The Stories They Carried
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien makes apparent that stories are a way to explain to the full reality of the war, a burden in and of themselves, and also a way to carry the emotional burdens of the war. O’Brien is careful to maintain his credibility as a story teller, but he makes clear that the truth of the story goes beyond the literal historical facts and that the apparent credibility of the story should in no way distract from the essence of the story, “there is always that surreal seamingness, which makes the story seem untrue, but which in fact represents the hard and exact truth as it seemed” (68). Sticking strictly to the facts does not always tell the full story. Often the storyteller’s creative license is what tells the heart of the story. O’Brien is trying to tell as much of the truth about the war as he can, even if he needs to use stories that are not literally true themselves. O’Brien heard a story from Mitchell Sanders about six soldiers who called for an air strike when there were no enemy nearby (68). Told this way, without the embellishing of a true war story, this story tells nothing about the war except that there were a few dumb soldiers, but when Sanders goes into detail the way the vapor engulfed everything, the voices of the mountains and trees, and the way music rises straight out of the rocks, the listener knows the war is something primal, something mysterious, and something that rises out of the earth as naturally as the vapors in the forest. O’Brien has even told whole stories to accentuate and clarify other stories. Rat Kiley gets upset when he does not get a reply from Lemon’s sister about the letter he wrote to her about her brother’s death, but simply saying they were upset cannot convey someone’s grief. To show Rat Kiley’s experience with Lemon’s death, O’Brien told a story about Kiley and the water buffalo. After Kiley calls Lemon’s sister a dumb cooze for not writing back, Alpha Company came across a baby water buffalo. Kiley is still distraught about his friend’s death and having not received the closure of a response from Lemon’s sister, so he turned to the water buffalo. At first he tries to offer it some food, but when that fails to get a response, he starts shooting the animal, trying to cause as much pain as possible. The water buffalo never made a sound, and Rat Kiley never got the response he was looking for about his friend, Curt Lemon (76). O’Brien put the baby water buffalo exactly where it needed to be to tell the truth of the story. Even if there was never such a baby buffalo, O’Brien still showed the extent of Rat Kiley’s grief and burden. The members of Alpha Company each carried many burdens not the least of which are the stories they had seen and heard. Kiley carried Lemon’s story that he so desperately wanted closure with. He had no one he could share Lemon’s story with. The other members of Alpha Company already knew about Lemon, so telling them would not bring any relief, and they were in a war that they may not make it home from to share Lemon’s story, to keep Lemon’s story alive. As it was, Kiley felt alone in making sure his friend was not forgotten. Lieutenant Cross carried Ted Lavender's death close to his heart, where Martha had once been. Cross had an obsession with his high school crush, Martha, and while thinking about her he became lax with the security of his men. One day, Ted Lavender was shot while Cross is fantasizing about Martha, and Cross took his responsibility as leader personally (24). The emotional burdens of Ted Lavender’s death and
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Nikita Keenan 7/14/12 Throughout Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, the persona of the author often serves as a medium between the translation of emotion felt by characters in the story to the reader of the book. By developing fictitious versions of events that transpired while serving in the Vietnam War, O’Brien’s character is able to revive memories from the past as well as spark feelings of understanding and empathy in others. Surprisingly, the tone of the narrator rarely peals…
and it now lives through war. Wars have split countries and even created factions within religions. Perhaps one of the most overlooked consequences of wars are the effects it has on the people who fight them. War is a hellish thing. Only a few people return from wars without changing. In The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, explains the burdens of war through symbolism. The physical and psychological consequences war has on soldiers transforms them into shadows of their former selves. During times of war,…
surprised me the most were the tranquilizers that Ted lavender carried with him. This surprised me because it showed how he couldn’t even take the effects of the war and had to do something to almost remove him from the situation at times. This item is also the most representative of war because they showed how stressful the war was because he had to take them to numb himself. The item that stays with me would be the pebble that Lt. Cross carried around. 2. A. Curt lemon was a coward about going to the…
Carried“The Things They Carried” – The American Civil War, 1861-1865 A soldier fighting in the Civil War had mixed feelings of compelling patriotism, notably with the Confederates but undeniably just as present in the Union, and strong disgust. Battles often consisted of fathers, uncles, sons and brothers all fighting the American states bordering their own. Specific to the Civil War: * Scabbard w/ or w/out detailing (depends): Bayonet scabbards were issued to each soldier as standard…
Brine Shrimp Lab Abstract: In our lab, we observed the adaptation of brine shrimp eggs when they are exposed to different salt concentrations. Brine shrimp are greatly influenced by environmental factors and their relatively short development time makes them great candidates for an experiment for observing adaptation. We tested populations of brine shrimp by exposing them to different concentrations of salt solution (NaCl). The lab was spaced out over three days and each day we collected data…
before or what could happen. Emotional baggage is a big part of life, and in the story The Things They Carried by Time O’Brien really portrays that both physically and emotionally and really connects to you in the real life. Throughout this story it you learn about the baggage you carry and how some can be seen and some are chosen by you and some are ones you just have and some are given. The Things They Carried is a story about soldiers that are stationed at war outside of the states. Many of these…
In the vignette “Good Form” out of the book The Things they Carried, O’Brien admits to telling the “story-truth”, not the “Happening-Truth”. This changes my view on the vignette “The Man I Killed” because in “Good Form” O’Brien admits to never seeing the faces of men he’s killed so that makes the vignette “The Man I Killed” just a humanization of the faceless men that O’Brien has killed in Vietnam. This book is essentially three literary categories in one. It is historical due to the accurate…
The Things They Carried Critical Theories/Themes The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien represents many different critical theories throughout the novel. O’Brien reflects on his experience in the Vietnam War. He also tells the reader about the people that were there with him. In the novel, the Marxist theory is very relevant. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was very pre-occupied during the war with his girlfriend Martha. All he did was think about her and the letters she sent him. He would put his…
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is loosely based on the author’s personal experiences while fighting in Vietnam. O’Brien makes the book into a work of fiction by adding and embellishing actual events as well as giving the reader bits of personal information through stories about his war experiences, home and his childhood. O’Brien often brings up the concept of “truth” in his stories by letting the reader understand that although he is not necessarily providing a historically accurate version…
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a collection of essays, all centered on anecdotes of American soldiers during the Vietnam War. The seemingly straightforward recollections slowly reveal dense layers of personal and metaphorical meanings upon closer inspection, with the exploration of the characters’ emotions and the underlying motif of love creating the opportunity to trace how war changes a person in the realm of his emotions. The Vietnam warfare acts as a catalyst for all of the unsettling…