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Coping Mechanisms In The Things They Carried Essay

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In "The Things They Carried" by Tim O’Brien, coping mechanisms are central to the experiences of the soldiers in the Vietnam War. O’Brien’s work explores the various ways in which soldiers cope with the physical, emotional, and psychological traumas of war. Coping, in this context, represents the soldiers' attempts to manage the stress of combat and maintain their sanity in an environment of constant fear and danger. Through the characters and their stories, O’Brien demonstrates the importance of coping mechanisms in times of extreme stress. The soldiers in the Vietnam War are portrayed as losing themselves in the chaos and trauma of combat. Through the stories of the soldiers and their experiences, O’Brien explores the ways in which war strips away one's sense of identity and humanity. The author himself is depicted as losing himself in the war. O'Brien served in the Vietnam War, and his experiences inspired much of the book. Through the character of Tim O'Brien, the author explores the ways in which war can strip away one's sense of self and purpose. This is seen, especially when O’Brien says “ there was that coldness inside me. I wasn’t myself, I felt hollow and dangerous” (O'Brien 197). O’Brien, in the sentence, exemplifies the trauma that many soldiers injured well being out and how the recovery can cause them to no longer …show more content…

Lavender “went to heavy on tranquilizers” (O'Brien 31) to help him deal with the fear and uncertainty of combat. He is described as being "scared" and "nervous" throughout the book, and his drug use is a way for him to escape the reality of the war (O'Brien 31). However, Lavender's coping mechanism ultimately fails him, as he is killed while under the influence of drugs. His death serves as a reminder of a reminder that sometimes your coping mechanisms will not save you from the thing you are running

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Summary Of The Tears Of War By Tim O Brien

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After Lavender died, I couldn’t.” During the war, Jimmy Cross blamed himself and his thoughts of the one he loved for the death of one of his men. So he tried to erase her from his mind by burning pictures of her and putting his mind set on the lives of his men. He was ashamed of himself and felt guilt for thinking about how much he loves

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Emotions In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

1580 Words | 7 Pages

While at war, death occurs in such masses that individuals become numb to it and no longer feel the need to express their grief. This leads to further repression and later on, affects the mental state of the individuals. After Lavender's death, Cross feels immense guilt and the war is now put into perspective for him. The comfort items are now seen as distractions and the repression of emotions now takes a different turn. No longer focusing on the positives of life after the war, Cross feels as though he has to face the war head on and address his emotions completely.

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How Does Tim O Brien Use Language Techniques In The Things They Carried

1768 Words | 8 Pages

Additionally, the quote offers in-depth imagery as to how little can be seen in that environment. This impacts the reader’s interpretation of the military experience as it allows them to fathom the war-ridden environment, and offers insight into how the soldiers processed it. In the exploration of darkness, there is a clear attempt to gain the reader's empathy, as O’Brien makes an additional appeal to pathos through darkness is where characters feel the most alone, the most safe, and the most scared. To illustrate this, the character Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’ love for a woman, Martha, led to the distraction which he believes caused the death of the soldier Ted Lavender.

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Emotinal Burdens In The Things They Carried

1180 Words | 5 Pages

“Only the dead have seen the end of war. ”-Plato . As we read through the book we relize that soldiers have too much emotional truam due to the trumatic experiences they have gone through. These trumatic experience has caused soldiers to carry emotinal burdens when they come back home to society. In the novel “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien shares his experience as a soldier in the Vietnam war and shows how much the war causes someone to carry emotional burdens.

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A Common Soldier In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

986 Words | 4 Pages

But by the time he realized, it was already too late. He recognized this again in the war “When Ted Lavender was shot in the head, the men talked about how they’d never seen him so mellow, how it wasn’t the bullet but the tranquilizers that blew his mind” (O’Brien 226). By experiencing the loss of the loved one, O’Brien is able to convey a message of appreciating other people’s lives. He wrote this book to convince people to become more aware of the ones in their life that make living worthwhile, and learn to cherish the moments with

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How Does Tim O Brien Show Courage In The Things They Carried

1955 Words | 8 Pages

Tim O’Brien’s novel features stories of soldiers during the Vietnam War, and highlights the emotional trauma soldiers bear as they struggle to fit the harsh societal standards set upon them. The Things They Carried is a quasi-memoiristic collection of war stories that are all interconnected and flow together to create one story of humanity. O’Brien uses his own experiences

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Annotated Bibliography For The Things They Carried

784 Words | 4 Pages

O’Gorman begins the article by discussing O’Brien’s earlier war novels and describing how from the beginning he was placed in the ranks of contemporary war writers who were trying to record what was happening in the bloody battles of Vietnam. O’Gornan discusses and uses quotes from O’Brien’s novels If I Die in a Combat Zone, Northern Lights, and more to show how O’Brien had a wide scope of literature. O’Gorman then goes into discussing how O’Brien links to traditional war writers such as Cooper, Crane, and Hemmingway, and how he was influenced by Hemmingway, Fitzgerald, and more writers. However, O’Gorman’s main analysis of The Things They Carried was in the form of the book, the novel is a composite novel comprised of short stories that flow together to create a whole text. O’Gorman believes that O’Brien composed this form because he felt compelled to move from traditional linear novels to something more complex and richer, in choosing this form he is not just writing about war stories but rather stories of humanity.

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Strategies In The Things They Carried

1149 Words | 5 Pages

When going through traumatic events humans tend to use specific mechanisms in order to carry on with their lives. These strategies can be effective however some may be unhealthy. Tim Obrien’s, “The Things They Carried” follows short stories of soldiers in the Vietnam war. Throughout the book, the soldiers go through many difficult experiences. The men must fight battles internally as well as externally.

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Ptsd In The Things They Carried

868 Words | 4 Pages

Estimated over 30% of Vietnam Veterans suffer from PTSD. Many suffer from a vast variety of mental health issues. A majority of Veterans feel that they cannot ever explain the negative experiences they suffered in war and the consequences of those. There is a fear of embarrassment and being perceived as weak. In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien, the author, conveys that Vietnam Veterans conceal their bad experiences with war; if these are revealed to others, no one knows how to respond.

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Spin By Tim O Brien Rhetorical Analysis

791 Words | 4 Pages

In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the author retells the chilling, and oftentimes gruesome, experiences of the Vietnam war. He utilizes many anecdotes and other rhetorical devices in his stories to paint the image of what war is really like to people who have never experienced it. In the short stories “Spin,” “The Man I Killed,” and “ ,” O’Brien gives reader the perfect understanding of the Vietnam by placing them directly into the war itself. In “Spin,” O’Brien expresses the general theme of war being boring and unpredictable, as well as the soldiers being young and unpredictable.

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The Ghost Soldiers Tim O Brien Character Analysis Essay

844 Words | 4 Pages

This chapter “The Ghost Soldiers”, showed us how Tim O’Brien and the other soldiers were dealing with the war both physically and psychologically. It also shows us how the Tim O'Brien behaved and felt when he was shot, wounded and had a bacteria infection on his butt and how the war changed the way he thought, and viewed the other soldiers around him. This chapter also contain a lot of psychological lens. From the way Tim O’Brien felt when he was shot and separated from his unit to a new unit to when he wanted revenge on Bobby Jorgenson for almost “killing” him.

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The Things They Carried: An Analysis

688 Words | 3 Pages

He fought a war in Vietnam that he knew nothing about, all he knew was that, “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (38). He realized that he put his life on the line for a war that is surrounded in controversy and questions. Through reading The Things They Carried, it was easy to feel connected to the characters; to feel their sorrow, confusion, and pain. O’Briens ability to make his readers feel as though they are actually there in the war zones with him is a unique ability that not every author possess.

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Coping Mechanisms In The Things They Carried And Tim O Brien

1435 Words | 6 Pages

Combat is one of those incidents, where the best and the worst of people will be shown. The effects from combat could last minutes to a lifetime and will define people for the rest of their lives. To overcome the effects, people must have coping mechanisms. In the book, The Things They Carried, a platoon of soldiers is followed in their quest to survive the Vietnam War. The soldiers developed coping mechanisms to deal with stress so they can function normally and survive the war.

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PTSD In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

1768 Words | 8 Pages

Dangerous and intense situations typically lead to certain devastating consequences to a persons both emotional and physical health. As result of these experiences, there is often not only exterior injuries, but also the non visual psychological damage that is just as hard, if not harder, to resolve. One commonality throughout all wars is this unseen casualty known as PTSD, or post traumatic stress disorder. Tim O’Brien, veteran of the Vietnam war, demonstrates how PTSD affects soldiers in countless ways in his novel The Things They Carried. He uses fictional but lovable characters that readers can easily relate to, intensifying their emotional engagement in the book.

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Thesis For The Things They Carried

999 Words | 4 Pages

The True Weight of War “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien, brings to light the psychological impact of what soldiers go through during times of war. We learn that the effects of traumatic events weigh heavier on the minds of men than all of the provisions and equipment they shouldered. Wartime truly tests the human body and and mind, to the point where some men return home completely destroyed. Some soldiers have been driven to the point of mentally altering reality in order to survive day to day. An indefinite number of men became numb to the deaths of their comrades, and yet secretly desired to die and bring a conclusion to their misery.

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