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Summary Of The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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“It was very sad, he thought… The things men did or felt they had to do” (O’Brien 480). In “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’Brien (a Vietnam War veteran) details the experience of soldiers during the Vietnam War. As implied in the title, the story describes the many things soldiers carried physically. In addition, O’Brien shares the many thoughts and burdens the soldiers carried mentally during their time on the battlefield in Vietnam. Although this short story is fiction, given O’Brien’s personal experience, it holds many truisms; one of which being the battle between what a man does and what a man feels he has to do. O’Brien’s use of characterization deconstructs what it means to be a man by exploring how events and situations dictate a soldier’s …show more content…

Within this slogan is the implied statement that soldiers are supposed to be strong and tough. O’Brien details the many physical things and well soldiers carried during the Vietnam War. At the beginning of the story O’Brien explains:
The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the necessities or near necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wrist watches, dog tags, mosquito repellant, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water. Together, these items weighed between fifteen and twenty pounds, depending upon a man’s habits or rate of metabolism. (468)
The items above are only one paragraph out of several pages chocked full of descriptions about the physical items soldiers carried. O’Brien often states an approximate weight of the various items, but he leaves it to the reader to infer the strength necessary to carry all of those items. As one reads all the items that the soldiers had to carry physically, it makes one think that they had to have superhuman strength. However, through O’Brien’s words, superhero connotations were never transmitted; on the contrary, the things they carried made them men, made them strong, made them

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