Thomas Bryant Eulogy

Throughout the narrative, O’Brien recounts the demise of his fellow soldiers, amassing uncontrollable guilt to have survived, “This constant reference to his fellow soldier’s demise is the guilt and confusion he feels.” (Weatherspoon). The psychological impact the soldiers face in The Things They Carried is carefully crafted using apathy, fear and guilt to tell the despondent

Norman Bowker and Lieutenant Cross were presenting a bold front for someone else –Kiowa and Martha. Tim O’Brien and Curt Lemon plucked up their courage for themselves. And all the soldiers in the war overcame their fears for their country. The book focuses on both the act and the result of the soldier’s bravery. As some of their courageous acts end in a glorious victory, some finish with a lugubrious way.

When a new officer “found two rats on his blankets tussling for the possession of a severed hand” (138), the company turned the event into a joke. Instead of worrying about how sickening the event is, they turn it into a joke; One who cannot make light of the horrific will start to break down psychologically. As a part of gaining a stoic approach towards life, Graves starts to become emotionally detached. “Those who are killed can’t complain” (115), he says in reference to splitting up the money of those who died. By looking at the war from a purely pragmatic point of view, Graves is able to ignore the terror of combat.

The lives of soldiers, Norman Bowker and Curt Lemon, illustrate how the war pressures the human spirit to a standard it can’t resemble. The pressure and responsibilities of lost friends and lost acts of courage heavily weigh Norman Bowker down,

Throughout the history of American Literature, there have been hundreds of influential pieces which have left a mark on other writers. The book “In Honor of David Anderson Brooks, My Father” by Gwendolyn Brooks utilizes a unique writing style, theme and American values. This text was sharing her father’s story and personality to the reader before he passed away. He presumably lived alone and maintained his own home.

Everyone carried at least something with them such as: burdens, ghosts, cruel images, and unscrupulous experiences. (“The Things They Carried” Critical Survey of Short Fiction 1790-1793). In Tim’s novel, They Things They Carried, he carried courage, innocent, guilt, and love: those were his personal memories. Nonetheless, in the novel, it seems like every veteran carries griefs and experiences. Each person will have different griefs: to Tim, his griefs will be dead of his friends, Lavender and Kiowa.

The speaker discloses that his children have been “gathered like a small cloud [and have become] . . . steam weeping on the window” (ll. 32-35). The speaker uses this final comparison of his children to weeping clouds to convince his grandpa that his life is not irredeemable and his presence is still needed in this world. In conclusion, through Gary Soto’s usage of powerful imagery, precise descriptions, and an absence of rhythm, he evokes a sense of sympathy for the community where he grew up while telling a beautiful story.

Over all, this story allows us to observe changes within the mentalities of army officers. First, the trauma of living in a war zone can add a significant amount of intangible weight into someone’s life. In “The Things They Carried,” we discover that Cross’s men “carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die (443).” Given that the majority of humans have experienced some form of trauma, we can understand how some men were driven to suicide and others into

Sights you see, events you take part in, people you kill never really seem to leave your conscious and sometimes haunt you. This eats away at the sanity of many soldiers who’ve seen the face of the the fight. Joseph Robertson, a WWII veteran, clearly recalls a time from the war when he killed a young german boy. He described the boy he killed as a “blonde, blue eyes, fair skin, so handsome he was like a little angel(German in the Woods). Joseph, at the age of eighty six, still would wake up during the night crying over the german boy he killed and claimed that specific memory the saddest in his lifetime.

Throughout the development of his gentle, innocent character into the epitome of a wartime officer and courageous veteran, Robert faces many antagonizing events which are made worse by the constant reminder of his sister’s death; a past experience which has an evocative

A masterpiece in its own right, it reflects a story that illustrates the brave and courageous acts of those who valiantly fought. The soldiers, regardless of which side they represent, pushed through their fear to become men of honor and valor. Many perished and those who survived are cursed to remember it. It reflects the sentiment that “Courage is more than charge; More than dying or suffering. The loss of love in silence or being gallant; It is temperament and, more, wisdom”

Both Dawe and Harwood have expressed personal opinion and experiences to force controversial and particular viewpoints towards the reader. The use of repetition and the inclusion of repetitious actions of anonymous figures are “All day, day after day, they’re bringing them home,” emphasising the loss of innocence due to the desensitizing actions conducted ‘day after day’. The repetition of ‘home’ and ‘them’, emphasise the emotional ties between the soldiers and their homeland, as well as exaggerate the separation between the deceased and the present personnel. A war’s enormity is demonstrated to the reader due to its repetitive nature. Similarly, Wright’s use of repetition and her particular emphasis on the use of ‘gun’s’, reflects how the story of a young child in Barn Owl develops from “innocent”, to “a horny fiend” and finally to an “afraid” figure.

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.

One of the most common fears among individuals is the fear of dying. But what is it that makes us so fearful? Above all, people worry they will not be remembered by those who they leave behind. However, they not only worry that their memories will be lost over time, but that their beliefs and traditions will be forgotten as well. Throughout their lives, individuals tend to act a certain way to ensure their morals will be carried on, even when they are gone. In order for their morals to be carried on, they have to have faith in the people that they share their life with. The Reb, in Mitch Albom’s have a little faith, told his daughter to “’[r]emember the memories’” so that his beliefs and teachings would not be forgotten even when he is long

In enduring these complex emotions, this section was the most remarkable part. One of the first apparent emotions the boy experiences with the death of his father is loneliness to make this section memorable. The boy expresses this sentiment when he stays with his father described as, “When he came back he knelt beside his father and held his cold hand and said his name over and over again,” (McCarthy 281). The definition of loneliness is, “sadness because one has no friends or company.”