Embedded Files
The Things They Carried is the first book we will be making a post on. We want to warn the reader of the content that may be found in this blog post may deal with heavy topics and contain disturbing pictures.
Tim O'Brien
Tim O'Brien
Tim O'Brien was born on October the first, 1949, and grew up in Worthington, Minnesota. In 1968 he was drafted into the U.S. Army and went to fight in the Vietnam War. After his return, he went on to graduate from Harvard University, and in 1998 he went on to publish "The Things They Carry" as his six-book. Due to his experience in the Vietnam War, he was able to write fiction books that conveyed his experiences in the war.
Historical Background
During the Vietnam War, back home there was a lot of backlash over the U.S. going into war and protests started. The reason for that was.
No need for violence (Anti-war).
Unreasonable to take someone's independence away.
The draft. The people who were being drafted were mostly kids not knowing what they were doing. Therefore many that were drafted did not believe or stand for what the Vietnam War meant and just went regardless
Themes and Tone
The primary theme of "The Things They Carried" is the burdens we all carry. this is revealed in the first chapter and what it basically means is that the soldiers carried a lot more with them than just the guns and gear. they carried their own emotional burdens, guilt, memories, etc.
The tone of The Things They Carried is sympathy and guilt. These two tones are shown to be apparent many times within the novel. This is done to immerse you in the soldiers' feelings throughout the book. One example of this is shown in the chapter, "The man I killed" when the novel goes into detail about a Vietnamese man who he killed and what his life could have been like.
Devices and techniques
Symbolism: Uses mostly innocent things to describe something without really saying it. For example, the letters they receive are shown as home, youth, and hope. The buffalo was destroying innocence, and Mary Anne is showing how much the war affects and changes a person also killing innocence.
Memory and imagination: The author uses it because it can be used to his advantage. This allows the reader to explain the story, actually understand it, and feel the connection to the
While reading this book we found certain paragraphs that we enjoyed. This contained deep meaning that we enjoyed that we will like to share with you.
Page 24
Fifth paragraph
When he thought about Martha he thought about his life before the war. When he only had to worry about the girl and his studies. However, now he has to worry about if he will make it to the next day alive. He had to stop thinking about Martha and now think of his reality. His reality is war, and to survive the war.
Maryce Silva
Page 182
First paragraph
Getting shot should be an experience from which you can draw some small pride. I don't mean the macho stuff. All I mean is that you should be able to talk about it:the stiff bump of the bullet, like a fist, the way it knocks the air out of you and makes you cough, how the sound of the gunshot arrives 10 years later, and the dizzy feeling, the smell of yourself, the things you think about and say and do right afterward, the way your eyes focus on a tiny white pebble or a blade of grass and how you start thinking oh man, that's the last thing I'll ever see, that pebble, that blade of grass, which makes you want to cry.
Alex Chavez
Page 101
Second Paragraph
By telling stories, you objectify your own experience. You separate it from yourself. You pin down certain truths. You make up others. You start sometimes with an incident that truly happened, like the night in the shit field, and you carry it forward by inventing incidents that did not occur but that nonetheless help to clarify and explain.
Yadira Rojas
Page 14
They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects, this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture. They carried their reputations. They carried the soldier's greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing.
Fernando Villanueva
Final thoughts
Although the author, Tim O'Brien, states that this book is meant to be a fiction story, I believe that more than one of the stories in this book must be true. The stories mentioned make me think of what was the reality of the soldiers that were sent to Vietnam. Additionally, it does a good job of conveying the feeling the soldiers might have lived through. The feeling of losing their comrades as well as the fear of death that many of them had. This book also makes me think of what the people that lived in Vietnam went through. The booming, the attacks, the burning down of villages, and the outright monstrosity that the U. S. army did agents them. This makes me think about the people and how it might have impacted them. Soldiers that are sent to war come back with PTSD and mental health issues that are irreversible in many cases. The events that they saw will forever scar them and on some occasions, they may harm the structure of their families. However, when researching more about this book and Vietnam as a whole it made me think about how the life of the Vitnamis was impacted. The gruesome pictures and the horror stories that have been told by soldiers and locals. At the end of the day, people will have their opinion on whether Vietnam was a good idea. However, in the future, if the U.S. finds itself in a similar situation I hope that we are able to look back at the many mistakes and atrocities that we caused Vietnam and learn from their mistakes.
What to learn about the Vietnam War, watch this video to learn more about it!
Learn more about as to why the United States joined the war!
References
T, Amy. "Tim O'Brien." Britannica, www.britannica.com/biography/Tim-OBrien.
https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/analysis-of-tone-in-the-things-they-carried-by-tim-obrien/#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20convey%20a,in%20Strunk%20and%20Jenson's%20pact.
"The Things They Carried." Sparknotes, www.sparknotes.com/lit/thingscarried/.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse