Summary Of The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Before the war O’Brien worked hard on his studies and didn’t believe in the war. Once he got drafted into the war he had a moral split. He seriously contemplated running away from his problems and fleeing to Canada. Minnesota and Canada separated one life from another. He drove up to a lodge where he met an older man who changed his life forever.

Tim O’brien’s historical fiction book The Things They Carried is focused around soldiers involved in the Vietnam War. This war was a difficult time for both the Americans who were drafted to fight in the war as well as for those who were at home and disagreed with the idea of currently being in war in Vietnam. As he writes about his own fictional experiences during the war along with the stories of many other fellow troops, O’brien expresses that it is difficult to “tell a true war story”. With the use of imagination and invention, he is able to successfully convey the difficulties involving truth-telling and wartime conditions. O’brien is open with his intended audience and blatantly states that it is hard to tell a true war story.

As a father, educator, and successful author he reflects on the Vietnam War throughout various chapters of the novel. However, he faces another hardship, accepting the memories of his past. In a first attempt, O’ Brien makes use of storytelling as solace and as means of coming to terms with the horrors of Vietnam. For example, in the chapter, “ Speaking of Courage,” O’ Brien uses several layers of narration to tell the story of fellow soldier, Norman Bowker, and his emotional attachment to Kiowa’s death. Rather than focusing on Kiowa’s death itself, O’ Brien illuminates how Norman Bowker deals with the grief and guilt of the event.

As a result, O’Brien struggles with his decision to do what he believes is right, as he wants to do what he thinks it right, but he cannot deal with the criticism of others. He says, “My conscience told me to run, but some irrational and powerful force was resisting, like a weight pushing me toward the war. What it came down to, stupidly was a sense of shame. I did not want people to think badly of me,” (51 and 52). Due to the societal standpoint at the time, he simply could not resist embarrassment others would bestow upon him.

Tim O’Brien Tim O’Brien awakened the world by informing people about war. Tim O’Brien’s testimony about veteran’s experiences is captured in the many stories he tells regarding war. Tim was drafted in 1969 to 1970 as a soldier with the 46th infantry. His first novel about war experiences came from a memoir called If I Die in Combat Zone, Box Me Up, and Ship Me [Home, which was published in 1973. He was a big influence to people for helping them understand the wars.

Both a novel and a collection of interrelated short stories, Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is a book that emerges from a complex variety of literary standards. O'Brien presents to his readers both a war journal and a writer's autobiography, and complicates this presentation by creating a fictional protagonist who shares his name. To fully comprehend and appreciate the novel, particularly the passages that gloss the nature of writing and storytelling, it is important to remember that the work is fictional rather than a conventional non-fiction, historical account. Protagonist "Tim O'Brien" is a middle-aged writer and Vietnam War veteran. The primary action of the novel is "O'Brien's" remembering the past and working and reworking the

Specifically in this novel, stories played a large role, which was to distract the minds of uneasy soldiers. Distract their minds from the possibility of death, their obligations, and whether or not they’d make it back home. When receiving a letter from a friend named, Norman Bowker about his guilt, O’Brien took this opportunity to support his belief that the most important part of a story is not its truth, but how the story makes one

When analyzing Tim O’Brien’s story “On the Rainy River” greatly represents the postcolonial time period of the 1960s and ’70s of hybridity and appropriation of the expectations of men to go to war and not show fear or emotion, due to the fact that it would seem shameful and weak to be “soft” which in turn enforces the sexist idea of being on the same level of women. Within the beginning of the story, we are introduced to Tom O’Brien a 21-year-old man who graduated from Macalester College in 1968 and who was drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. In his ideals, the war seemed wrong and redundant, which has unnecessary effects and consequences, additionally, his frustration and anger grew more when he wasn’t clearly informed of the reason why

As an individual is faced with an important decision, having the support and understanding of others is crucial in order to ensure the individual feels confident enough to choose, what they believe is best for them. By understanding the feelings of another and providing empathy, it lessens the individual’s hesitance to make a decision despite society’s views on the subject. In the short story “On the Rainy River” written and narrated by Tim O’Brien, the narrator is drafted to fight in the Vietnam war and considers draft dodging to avoid fighting for something he disagrees with. When forced to choose between going against his beliefs and fighting in the war, or losing everything he cares about by fleeing the country, Tim seeks refuge at the

Tim O’Brien uses personal experiences to create a world of Vietnam many readers had not encountered before. In his novel, “The Things They Carried;” a collection of short stories depicting the lives of the soldiers serving the Vietnam War, O’Brien uses both facts and fiction to help the reader not only understand the events that transpired overseas, but he also tries to instill the emotions felt by those serving into the reader. During the Vietnam War, soldiers as young as 18 were drafted to serve in the American military and this greatly affected the opinions toward the war and the soldiers who served. Young men who attempted to avoid the draft were looked down upon because some Americans viewed these actions as cowardly and unpatriotic. In “The Things They Carried” the author shares with the reader his own experiences with military conscription.

How it was shaped: Tim allowed the draft of the Vietnam war and societal pressures get to the best of him and he slowly tore himself apart, he started off as a confident incorrigible man. His morals later then became corrupted, he gave into the pressures, his self proclaimed Lone Ranger status had been infected and debunked by his end decision of serving in the Vietnam war. Thesis: In the story, On the Rainy River, the author, Tim O’Brien demonstrates that an individual allows societal pressures and expectations to override their core values, morals, and beliefs; peer pressure forces individuals to put their beliefs aside so they can fit in with everyone else. The narrator, Tim O’Brien faces a similar situation when he get’s drafted for the Vietnam War.

Pg 178. At this lodge he met an older gentlemen named Elroy Berdahl, Tim had spent a total of 6 days at this lodge, where he learnt a lot about himself, Throughout the stay, Elroy never asked much about Tim; where he had come from, what he was running from, anything about his family. On the last day, Elroy had taken him out to go ‘’fishing’’ where they crossed the Canadian border, here is where Tim lost himself briefly, He thought about jumping and swimming across, He looked for reassurance, thinking ‘’ What would you do, would you jump?’’ He did this in his head but acted like he was talking to a different person. He then visioned his family and how they opposed what he was doing, his friends and future family as well.

This results in him wanting to avoid the draft and, him contemplating the consequences of avoiding the draft. O’Brien just graduated college and is working in a pig slaughter plant when he receives the draft notice. During this time period people his age were burning their draft notices and protesting against the war and the government's involvement. The reason why O’Brien was drafted into the military was because he fit the requirements of the military.

In “On the Rainy River” Tim struggles to make a decision on whether he should fight for his country in the war or flee to Canada. Tim did not believe in the war. He was an innocent young man, freshly graduated from college with a naive view of the world. “Both my conscience and my instincts were telling me to make a break for it, just take off and run like hell and never stop.” (Page 3/Paragraph 8)

The Vietnam War was a troubling time for many young men who feared and despised the thought of being drafted involuntarily into the war. O’Brien had these exact thoughts as he was drafted into the war. “Young, yes, and politically naive, but even so the American war in Vietnam seemed to me wrong.” Driven by fear, he made his way to the rainy river on the Canadian border, but didn’t feel relieved or satisfied as he did so, illuminating his thoughts, “A giddy feeling, in a way, except there was a dreamy edge of impossibility to it --- like running a dead-end made --- no way out --- it couldn’t come to a happy conclusion.” Even with these thoughts brought to him, he still made his way for the rainy river.