The Things They Carried Why Does Tim O Brien Use Of Structure

Moreover, “They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror love longing… They carried the soldier's greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing,” (O’brien 20). With this in mind, O’brien creates a plot in the beginning of what these men in war had to experience and mentally prepare for to see others hurt

The Things They Carried details a young naive man’s life that changes after being drafted into the Vietnam War. The author Tim O’Brien shares with us the many tragedies that are engraved in his memory. Throughout the book he tells stories about the lives(right) of the dead. As he writes the stories, he dreams about the dead, so in his mind they are alive and have returned back into the world. The reader can feel the struggle that Tim has in relieving the pain of losing these people.

Mary Ann is the girlfriend of Mark Fossie who is brought in for a visit, however this visit is the start to her obsession with the war. Mary Anne had a normal life with normal goals before she was dropped into the war. O’Brien says, “From the sixth grade on they had known for a fact that someday they would be married, and live in a fine gingerbread house near Lake Erie, and have three healthy yellow-haired children, and grow old together, and no doubt die in each other's arms and be buried in the same walnut casket.” (94) A regular teenage girl with regular visions of the future arrives to aid the hurt and before she know it these goals are just a blurry memory of her old innocent childhood. This girl who had only come down for a visit soon sees the life of Vietnamese culture and learns more, at this point it's seen as just a fun learning experience.

Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried (TTTC) is a collection of short stories detailing the experiences of young soldiers deployed in the Vietnam War. He uses a variety of genres, such as magical realism and an unreliable narrator, to deviate from the traditional war autobiography. In doing so, he provides an insight into the emotional and psychological toll of war, as well as the social structures within groups of soldiers at the time. The experiences of the soldiers range from facing the victims of war to coming to terms with one’s unchosen fate as a soldier. O’Brien makes use of motifs and recurring themes throughout the book to influence the reader’s interpretation of the experiences of soldiers at war.

However, as Mary Anne continues her stay, she begins tackling gruesome medical work, slowly desensitizing and changing her. The changes Vietnam enacts on her make her unrecognizable, like the many soldiers in similar situations. She begins yearning for the war and can’t get enough of it. In the end, her boyfriend is left lost to his previous lover, exclaiming, "I can’t find her" (O’Brien 100). Just like many soldiers in the war, Mary Anne became addicted to the war and a shell of the person she once embodied.

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.

Therefore, many soldiers deeply hesitated on going to Vietnam and were mainly not accepted when they returned. In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien writes about the themes of growth and emotional burdens as he displays his character’s stories of the effects of the Vietnam war. The chapter, “On the Rainy River”, is where O’Brien expresses his biggest growing moment when he is still a minor, battling dodging the draft,

The author, O’Brien, was no different, he was aiming for

Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried, is not a casual story based on war, but divided stories that paint a picture of veterans and what they were developing during and after the war. O’Brien brings up hard hitting points in each book that affects a reader in so many ways. O’Brien uses his novel with symbolisms to deeply understand characters, types of grieving each character is affiliated with, and more so what these characters carry emotionally, mentally, and figuratively throughout the book, nevertheless, making these characters relatable with actual people. O’Brien’s characters are all different, Jimmy Cross was a lieutenant who’s in love and is not desired to lead his men to fight for their own freedom and stop war. Azar is a disrespectful,

William Timothy O’Brien was born on October 1, 1946. As a young man he rallied against the Vietnam war. However sometimes later he got the draft notice. He was torn between going, therefore leaving his convictions aside; or deserting and face the embarrassment he would cause to his family, friends. He decided to go, and fought in the Vietnam war.

Similarly, O'Brien continues to describe the diminished character in the story by adding: “Near the end of the third week Fossie began making arrangements to send her home. At first, Rat said, Mary Anne seemed to accept it, but then after a day or two she fell into a restless gloom, sitting off by herself at the compound’s perimeter. Shoulders hunched, her blue eyes opaque, she seemed to disappear inside herself. A couple of times Fossie

“That’s what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future ... Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story” (36). The Things They Carried is a captivating novel that gives an inside look at the life of a soldier in the Vietnam War through the personal stories of the author, Tim O’Brien . Having been in the middle of war, O’Brien has personal experiences to back up his opinion about the war.

As she becomes engaged in the war Mary Anne evolves to embrace the savage beauty of the land and is lured by the mysteriousness of war. Mary Anne’s presence represents a semblance of normalcy and beauty, contrasting with the harsh realities and horror of combat. This beauty lies in her determination to follow her heart despite the dangers surrounding her. Her interest with Vietnamese culture and integration into their way of life reveals both the allure and the terrifying consequences of war. The beauty lies in her curiosity and willingness to embrace new experiences, even in the midst of a war zone.

One of the key characteristics of how O’Brien

Her transformation was shocking. " This Mary Anne wasn 't no virgin but at least she was real. I saw