I. —Introduction Today the average US soldier carries at least 60 pounds of gear, with an extended patrol almost doubling that weight. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is about a platoon of soldiers fighting on the ground during the vietnam war. These soldiers have to endure several challenges during their journey that will test their limits every second of every day. However, the things that get them through the day is what they carry. The things these soldiers carry represents their role in the platoon, as well as, their personalities. The things they carry will have a lot of effect on what they do and how they act in this war story.The things they carry will soon affect them emotionally, Medically, and by Selfishly.
II. —Body
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Medics during the vietnam war defy the stereotypes of being lazy and staying at the base safe and sound, by them rather going into the field carrying firearms and grenades following right behind the trained professionals. During ancient times when a soldier had fallen down wounded, he had to continue to lay there with no medical attention. In Vietnam, A medic's duty was to treat and then get to the extraction point. Vietnam was the first time medics were allowed to be armed and carry firearms and grenades into combat. Red crosses on helmets and arm bands were no longer worn to show they were medics. According to The Things They Carried “ Thank god for Rat Kiley. Every so often, maybe four times altogether, he trotted back and forth to check on me.” (Tim O’Brien, 189)This is when O’Brien was shot and Rat Kiley gave him medical care in the midst of a battle, checking on him four times, and then helping O’Brien to the helicopter where he was sent to a hospital to recover. Secondly, going back to ancient times when medics were not out on the field, while injured soldiers had to lay there and suffer with no medical attention. This also occurred in the vietnam war as well due to poor training and laziness. According to The Things They Carried “When O'Brien is shot the second time—this time in the butt—Jorgenson is too scared to crawl over to him. O'Brien nearly dies of shock, and the wound is so poorly …show more content…
Some people say that the cause of war is from people being selfish. A reporter had been going out into the field to document what was happening and capturing pictures. When doing this he was leaving his wife at home not know anything about him. Every call that she received she had assumed the worst. When he got back home and realized what he was doing to his wife, he realized that he was being selfish during the war. According to 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.” (Tim O’Brien, 16) When Lee Strunk draws the wrong stick and is forced to go into the tunnel to check it. Jimmy has trouble focusing on the tunnel because he keeps thinking about Martha and what it would be like if he was in the tunnel with her. While Cross is still daydreaming Strunk Pops out and is happy. While Cross was daydreaming he didn't realize that Ted Lavender had gone to pee behind a tree, so when he started coming back all the guys could hear was BANG! Lavender was shot and killed due to Cross’s selfishness over Martha. Secondly, According to The Things They Carried “ When a man died, there had to be blame. Jimmy Cross understood this. You could blame war.. A moment of carelessness or bad judgment
In “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brian, the author discusses distinct items the soldiers carry with them during the Vietnam war. He explores weapons and equipment, but also talks about emotions and feelings the men frequently are approached by. The title of the novel is used to highlight the heavy emotional burden the soldiers had to carry during and after the war. In many cases, a soldier felt responsible for the death of one of his closest comrades.
In Tim O’brien’s short story, “The Things They Carried,” O’brien explains more than just what people face at war. O’Brien gives detail of each burden, struggle, and memory each soldier carries into the war. He describes of a battle more destructive than a war filled with guns, bombs, and knives. He describes of a mind battle, one in which is the hardest any man can face. A mind battle controls your every decision.
The United States of America conducted lotteries to determine the order of call to the military service in the Vietnam War for men ages 16-21. Many men were forced to leave loved ones and special people behind. “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien gives readers the inside look of what it was like to be an American Soldier in the Vietnam War. His memoir includes unforgettable images of a nightmarish war that people are still trying to absorb. The book is a set of connected short chapters that tell the stories of soldiers before, during and after the war.
Jimmy Cross, who is the Lieutenant of the Alpha Company carries is reminders of his crush Martha, who is a girl he met in college in New Jersey. After long marches he will usually take out letters and other things he has from her and remember their first and only date they had which was going to the movies, this is a prime example of things the soldiers carry that have significant meaning to them. This is just a quick synopsis of the book and just one key character that is
In every part of the novel, the author cuts through mask of romanticized war to show these men as brave, flawed, afraid and above all, human. Tim O’brien uses the characters and plotline of his novel, The Things They Carried, to argue war is damaging and a ghastly experience for soldiers both mentally and physically; further research about the mental health effects of serving war supports this belief by arguing that war puts stress on many soldiers which related symptoms can increase their chances of having PTSD. On the author’s point of view, he claims that war is damaging to those who see others hurt or killed. On the first chapter of The Things They Carried, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross describes all the men of the company had carried of their preparations of dead men and their mental state of mind.
Coping strategies are crucial to the success of the Vietnam War troops. In The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien conveys the experiences of War World Two soldiers, and the way soldiers cope through shifts of tone, setting, and character development. The Things They Carried, is multiple short stories put into one book that follows a group of soldiers told from the perspective of the narrator, who is also a character in the book during the time of War World One. The book is structured to reveal what the soldiers carry not just physically but also mentally.
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).
Cross was forever changed because of Lavender’s death. While grieving, Cross admitted 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… for the rest of the war” (O’Brien 16). Immediately after Lavender’s death, Cross destroyed every trace of Martha and swore to himself that nothing would distract him from his duty. Guilt was Jimmy Cross’s toughest baggage that followed him through war and continued to haunt him for the rest of his
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.
The Things They Carried” is a great short story by Tim O’Brien who displays the remarkable story of soldiers during the Vietnam War. Being away from your family, in an unknown place, giving up your life’s luxuries is difficult to handle mentally and physically. Similarly, in the short story we see how soldiers try to overcome their fear by escaping from the reality of the war time situation around them, to a world that is just an illusion. Throughout the short story we see several men coping through their fear in Vietnam as they had the responsibility of a solider and carried burdens of need and emotions. In order to cope with their fear, the soldiers talked with each other and told each other what they felt since the only thing that they had was time and pain.
Tim O'Brien's “The Things They Carry,” tells a story about the lives of young men during war. The narrator tells his story from first person, marking all of his adventures and experiences of his companions. O’Brien crafts his piece through the use of repetition, symbolism, and metaphors to convey the idea of physical and psychological hardships of soldiers during war. Though the literary device of repetition, O'Brien portrays the physical and psychological hardships of a soldier.
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
He accepted the blame of Ted Lavender’s death because he was more focused on Martha than he was about his troops. Wesley states that while Jimmy Cross accepts the blame he thinks this will make it all better by accepting heroic responsibility. This relieved the stress upon Cross and made him feel as if he was even more of a leader and not a coward. When Ted Lavender died they treated it as if it was nothing but a daily routine.
Jimmy Cross is the first lieutenant who carries pictures and letters from Martha, the woman he loves who—sadly—does not love him back. The pictures and letters from Martha symbolize Jimmy’s longing to be loved and comforted. It is ironic that although he is the first lieutenant who is expected to take charge and lead others, yet he never took charge of his own love life. This is a regret and burden Cross carries to the end of the story. “It was very sad, he thought.
Throughout the text, Cross “could not stop thinking about [Martha]” (p. 116), unable to concentrate on the war or the men he is charged with leading. Consequently, Cross’ distraction and inadequate leadership result in Lavender’s death. Cross finds himself accountable because “he loved [Martha] more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her” (p.