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Personal Issues In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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Soldiers lugging onward in the heat or freezing air with a hundred pounds of gear through tough terrain in gunfire or silence they must keep moving forward to accomplish what they were sent out to do. In “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien it is made evident that the men and women who go to war face many struggles and make many sacrifices. Brave military personnel have to overcome personal issues, physical hurdles, and mental barriers while under the pressures of fighting a war. Everyone has personal issues something that is going on in their lives that ponder their minds and can be a distraction to our daily lives. That goes for those in the military as well; personal issues don’t just vanish in the face of war, although that may be …show more content…

nly one who carried with him something of personal interest they all had something that reminded them of home, loved ones, friends, or who they were before the war; “Kiowa, a devout Baptist, carried an …show more content…

Soldiers have to face the fact that they leave their loved ones behind and contact is limited and sometimes its appropriate to think about them, but sometimes it’s a distraction. In the case of Lieutenant Cross he felt responsible for one of his fellow soldier’s death because he wasn’t thinking about his men, though rather a girl that he longed for; “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and that was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war” (O’Brien 377). Cross would not only have to overcome his mental distraction of Martha, but also the blaming upon himself for Lavender’s death. These men have to watch their fellow soldiers die in front of them and carry away their bodies and then overcome sadness as a feeling in order to move forward. War can be mentally draining and it changes a person who has witnessed it and in the face of a battle that have to overcome these mental challenges to complete the order at

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Synopsis Of The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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Hunter Berman Ms.Silver AP English P-4 6/7/2018 The things They Carried Historical Report The Things They Carried is a novel written by Tim O'Brien about U.S. soldiers stationed in Vietnam and their personal stories of what they literally and emotionally carry. He focus on what the soldiers have on their person and how each of those items have an effect on them for reason specific to them.

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The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: Literary Analysis

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Everyone has a burden that they carry. The soldiers in this story carry both physical loads and emotional loads. Examples from the short story of physical loads are “can openers, pocket knives, canteens, candy, clothes, matches, etc.” (O'Brien). Depending on the soldiers weight and habits justifies how heavy their load was.

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Jimmy Cross In The Things They Carried

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“The things they carried were largely determined by necessity” (O’Brien 102). The weight of war is a theme strongly represented in Tim O’Brien’s story, The Things They Carried. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross starts off with no desire to be in a leadership position, because of his immaturity, his love for Martha, and inability to handle the responsibilities of lieutenant many of his men die. “He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war” (O’Brien 107). The soldiers carried many burdens, they carried: diseases, good luck charms, pencils, intangibles, memories, fear, responsibility, and on top of all this they carried

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Stress In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

608 Words | 3 Pages

Have you ever been in such a stressful situation while trying to think normal? In “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, the author describes the situations these troops are put through. Along with the situations, the author tells the audience the thoughts and feelings going on with the men. Showing that the men are affected by the situations they are exposed to. In “The Things They Carried” O’Brien explains the equipment that the characters need to carry to be prepared for the worst.

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Things They Carried By Tim Obrien Sparknotes

1661 Words | 7 Pages

Cross wasn’t the guy someone would think as a leader of the war because he kept looking at Martha’s photo (Cross girlfriend) because it gave him a type of hope that everything will be all right. He was young and got drafted to the war, yet it wasn’t his choice to become one or was fitted to be a leader, he was called on random. The Photo of Martha that Cross was looking at distracted him, and eventually got Ted Lavender killed (one of his men). Obrien writes in “The Things They Carried”, “He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war." (42).

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The Thing's They Carried By Tim O Brien

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Lieutenant Cross shows a prime example of a soldier mentally strained by the sense of responsibility. He feels responsible for his troop because he is the leader. In consequence to having Martha clouding his mind during the time of Lavender’s death, he suffers from guilt and feeling responsible for his death. In order to fix what appears to be a distraction in Cross’s mind, he burns all of his letters and photographs of Martha and proclaimed he hated her with love. “He realized it was only a gesture.

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Symbolism In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

775 Words | 4 Pages

Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried, is not a casual story based on war, but divided stories that paint a picture of veterans and what they were developing during and after the war. O’Brien brings up hard hitting points in each book that affects a reader in so many ways. O’Brien uses his novel with symbolisms to deeply understand characters, types of grieving each character is affiliated with, and more so what these characters carry emotionally, mentally, and figuratively throughout the book, nevertheless, making these characters relatable with actual people. O’Brien’s characters are all different, Jimmy Cross was a lieutenant who’s in love and is not desired to lead his men to fight for their own freedom and stop war. Azar is a disrespectful,

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Stereotypes In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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We’ve all heard stories of soldiers coming back from a war and having some form of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and the Vietnam War was no different, but it was, however, one of the only wars where soldiers came back and were publicly criticized and shunned for their involvement. Warfare has many effects on the human psyche and Lt. Cross is no exception, “In part, he was grieving for Ted Lavender, but mostly it was for Martha, and for himself, because she belonged to another world, which was not real, and because she was a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey, a poet and a virgin and uninvolved, and because he realized she did not love him and never would” (O’Brien pg. 108). He was dealing with both the loss of a comrade and a love interest. From the beginning, up until now, Cross was focused on determining whether or not Martha loved him back but after accepting the truth, he decides to forget about her and focus on doing his job.

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Coping Mechanisms In The Things They Carried And Tim O Brien

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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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Summary Of The First Chapter Of O Brien's The Things They Carried

683 Words | 3 Pages

Their thoughts, emotions, and actions changed as they lived through and moved on from the war. The soldiers all carried things that reflected who they were as a person, and what they all cared for. Jimmy Cross carried letters, a lucky rock, and his love for Martha. He was often distracted thinking

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Soldiers In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

689 Words | 3 Pages

The soldiers in Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, were no different than any other soldiers in any other war. They carried rifles, comforters, and pictures of loved ones with them throughout the war. However, most soldiers carried emotional and mental burdens around with them too. Some of these soldiers include Lt. Jimmy Cross, Norman Bowker, and Rat Kiley. Other soldiers in the book also carried around mental and emotional burdens, but these men in particular, stuck out to me.

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Emotional Burdens In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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The author was writing the story “The Things They Carried” expressed so many thoughts and feelings about what the soldiers had faced, they showed their feelings and duties, life or death, and overall fear and dedication. This story shows the theme of the physical and emotional burdens that everyone is going through in the war. By showing his readers what the soldier’s daily thoughts are and how they handle what is going on around them. Tim O’Brien expresses this theme by using characterization, symbolism, and tone continuously. In the story, physical and emotional burdens plagued several characters as they all had baggage weighing them down.

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Symbolism In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

648 Words | 3 Pages

The Things They Carried “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a short story set during the Vietnam War. In the story, O’Brien lists many different items soldiers in the Alpha Company carried with them as they humped across the rugged terrain. Many carried necessities such as rations, matches, ammunition and things of that nature; however, many soldiers also carried quite peculiar objects such as condoms, pantyhose, and M&Ms. Readers can grasp a closer insight of the characters’ lives after further examination of the symbolism and meaning of the things they carried.

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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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Tim O Brien Character Analysis The Things They Carried

1911 Words | 8 Pages

Josselyn Palma Ms.Fox LA (H), 3rd Period Character Analysis March 29, 2016 The Things that Changed Tim O’Brien In the novel “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a collection of short stories about a group of soldiers marching in the Vietnam war including the author himself in and after war. Each soldier is described by their stories and what each individual carried that kept them alive like the emotional burdens of memories, stories, fear and guilt.

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