The Things They Carried Quote Analysis

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a collection of short stories about the Vietnam war. The title's significance refers to both the emotional and physical baggage that the characters in the stories carry. Although the soldiers carry heavy physical baggage, they also carry the heavy emotional loads of the war, such as shame, guilt and escapism. In the first chapter, the author catalogs physical items like weapons, water, and medical gear.

Throughout life we experience hardships, and we use these past experiences to help us make future decisions that overall grow as human beings. In Tim O ‘ Brien’s novel “The Things They Carried,” the characters not only carry physical baggage but emotional ones as well. They are forced to feel the effects of war such as guilt, burdens, and other factors that come with being a soldier. Soldiers going into the war often went in with immense pride that they were serving their country however in doing this they didn’t know they would lose their innocence and see the world in a new perspective when they returned. “My hometown was a conservative little spot on the prairie, a place where tradition counted” (O’Brien 38) shows where O’Brien lived in a place where things like the draft were taken very seriously.

Hiba Shaqra A Long Way Gone: Typed Reading Log Key Quote Insightful Comment Discussion Question “Perhaps it was necessary he This quote depicts Ishmael’s first Does Ishmael end up cling to false hopes, since they war experience. A child, clearly using this tactic, this had kept him running away dead, had lain in front of him.

War is the graveyard of innocence for boys who become men through the loss of humanity. The book “Fallen Angels,” by Walter Dean Myers, is a story about Richard Perry, a young man who mistakenly joins the Vietnam War to avoid the shame of not going to college. As the book goes on Perry discovers his mistake and in the process, not only loses his innocence, but also his humanity. Wars will always be the dark parts of our history and no war is devoid of horrors that can strip anyone of everything they are, and in war soldiers must use coping mechanisms to deal with these very apparent horrors.

The princess directed her lover to the lady because of the sincere love that she had toward him. “....and she loved him with an ardor that had enough of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong.”  Due to the intense emotion that she had for him, the princess would not wanted to see her lover suffered. “From the moment that the decree had gone forth that her lover should decide his fate in the king's arena, she had thought of nothing, night or day, but this great event and the various subjects connected with it.” We see in this quote that when the lover had been put to jail she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

Leadership can be established in how a hero guides his men and directs them. Numerous warriors from Greek Mythology are lauded for their control and management over their companions in times of difficulty and danger; furthermore, they are a model and an inspiration towards their comrades. Among several brave men, many people considered Odysseus to be incapable of being in charge, but some indications have also shown that his actions for the crew are sufficient. Even though both the controversies of the debate about the topic has information from The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is evidently an effective leader. Odysseus demonstrates as an efficient leader when they come across various threatening situations.

Have you ever done something wrong? Did you try to place blame other places until eventually coming to the conclusion that it’s your fault? Of course you have your human. We try to do anything to get rid of that guilty feeling that comes from our conscious. This is also happening to the soldiers of Alpha Company in Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried, especially after one of their men dies in combat.

During the Vietnam War, Tim has also seen some people having no morals and some people want revenge. Not all solider who fought in the Vietnam War from America is innocent. Correspondingly, not all deaths are innocent, and people die without doing wanton things: to Tim, the world is unfair. In Vietnam, Tim realizes how horrible can people get from hanging around with Azar. Azar is guilty, however, he is still a savage; he took Lavender’s adopted puppy and strapped it onto explosives.

Violence consists of savagery, sadism, and power. Victims of violence are usually not liberated from the effect it has on them. In ‘A Long Way Gone’ by Ishmael Beah, he elaborates on his personal effects of violence in which he endures and taken part in. Throughout the book, he suffers the consequences of being part of the Sierra Leone Civil War. Ishmael experiences war flashbacks, nightmares, lost of innocence and a normal life in the result of violence.

In one moment it’s ripped away from them: the only thing keeping them young; the only thing keeping them shielded from the world. It’s the mother watching her fatherless daughter cry over his coffin. It is the boy being slapped by his loving father for the first time. I That thing is known as “loss of innocence”, but is it really a loss? All one loses is their naivety and artlessness.

Weight The Vietnam war is considered America’s first great loss, before this Americans were victorious against all enemies. The soldier’s burden is immense but those who served from the draft in the Vietnam war carry the greatest. Those who served were forced into roles they did not choose in order to appear masculine and strong. This brought discomfort and fear to many of those soldiers and they came home with that fear and anxiety in their hearts.

In Behind the Veil, Siham is stating that she loves her veil because it makes her a mystery but the veil can mean a different things to different people. a quote from the story that shows that siham loves her veil is “i don't care about you, and i feel nothing for you. i defy you. but i love you too.” (page 6).