 2003). ""I've got a teddy bear my
wife sent to me for Valentine's Day," a big man with a soft voice says, sharing the lucky charm that
he keeps safe from the sand in a zip–lock bag. The little brown bear holds a heart stitched with gold
x's and o's. "Hugs and kisses," the soldier says, as trucks gear up in the desert beside him" (Koppel
2003). Not only Lieutenant Cross or the soldiers in the story "The Things They Carried" share
these similarities but perhaps all the soldiers in the world share it when it comes to emotional
feelings related with a personal thing. They take these memorable and meaningful things with
them that perhaps for some people is nothing big, but for them, it is basically their life and like a
fellow soldier mention, just to get them through. Not only have those things played an emotional
feeling in the soldiers live but also a little bit of their background. Out of all the sacrifices that the
soldiers make, the cultural side also plays a huge part. They have to do things that they are not
used to such as taking a shower with cold water or even not taking a shower for days. Also, eating
can food or different types of food that they are not familiar with. O'Brian takes you to a whole new
level when he describes the necessary things they carry " Among the necessities or

After the devastation that World War II left the world, no one wanted to go into another war.
Families lost their members, countries lost their dignity, and some soldiers were left with the
moments of war forever in their minds. However, the concern that communism was going to spread
made Vietnam become the longest war in American History. During this time a lot of young people
were anti–war, they were sick of losing people they loved to violence. Though the war still needed
to be fought so men became soldiers freely or because they were drafted. In the story "Things They
Carried", soldiers are faced head on with the Vietnam War. Tim O'Brien shows how the men carry
the weight of physical objects through out the war. The men bog themselves...show more content...
Every soldier hears the horror stories of war but never really understands till they are in war
themselves. In the short story, "The Things They Carried" all the soldiers are constantly dreading
every second. For example it is not good news when a high command orders the soldiers to search
the tunnel before having to blow them up. No one knows what is going to be in the tunnels and
for the lucky ones that do not have to search the tunnels still feel the panic. The soldiers kneel
down facing away from the tunnel. The fear causes them to think of anything that is down there
such as, "cobwebs and ghosts" (O'Brien 103). However, the soldier that is not so fortunate crawls
down into the hole shoving him self deeper into the ground. Worry and concern drips over him as
he starts to think what if the flashlight dies, or if the rats have rabies, or what if a he gets stuck in
the tunnel can the other soldiers rescue him? Fear can get the best of soldier and cause them not to
be the best soldier they can be. Apprehension can weigh a soldier down mentally and physically. It
can cause a soldier worry about things such ghosts while their main concern should be on their
objective. At night the soldiers place claymores, which are bombs set on the ground to go off on an
intruder then they crawl into their holes, "lie down and spend the whole night waiting" (O'Brien
103). It was impossible for the soldiers to get rest because they constantly

The Things They Carried Essay On War
"You can tell a true war story by the questions you ask. Somebody tells a story, let 's say, and
afterward you ask, "Is it true?" and if the answer matters, you 've got your answer" (O'Brien 62). In
the book The Things They Carried Tim O' Brien displays throughout his short stories how much war
can change you mentally, emotionally, and your sanity.
In the book The Things They Carried, Tim O' Brien shows throughout his short stories how much
war changes people mentally. In the short story Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong Tim O' Brien
shows how the character Mary changes from the sweet innocent girl to a deranged girl lost to the
cold jungles of Vietnam. For example in the text it shows ""Mary Anne?" he said. Quietly then, she
stepped out...show more content...
"You just don 't know," she said. "You hide in this little fortress, behind wire and sandbags, and you
don 't know what it 's all about. Sometimes I want to eat this place. Vietnam. I want to swallow the
whole country–the dirt, the death–I just want to eat it and have it there inside me. That 's how I feel.
It 's like . . . this appetite. I get scared sometimes–lots of times–but it 's not bad. You know? I feel
close to myself. When I 'm out there at night, I feel close to my own body, I can feel my blood
moving, my skin and my fingernails, everything, it 's like I 'm full of electricity and I 'm glowing in
the dark–I 'm on fire almost–I 'm burning away into nothing–but it doesn 't matter because I know
exactly who I am. You can 't feel like that anywhere else."" (O' Brien 80–81). Tim O' Brien shows
how being in contact with the war can change a person so pure and innocent to a person who isn't
in connection with themselves and is forever trapped inside their own mind. Also it shows how
the people who can't handle the rough environment of war can have a terrible reaction and loose
themselves. He also shows how the war changes you mentally making it hard for you to tell if the
is the real you or just a persona you took when you couldn't handle it anymore and needed to mask
your broken soul. Also in the short story How to Tell a True War Story by Tim O' Brien he explains
how war can

Critical Analysis
"The Things They Carried"
In the short story "The Things They Carried", Tim O'Brien wrote about the experience of war and
the feelings young soldiers felt during their long days of travel. During the story he keeps referring
back to the things the soldiers chose to carry in their packs. Some of these items included necessity
items like grenades and ammunition, but they also carry sentimental items like love letters and
pictures. These items help the reader better understand each person for who they are and help us to
understand the physical situation the soldiers are in. In "The Things They Carried", Tim O'Brien
describes the item the soldiers carry in their packs and the emotional weight they carry to help give a
better...show more content...
The whole atmosphere...they carried gravity" (O'Brien 124). The reader is given much attention to
the weight and pressure of all the external forces the soldier would carry. But the greatest of weight
the men carried with them was not physical at all. It was their emotions: "Grief, terror, love, longing
these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had
tangible weight." (O'Brien 126) Throughout the story, O'Brien gives long, tedious, monotonous
and utterly boring lists of the things the men carried. "The things they carried were largely
determined by necessity" (O'Brien 117), but each man's necessities were different. All of the men
carried very heavy loads to begin with, and added to these loads things that seemingly lightened
their burdens. O'Brien's point behind all this listing is to show the reader just how much physical
weight these men carried and how slow and tedious the war in which they fought was. "They
moved like mules... it was just the endless march, village to village, without purpose, nothing won
or lost." (O'Brien 124) Many of the soldiers carried personal possession from back home to remind
them of the life they had left. Jimmy Cross carried a picture of Martha and letters she wrote to
him. Jimmy Cross also carried the pebble Martha sent to him from the Jersey shore. This would
remind him of how he yearned to be back at home with her. Kiowa carried

Tim O'Brien was an infantryman in during Vietnam War. He used those experiences to write many
short stories including The Things They Carried. The story portrays how, "the things they carried"
were weightless in comparison to their feelings of love and loss, fear and shame, and the torturous
memories of death. "They all carried emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love,
longing– these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they
had tangible weight."
The things they carried were determined by superstition and personal desires. In the beginning of
the story we are introduced to Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. Cross is in love with a girl named Martha,
and carries...show more content...
Jimmy Cross carried the responsibility for his men. Cross blamed himself for the death of Ted
Lavender. They all carried Ghosts. They all carried the weight of their memories. They carried
each other, the wounded and weak. By daylight they took sniper fire, at night they were mortared,
but it was not in battle, it was just an endless march, village to village, nothing won or lost. They
marched for the sake of the march. They carried their own lives. For the most part they carried
themselves with poise, a kind of dignity. Now and then, however, there were times of panic, when
the squealed or wanted to squeal but couldn't, when they twitched and made moaning sounds and
covered their heads and said "Dear Jesus" and flopped around on the ground and fired their
weapons blindly and cringed and sobbed and begged for the noise to stop and went wild and made
stupid promises to themselves and to God and to their mothers and fathers, hoping not to die. They
carried the burden of wanting to run or stop running, the burden of hiding and being cowards in
front of their fellow soldiers. This was one of the heavier burdens. They carried their shameful
memories. They carried their reputations. They were too frightened to be cowards.
"For all the

The text, В‘The Things They Carried', is an excellent example which reveals how individuals are
changed for the worse through their first hand experience of war. Following the lives of the men
both during and after the war in a series of short stories, the impact of the war is accurately
portrayed, and provides a rare insight into the guilt stricken minds of soldiers. В‘The Things They
Carried' shows the impact of the war in its many forms: the suicide of an ex–soldier upon his return
home; the lessening sanity of a medic as the constant death surrounds him; the trauma and guilt of
all the soldiers after seeing their friends die, and feeling as if they could have saved them; and the
deaths of the soldiers, the most negative impact a war...show more content...
The wars traumatising images and effects were enough to drive anyone crazy.
The soldiers didn't even have to have gone home to begin to feel the effects of the war. Rat Kiley, a
young medic in Vietnam started to feel the effects right then and there, and it resulted in him
shooting himself in order to escape the war. The conditions of the war, the long night time treks, the
silence, broken only by the sounds of ghosts, the constant darkness. It could drive anyone crazy. The
constant death too, В‘В… too many body bagsВ… too much goreВ…'. Sometimes this
paranoia–based insanity would embody itself in the form of something randomly chosen yet
relevant, something for the person to obsess about in order to temporarily distance themselves
from what was actually occurring around them. At times the obsessing would involve their
immediate surrounds, like Rat Kiley who began to those around him as nothing more than
bodies, and began to imagine how they would look without an arm, or a leg, or even В‘В… what
it would feel like to pick up the head and carry it over to a chopper and dump it inВ…'. It could
even take form as self obsession, Rat Kiley began to envision his own death, parts of his own body
being removed and eaten by the insects in Vietnam. Kiley's constant visions led to his self–harming
in order to be taken away to Japan, some kind of a haven after the

Analysis Of ' The Things They Carried '
Scars From Vietnam: An Analysis of a Soldier's Connection With War Itself in The Things They
Carried.
"War is like love, it always finds a way."–Bertolt Brecht War , like love, is always present can be a
person's worst nightmare, since it always finds ways to emotionally or physically impact one's life.
Mary Anne and Norman Bowker in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried both possess a strong
sense of self certainty, however the war challenges their beliefs by forcing them into extreme
situations and thus making them more physically and mentally attached to the war. Mary Anne is
seen as a happy and...show more content...
This causes her to become more attached and dedicated to the war.
As the days go by, Mary Anne is becoming more distant from Mark Fossie and more attached to the
war. This is obvious when Mark Fossie asks her if she wants to leave Vietnam and she tells him that
she does not want to leave, since everything she needs is in Vietnam. Later on, Mary Anne starts
joining the Greenies, which is a group of elite army soldiers, who fight in the war. Mary Anne
disappears and Mark Fossie ends up finding her with the Greenies, completely changed by the war
and a different person. "Quietly then, she stepped out of the shadows... For a long while the girl
gazed down at Fossie, almost blankley, and in the candlelight her face had the composure of
someone perfectly at peace...'You 're in a place', Mary Anne said softly, 'where you don 't belong.'...
Rat listened for a long time, then shook his head. 'Man, you must be deaf. Shes already gone.'"
(O'Brien, 105–107) As portrayed in the novel, Mary Anne is clearly too attached to the war and
cannot leave Vietnam. She leaves Fossie for the war and joins the Greenies, since she cannot
move on, for she is held back, due to the war. In a way, Mary Anne is a representation of war itself.
She is an example of what war does to a soldier and how it can greatly impact their life, not letting
them move on.
Norman Bowker comes

The Things They Carried offered a unique and personal look into the life of one soldier's
experience. It showed how the war held obligations to its soldiers and expectations for each of the
men to follow. The Things They Carried also showed a side of war that was not always seen in
other documents and accounts such as Tim O'Brien thoughts and feelings during the war. However,
many of the things O'Brien stated throughout his book is very similar to the experiences shared by
men in the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. Moreover, despite some similarities, each war
is unique and have their own distinctive causes and effects that have solidified their importance in
American history. When it comes to war, it seems that most experiences...show more content...
Furthermore, there are some substantial differences between the two wars that is worth pointing
out. Though the Civil War was rough at times, many of the men volunteered to fight. They wanted
to stand beside their beliefs and fight for the cause they thought was most just4. In the Vietnam
War, most men were drafted and were forced to fight despite their beliefs on the war. Additionally,
most men fought in Vietnam not because they thought it was just, but because they did not want
to face the harsh disgrace from their families and their country. World War I was initially started
due to the buildup of German power. As European countries began to take sides, America wanted
to stay neutral; however, once it was made clear that debts would not be paid if France and Britain
lost, the US decided to intervene and enter into the war5. Although World War I and the Vietnam
War were initially started because of an uprising power, the reasons for why America entered
differed. Though some money was involved, America entered Vietnam to stop it from being
becoming similar to China and adopting communism6. Also, the Vietnam War did not involve other
European countries as heavily as World War I did. In a letter written by an anonymous soldier
during World War I, he talked about life in battle, general fears, and killing a German soldier with

Essay on The Things They Carried
The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, is a generalization of his own experiences in Vietnam
although the story itself is a work of fiction there is still much to be learned from it. Through the
actions of soldiers in The Things They Carried we can begin to explore the effect war has on the
human condition and the toll it plays on their minds.
Some of the themes in the book, The Things They Carried, are bravery and what true bravery is,
truth and how the manipulation of truth is sometimes necessary and how truth can be molded or
distorted through memory, and lastly, the demoralizing effects of war on the human condition. These
themes are all played out through the actions of the main character, Lieutenant...show more content...
"Awkwardly, the men would reassemble themselves, first in private, then in groups, becoming
soldiers again. They would repair the leaks in their eyes... light cigarettes, try to smile, clear their
throats and spit and begin cleaning their weapons."(O'Brien 860). From this passage we see how
the men hid their feelings from each other. Often when coming close to death the men defuse the
tension by joking, saying things like "that's sure as hell was close" or "I almost shit my
paints"(O'Brien 860) and pretend like the war doesn't bother them. All the solders are trying to
portray a stereotypical image of a "tough guy" because that's what they have been culturally
conditioned to think. When in fact bravery is the ability to stand up for what you believe in despite
what others think. For instance, it takes a lot more courage to allow yourself to cry in front of your
peers. A coward hides his emotions because he's afraid of what others might think.
Jim also struggles with the nature of truth and feels that events can become more real in a story
than in reality, as if by turning the memory into a story makes it more concrete and committed to
one version. And in the process of telling the story all the men can come to an agreement of what
happened and add to it. Sometimes things happen so fast in life that they don't really happen until
you go over them in your mind and set down the facts and details, finalizing the version in your mind
of what happened. And

Symbolism in stories is dependent on how the author writes, the title, and the characters. Titles in
literature are very important to the symbolism of a story an example of this is Tim O'Brien's "The
Things They Carried". As the story goes on it shows not only the literal meaning of what they carried
but also symbolically the burdens that they had mentally.
In the literal sense O'Brien talks about what different members of a platoon in Vietnam carried.
This helps him to move to a more symbolic sense at the end of the story. He starts by talking about
necessities and slowly moves on to what they carried to remind them that there was a world out side
of the war. "Among the necessities or near necessities were p–38 can openers, pocket...show more
content...
In the conversation between Sanders and Dobbins they talk about the moral of finding the VC
solider. The moral turns out to be that there is no moral, showing that they knew that they shouldn't
have been there in the first place. They were fighting an enemy much bigger than the Viet Cong they
were fighting their own minds, their own fears, their own burdens. "They carried the land itself–––
Vietnam, the place, the soil––– a powdery orange–red dust..." This quote shows exactly how heavy a
burden the war was. It wasn't a battle it was a march, an endless march from one village to the next
doing what they had to. Patting old men and children down. To hump something was to carry it but it
implied beyond the literal meaning. It implied so much more than just carrying something, it meant
a burden you could hump a tent or you could hump your memories, your love; it meant hardship and
that's all they felt.
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried the heaviest burden out of anyone, the burden of love. Cross–knew
that Martha didn't feel the same way about him though, but he still dreamed of it. "He would
imagine romantic camping trips into the White Mountains in New Hampshire." Nothing can be
harder than loving someone that doesn't feel the same way about you, this must have made it even
harder getting letters that were "mostly chatty, elusive on the matter of love." Sometimes his love for

the things they carried Essay
The things they carried,by Tim O'brien
"Oh man, you fuckin' trashed the fucker. You scrambled his sorry self, look at that, you did,
you laid him out like fuckin' Shredded Wheat." I chose to start off my essay with this
particular exert from the book because I think that it very much represents the story in itself. Azar
said this, after Tim (supposedly) killed a Vietnamesesoldier with a hand grenade. It shows that in
times of war, how callous men can become. However, callousness varies, whether they chose to be
apathetic, like Tim shows us after his grenade episode. Or whether they choose to be more myopic,
as shown through Azar's insensitive actions (i.e. the young lady's tragic loss, the puppy,...show more
content...
Even the author undergoes an incredible change from the beginning of the story, and through the
trials and tribulations, he becomes an almost completely different person. Although there were more
situations in which this particular change was exhibited, I feel that these represented it to the most
acute degree.
Incredible paranoia is one side effect of being surrounded by so much carnage. After Lee Strunk
comes back from the undertakings involving his broken nose, Dave Jensen went into a mentality
consisting of paranoid lunacy. When you are around a person who has an incredible amount of
spite for you, as well as ready access to firearms, moreover nothing to lose, one cannot help but
spend their days looking over your shoulder. Living in fear of someone you have crossed, waiting
for the day when you will be caught off guard, giving them the chance to exact their horrible
revenge. Jensen just could not take it any more, and he went as far as to break his own nose. It
takes a certain type of motivation for a person to sit down and break his own nose. But afterwards,
he felt as if a great burden had been lifted off of his shoulders. And that is exactly what the war did,
it burdened these men, whether the baggage be physical or emotional, war is a burden that is not
only difficult to remove, but difficult to carry.

The Things They Carried The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is a captivating recitation in
which Tim O'Brien maintains that all the stories featured in the entire book are indeed true
stories. Tim is the protagonist as well as the narrator of this particular story and it is the
experiences that he had regarding war that have drove him to write the this story. The book gives
a clear depiction of the war in Vietnam by showing the horrors of war but there have been varying
views regarding the question of whether the book is an antiwar or not. As a result, the purpose of
this paper is to address this particular issue by addressing different views in regard to whether the
book is an anti–war on not and this will be supported by...show more content...
On these there is no much emphasis given by the narrator but what is elaborated widely in the story
is on the intangible items. The memories as well as the fears which are the prime focus of the entire
narration and this are one of the features that raise some undertones in regard to the story being an
anti–war. Arguing that description of the weapons can promote war is not right and cannot be
proved from the text. Some opponents use the description of the deadly weapons that the soldiers
carry along with them such as machine guns, grenades and assault rifles as the basis to refute that
this is not an antiwar story. However, despite the descriptions of the some of the occurrences that
happens during war times, the reader should be careful on the way the narrator handles the
description of the tangible items mentioned above. When describing these items, the narrator does
not miss to mention how much they way depicting them as burdens and the pressure exerted on the
soldiers by them. "The weapon weighed 7.5 pounds unloaded, 8.2 pounds with its full 20 round
magazine.... 8.4 pounds at minimum, 14 pounds at maximum." (O'Brien 5). The narrator directs the
attention of the reader away from what the soldiers are carrying but the effect these items have on
the soldiers and the implication is that these are unnecessary burdens. The writer also focused on the
effect the external forces such as nature had on the soldiers, "They

The Things They Carried: On The Rainy River Essay
Tim O'Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, is still undecided of whether to doge the
draft and lose the respect of his family and friends, or go to the Vietnam War and lose his life, in
the chapter "On The Rainy River". Elroy's actions reveal his good qualities that help Tim make this
important decision, without any words of judgment or criticism. Elroy's actions reveal heroic
qualities. He is a silent Observer who helps Tim overcome his fears.
When Tim decided to leave his hometown of Worthington, Minnesota and drive almost five hundred
miles to International Falls, Minnesota, he was unsure of what he was really doing. He knew he just
had...show more content...
Even though Tim didn't talk much, Elroy listened when he did. Elroy was not much of a talker
either. Tim says that "... he [Elroy] had a way of compressing large thoughts into small, cryptic
packets of language" (49–50). Often at night, after a long day of work, Elroy and Tim would sit
down and play a game of Scrabble. Elroy would win every time they played. By sitting down and
playing a game with Tim, even though there were no words being said, Elroy showed that he cared.
Elroy offered Tim money for the work he had done. He offered to pay Tim three hundred and
seventy–five dollars. By offering Tim money, it shows that Elroy appreciates the hard work Tim
has helped him with. Elroy and Tim came up with a price of two hundred and sixty dollars for his
six nights of stay at the Tip TopLodge including food. Elroy made Tim home cooked meals three
times a day. After doing some math with the amount Tim owed for the six nights of stay, and the
amount Elroy owed him for working, Elroy still thought Tim owed him one hundred and fifteen
dollars. Tim would not accept this gift, but Elroy told him to take it and get a haircut. Tim did not
take the money, so it was left sitting on the kitchen table all night. The next morning when Tim
awoke, he found the envelope tacked to his door with the words "EMERGENCY FUND" on it.
On the sixth and last day of Tim staying at the lodge, Elroy took

Things They Carried Theme Essay
The new medal for military service is called the medal of preserving innocence. In the book The
Things They Carried, war is viewed as an event that steals youth and innocence away from many, but
with the many that have their innocence stealing, they preserve the innocence of many back home.
The qualities of the recipient include but are not limited to: stopping the truth of war actions from
spreading back home, taking action to stop the enemy from invading territory, and performing
heartless acts to see a fellow solider make it home alive. The medal includes many symbols. The
heart is there to show that it takes a lot of love for someone to shield them from the truth of the
war. The crest of the eagle is to show that bravery does not always...show more content...
I don't know'"(175). Visiting the place where Kiowa died brought back a lot of emotions for
O'Brien, with his daughter there it was hard for him to display all those oppressive feelings. With
Kathleen pressing him for an explanation on the meaning of this place, it took alot for him not to
tell her the story. Considering she is only ten years old, her innocence is still very present and for
Tim to daper this adventurous experience with a war story ending with death would halt the fluffy
world she is in now. An example of innocence destroyed is with Mary Anne, Mark Fossie had a
hard time and ultimately failed keeping Mary Anne innocent. After coming to the camp Mary Anne
was described as, " The war intrigued her. The land too, and the mystery... She wore a bush hat and
filthy green fatigues; she carried the standard M–16 automatic assault rifle; her face was black with
charcoal"(96–98). With curiosity grows a need for guidance, which Fossie did not give her. He did
not shield her from the horrors of war and therefore she became the horrors by exploring and
connecting with the natives. This is just one example of the results that come from impurities taking
over the ones soldiers love at home, it is imperative that when a soldier goes overseas he does not
bring the darkness back with him. One more recipient of this medal should be Kiowa. Kiowa helps
the others preserve what

Things They Carried: Summary
In "The Things They Carried"A team of Soldiers In the jungle of Vietnam, team was Jimmy
Cross,Norman Bowker, Rat Kiley,Mitchell Sanders, Henry Dobbins, and Kiowa.Brien talks about
how enemies and friend are alike and different and a friend in the campo curt lemon who made the
dentist pull a good tooth out,And with Henry Dobbins smelled his girlfriend pantie hoes because it
reminds him of memories. O'Brien never really went to church he believed but never wanted to
go.O'Brien talked about the man he killed with the man's jaw in his throat and cheek with with
three slashes into it the boy was laying in tiny blue flowers. With killing a man come the guilt but
tries to forgive himself.Later O'Brien's Daughter Asked him if he ever killed anyone

The Things They Carried Passage Analysis
War is an ugly thing that tends to affect people in different ways and thus people cope in different
ways: Some people go insane, some become numb, some turn to drugs, and some process their
thoughts by writing. All of these responses are present in The Things They Carried. There is not
necessarily one right way to respond to the horrors of war, or life in general, but some insight can be
gained by comparing how different characters in the book coped and how they turned out. Different
responses exemplified by characters in The Things They Carried are writing, drug use, and loss of
humanity. These responses can give insight into different facets of human nature. One of the ways
Tim O'Brien attempts to cope with the...show more content...
Difficult experiences, and war in particular, pull the comforting rug of absolute moral truth out from
under people's feet and shows them a realistic picture of the world, of others, and of themselves.
How this affects any given person and how they cope is a test of true character, and examining how
people react to war provides insight into human nature

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