Tim O 'Brien's Losing A Grip On Life'

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.

No two people will react the same to life’s challenges. The weight they carried really did not compare to the internal impact they felt. The author emphasized more on the emotional views. As the Lieutenant, Jim Cross carried more of the weight because he had more to carry. Tim O’Brien mentioned he carried the lives of all the other men.

You’d come to a group of men and say ‘come on!’ We must go.’ But it was physically impossible to move - many were laying down and been sick. We began to see tremendous efforts of the troop were going to make to help the leaser ones in. They found many troops lying exhausted, some ate and others played and some were sick, others just lay, some tried to eat but couldn’t.”

You got a really good sense of how hard it had to be to be marching with all that equipment. But as I continued to read, I think the mental baggage that they carried with them weighed so much more! This baggage doesn’t get any lighter either as the war goes on and even years after the war is over. That weight is still with them.

Throughout The Things They Carried, author, and narrator, Tim O’Brien uses what the soldiers figuratively carry, cowardice and loss, to explain what effect the war had on them. According to O’Brien, these two intangibles turn into a physical burden the soldiers are forced to carry because of the psychological effects of war. His main purpose for writing The Things They Carried is for the reader to be able to feel the same reality the soldiers feel as a result of fighting in the war. One of the main themes of these war stories is the fear of being labeled a coward by the people of the soldiers’ home country.

The story describes the physical burdens the soldiers had to carry such as weaponry and rations, along with the emotional burdens such as love and loss (375-390). This story is significant because it gives readers an insight to the difficulties faced by soldiers that may not be recognized by many. The

This scene highlights the conflict between vulnerability and strength that underlies the soldiers'

Entry 1 In the first chapter titled “The Things They Carried,” the author said that they carried the physical items like ponchos and ammunition, but what resonated with me was how he described the intangible things that each of them carried. They carry the life that they left back in the United States. I can’t imagine what it would be like to leave the life that’s lived for eighteen years to fight for something that’s not even clearly understood.

O’Brien’s intended audience was young people who were not educated about the war and he discussed the themes shame/guilt and mortality/death. The chapter “The Things They Carried” gives an introduction about the men in the group, it also shows shame/guilt. The chapter talks about the equipment each soldier carried and how it affected them. During this chapter it focuses primarily on LT.

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.

Something Most People Don't Realize In “Tim O'Brien's novel,” The Things They Carried, each soldier carries something different that makes them feel safe/something memorable, that helps them get through their time away from home. Whether it be stockings,dental floss,a picture, or even tranquilizers. Henry Dobbins for example carries Stockings/Pantyhose.

This is shown throughout the story, as the author lists what the soldiers carried. As mentioned earlier, from grenade launchers to M&Ms, these items played an important role in the soldier’s journey. Some of the items carried not only contained physical weight, but also an emotional load fixed to it. O’Brien thoroughly described what all the men carried, so the reader realizes from the start that they at least have some importance. As the author goes down the list of items, the reader catches a glimpse of the soldier’s condition and it continues to grow gradually as the story goes along.

In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien expresses to the reader why the men went to the war and continued to fight it. In the first chapter, “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien states “It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather they were too frightened to be cowards.” The soldiers went to war not because they were courageous and ready to fight, but because they felt the need to go. They were afraid and coped with their lack of courage by telling stories (to themselves or aloud) and applied humor to the situations they encountered.

The author was writing the story “The Things They Carried” expressed so many thoughts and feelings about what the soldiers had faced, they showed their feelings and duties, life or death, and overall fear and dedication. This story shows the theme of the physical and emotional burdens that everyone is going through in the war. By showing his readers what the soldier’s daily thoughts are and how they handle what is going on around them. Tim O’Brien expresses this theme by using characterization, symbolism, and tone continuously. In the story, physical and emotional burdens plagued several characters as they all had baggage weighing them down.

The True Weight of War “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien, brings to light the psychological impact of what soldiers go through during times of war. We learn that the effects of traumatic events weigh heavier on the minds of men than all of the provisions and equipment they shouldered. Wartime truly tests the human body and and mind, to the point where some men return home completely destroyed. Some soldiers have been driven to the point of mentally altering reality in order to survive day to day. An indefinite number of men became numb to the deaths of their comrades, and yet secretly desired to die and bring a conclusion to their misery.