ipl-logo

Imagination In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

608 Words3 Pages

Author Steven Kaplan interpretation went as followed. “In his most recent work of fiction, The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien takes the act of trying to reveal and understand the uncertainties about the war one step further, by looking at it through the imagination.” (Kaplan, Steven) Although Tim O’Brien actively served his country by fighting in Vietnam, his character Lt. Cross was a representation of O’Brien in this story. O’Brien gives his readers a combination of Uncertainty mixed with imagination, this enabled the story to have a complex variety of issues to keep his readers engaged in the story. Just like Lt. Cross and his platoon used their imagination as an escape, O’Brien wants his readers to do the same. He wants his readers to understand the concept of escaping while reading his story. Escaping everyday …show more content…

By doing so, the readers will have a sense of being right there in the story and in return, have a better perception of what is taking place in this short story. Giving evidence that the story is fiction, it also leaves the readers questioning how much of this is accurate. Brilliantly written by O’Brien, this may be the type of response he would like from his readers. In a sense, O’Brien has his reader’s right where he wants them, fully engulfed into the story. As the plot thickens, the mind wonders, quickly thinking how much is accurate. As a result, the imagination is already at work without a given notice just like the platoon and Cross in the story. At this point O’Brien has captured the readers in which belief, anxiety, & anticipation co-exist between the readers and the characters. By doing so, uncertainty has been taken to another level of imagination. In The Things They Carried O’Brien explained “It’s impossible to know “exactly what had happened”. (Kaplan,

Show More
Related

  • Eventeen In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

    751 Words  | 4 Pages

    In war, soldiers and civilians will experience the loss of friends and families. In Tim O’Brien’s work, The Things They Carried, the reader is introduced to soldiers fighting in the Vietnam war who lose their comrades’ loves due to mishaps. These soldiers in combat, along with civilians, learn to accept or become numb towards death by understanding the situation they are in and by finding comfort in oblivion. Early in the plot, the reader is made aware of how the soldiers comprehend their allies’ deaths. According to the author, when Lieutenant Cross’ team was contemplating about who is to enter the tunnel, “Lee Strunk drew the number 17” then he laughed (O’Brien 10).

    Read More

  • Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    666 Words  | 3 Pages

    The things they carried Tim O’brien had strong feelings about the war. He despised it and protested against it but that still didn’t stop him from being drafted into it. He felt depressed and isolated after being drafted. O’brien tried to get out of it but failed. Tim hated war, he understood that sometimes there needed to be one but, he did not feel that way about the vietnam war.

    Read More

  • The Themes In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

    496 Words  | 2 Pages

    The physical damage and emotional depreciation that the characters go through in the book, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, support the themes of the story by showing the traumatic effects the soldiers endure as a result of the war. December 1, 1969, changed lives of many people because it was the date that renewed mandatory service. The US draft for Vietnam brought many young boys into new surroundings and sent them crawling with an invisible enemy. Their normal lives were forever changed. No longer surrounded by familiar faces, their new homes were now foxholes, forcing them to stay alert at all times.

    Read More

  • Jimmy Cross In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

    1084 Words  | 5 Pages

    When reading a story or even watching a movie, a character's actions cannot be fully explained. The author is the only person who knows everything about a character, but they tend to leave that open for the reader's interpretation. In Tim O'Brien's story "The Things They Carried" the main character Jimmy Cross is plagued by the war around him and inside of him. All of the men in the story are fighting in the war, fighting for their lives, but each character is also struggling with personal issues, especially Jimmy. Based on a literary analysis and O'Brien's use of literary techniques, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a characterized representation for war portrayed by the things he carried (physically and emotionally), his affection for Martha,

    Read More

  • Jimmy Cross In The Things They Carried

    181 Words  | 1 Pages

    Tim O’Brien is the narrator of “The Things They Carried” recalls his personal experience in the Vietnam War. Tim writes about Jimmy Cross who is the lieutenant goes into battle with several men in his charge. Lieutenant Cross doesn’t show that his is a born leader in the beginning of the story in fact Jimmy appears to be unsure of everything he does. Lieutenant Cross does show that he is brave when he led all his men through the war. Lieutenant Cross also shows that he is a leader and has integrity when he suffer the death of the men that lost their life’s so that the troops didn’t have to bear the brunt, or the guilt, and the confusion.

    Read More

  • Innocence In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

    1384 Words  | 6 Pages

    However, this innocence and purity can be retained or taken back for periods of time through the telling of stories and through the language used to tell them. In the novel The Things They Carried, the author, Tim O’Brien, explores storytelling, the past and the present to help him cope with the struggles of war and to regain his innocence. In the section entitled “The Lives of the Dead” from “Linda was nine then…” to “But he was dead.”

    Read More

  • The Realities Of War In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

    471 Words  | 2 Pages

    Anna Theune Instructor: Young English 102 23 June 2023 The Realities of War In “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien uses dreams to show the escape from the horrors of Vietnam; these dreams impact the character Jimmy Cross as they provide an escape and divert his attention. One way dreams affect Jimmy Cross is by lending him a withdrawal from the horrors of the Vietnam War.

    Read More

  • Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: A Literary Analysis

    1292 Words  | 6 Pages

    Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried True Essay

    1997 Words  | 8 Pages

    Many reader many sit and think “is this story even remotely true?”. I believe that it’s up to the reader of the novel to decide. Everyone sees things differently. A story that might seem completely true to one person may seem completely bogus to someone else. Others may think that not a word of The Thing They Carried is true based on O’Brien’s claim that he made up a large part of the

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried Literary Analysis

    1178 Words  | 5 Pages

    A lot happens in Tim O 'Brien short story "The Things They Carried", at first, the reader speculates what the short story is about and why it is called "The Things They Carried". The narrator Tim O 'Brien tells and describes all the things that the men have to carry while "in-country" during the Vietnam War in the1960 's. The text 's artistic value comes from its plot, characters, conflict, and style. In the plot of the story the protagonist, Tim O 'Brien starts by describing circumstances that happened while he was in Vietnam. In the beginning of "The Things They Carried" we are introduced to each character by the things they carry.

    Read More

  • 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.

    Read More

  • Fiction And Reality In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    1413 Words  | 6 Pages

    Hidden somewhere within the blurred lines of fiction and reality, lies a great war story trapped in the mind of a veteran. On a day to day basis, most are not willing to murder someone, but in the Vietnam War, America’s youth population was forced to after being pulled in by the draft. Author Tim O’Brien expertly blends the lines between fiction, reality, and their effects on psychological viewpoints in the series of short stories embedded within his novel, The Things They Carried. He forces the reader to rethink the purpose of storytelling and breaks down not only what it means to be human, but how mortality and experience influence the way we see our world. In general, he attempts to question why we choose to tell the stories in the way

    Read More

  • Imagery In The Things They Carried

    543 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, illustrates the experiences of a man and his comrades throughout the war in Vietnam. Tim O’Brien actually served in the war, so he had a phenomenal background when it came to telling the true story about the war. In his novel, Tim O’Brien uses imagery to portray every necessary detail about the war and provide the reader with a true depiction of the war in Vietnam. O’Brien starts out the book by describing everything he and his comrades carry around with them during the war. Immediately once the book starts, so does his use of imagery.

    Read More

  • Truth In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

    917 Words  | 4 Pages

    I want you to know why story-truth is truer than happening-truth.” (171) In the brief chapter titled “Good Form,” O’Brien explained the importance of story-truth opposed to happening-truth. Throughout the novel, the author’s purpose is to use an undeniable sense of conviction to make us believe his stories so that we can deeply feel the same emotions he felt twenty years prior. “What stories can do is make things present.”

    Read More

  • Tim O Brien Quotes And Analysis

    1350 Words  | 6 Pages

    Author Information The author, Tim O'Brien served in the United States military from 1968 to 1970, during the Vietnam War. The unit he served in was involved in the infamous My Lai Massacre. When his unit moved to the area of the massacre the place was very hostile to him and and his unit. According to him, the book The Things They Carried had a contrast between what was really happening, and the story part of the event. He is considered to write stories using Verisimilitude, the blur between fiction and reality in philosophical terms.

    Read More

More about Imagination In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Open Document