Death In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

The thesis will concentrate on Tim O' Brien's novel The Things They Carried, a collection of twenty-two interconnected short stories, or perhaps episodic novel, about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. It is a reflection on the experiences of these soldiers during and after the war. In the novel, the author Tim O’Brien creates a protagonist called “Tim O’Brien". The fictional Tim O’Brien tells stories of his life and Vietnam War experiences, relates war stories told to him by other soldiers, and comments on the art of storytelling. The Things They Carried is an introspective memory novel, a powerful meditation on the experiences of the war, and a self-conscious examination of the methods and reasons behind storytelling:

Written by author Tim O’Brien after his own experience in Vietnam, “The Things They Carried” is a short story that introduces the reader to the experiences of soldiers away at war. O’Brien uses potent metaphors with a third person narrator to shape each character. In doing so, the reader is able to sympathize with the internal and external struggles the men endure. These symbolic comparisons often give even the smallest details great literary weight, due to their dual meanings. The symbolism in “The Things They Carried” guides the reader through the complex development of characters by establishing their humanity during the inhumane circumstance of war, articulating what the men need for emotional and spiritual survival, and by revealing

The Things They Carried is a collection of stories about the Vietnam War that the author, Tim O’Brien, uses to convey his experiences and feelings about the war. The book is filled with stories about the men of Alpha Company and their lives in Vietnam and afterwards back in the United States. O’Brien captures the reader with graphic descriptions of the war that make one feel as if they were in Vietnam. The characters are unique and the reader feels sadness and compassion for them by the end of the novel. To O’Brien the novel is not only a compilation of stories, but also a release of the fears, sadness, and anger that he has felt because of the Vietnam War.

War is often thought about as something that hardens a soldier. It makes a person stronger emotionally because they are taught not show it and deal with it internally. People say that death in war is easier to handle because it is for the right reasons and a person can distance themselves from the pain of losing someone. However, there is always a point when the pain becomes too real and it is hard to maintain that distance. In doing so, the story disputes the idea that witnessing a traumatic event causes a numbing or blockage of feelings. Rat Kiley’s progression of sentiment began with an initial concern for the buffalo, transforming into an irate killing of the animal, and then ending with an ultimate acceptance of death. These

While the Vietnam War was a complex political pursuit that lasted only a few years, the impact of the war on millions of soldiers and civilians extended for many years beyond its termination. Soldiers killed or were killed; those who survived suffered from physical wounds or were plagued by PTSD from being wounded, watching their platoon mates die violently or dealing with the moral implications of their own violence on enemy fighters. Inspired by his experiences in the war, Tim O’Brien, a former soldier, wrote The Things They Carried, a collection of fictional and true war stories that embody the

There are many levels of truth in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. This novel deals with story-telling as an act of communication and therapy, rather than a mere recital of fact. In the telling of war stories, and instruction in their telling, O'Brien shows that truth is unimportant in communicating human emotion through stories.

By making a death humorous it may help you or someone else deal with the pain about the death or possibly not think of it as an actual death. Also, when thinking constantly about a person who has died, you can begin to create positive memories about that person and feel as if they are still alive. O’Brien demonstrates this in his quote, “But this too is true: stories can save us. I’m forty three years old, and a writer now, and even still, right here, I keep dreaming Linda alive. And Ted Lavender too, and Kiowa, and Curt Lemon, and a slim young man I killed, and an old man sprawled beside a pigpen, and several others whose bodies I once lifted and dumped into a truck.”, he still thinks of them alive.

Many authors use storytelling as a vehicle to convey the immortality of past selves and those who have passed to not only in their piece of literature but in their life as an author. In Tim O’Brien’s work of fiction The Things They Carried, through his final chapter “The Lives of the Dead,” O 'Brien conveys that writing is a matter of survival since, the powers of storytelling can ensure the immortality of all those who were significant in his life. Through their immortality, O’Brien has the ability to save himself with a simple story. Through snippets of main plot event of other chapters, O’Brien speaks to the fact the dead have not actually left; they are gone physically, but not spiritually or emotionally. They live on in memories as Linda lives on in the memories of O’Brien and as many of his war buddies live on through his stories. He can revive them and bring them back to the world through his writings and through these emotions or events he experienced with them and with their deaths can make them immortal. Through the reminiscent stories of Linda and O’Brien’s war companions and himself, O’Brien conveys that storytelling allows people to reanimate others who have died and past selves to create an immortality of humans.

Death defines life; it has the ability to reinvent the living for better or worse. “The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien, provides a non-linear, semi-fictitious account of the Vietnam War that poignantly depicts the complicated relationship between life and death. His account breathes subtle vitality and realism into the lingering presence of the dead, intimating that the memories they impart have as profound an impact as the living.

The novel, The Things They Carried is a story of one man’s accounts resulting to his tour of duty in Vietnam. Many of the men that are discussed in the book continued to be effected by the war, long after they returned home. Men were left emotionally scared, even if they managed to get out of the war physically unharmed. The

The Changes of Tim O’Brien Every person, no matter who they are or their age, has created memories and stories. Memories and stories are a part of life that everyone has. In, The Things They Carried, the author tells the whole story as a matter of stories and memories. The author, Tim O’Brien wrote the book, The Things They Carried, many years after he left the Vietnam war.

The conclusion of the novel The Things They Carried, suggests that with the use of imagination and storytelling, can overcome the after effects of experiencing a traumatic event. In the concluding paragraph Tim O’Brien explains that his childhood love Linda died; however he can still be with her with the help of his imagination. O’Brien says, “I can still see her as if through ice, as if I’m gazing into some other world, a place where there are no brain tumors and no funeral homes, where there are no bodies at all. I can see Kiowa, too, and even Ted Lavender and Curt Lemon , and sometimes I can even see Timmy skating with Linda under the yellow floodlight” (page. 232). This quotation is O’Brien acknowledging that while yes his loved ones are

After the Vietnam War, soldiers suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder in countless numbers. The trauma they saw, endured, and witnessed forever changed and scared their lives. Men, like Tim O'Brien the author of the novel The Things They Carried, suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder and it took them years to regain their lives after their return home. In the excerpt from his novel, O'Brien shows the reader how the men endured this mind-altering experience in the jungles of Vietnam through the details of all the items the men carry.

Throughout the book The Things They Carried, O’Brien has focused more on the comrades and personal life aspect rather than the blood and battles of the war. O'Brien's solution to deal with unpleasant war memories and his emotional personal stories is to write about them and to share them in order to digest the harsh times of his life. His purpose of writing this book is to keep the dead alive, as the title of the last vignette reads “The Lives of the Dead” . O’Brien chooses to include an emotional symbolism which is also an intimate anecdote to illustrate that storytelling is one of many effective ways of recollecting the memories of our loved ones and keeping them in our hearts. The last vignette is primarily about Linda - O’Brien’s first

The story about Timmy and Linda is so important because it represents the way storytelling and memory can alleviate the pain in any traumatic situation. "Lying in bed at night, I made up elaborate stories to bring Linda alive in my sleep."(O'Brien pg. 230). Timmy was the younger version of the new Tim, even when Linda first died he used stories to keep her alive. This was the first incident in his life that we know of where O'Brien references Storytelling to keep the dead alive. This can help us to understand why Tim O’Brien wrote this book, telling us all of his stories from war. Each of the stories he tells is a way to relieve his pain from war. In the worksheet over “Death”, I was asked what is meant by stories save people. What is meant