The Things They Carried Essays
American novelist Tom O’Brien compiled a list of short stories and made it into his first historical fiction book. The book is talking about war and soldiers who participated in the Vietnam war and O’Brien documents his experiences as a soldier for the 23rd Infantry Division. The Things They Carried essays focus on the historical impact that came about as a result of the war and give a clear picture of what soldiers experience when they are at war. The Things They Carried essay examples are straightforward as some dwell on the different themes expressed in the novel.
The themes cover what genre is the book, forms of writing, and the style of writing which college essays about The Things They Carried touch on. The reception of the book, which was fairly welcoming, is another talking point. The main message being put across in the book is the burdens we carry and we let them affect our daily lives.
The story “The Ghost Soldiers” is one of the only stories of “The Things They Carried” in which we don’t know the ending in advance. I believe that O’Brien chooses to make this story particularly suspenseful in order for the reader to understand the meaning of the ending and recognize that the ending is not […]
The Things They Carried Throughout the novel The Things They Carried we are shown an abundance of things that the soldiers had to carry with them. Mostly being physical there were also emotional and abstract things that they carried, as there was two wars that they were fighting. There was a physical war against the […]
Tim O’Brien has created a unique novel in The Things They Carried by using styles, such as changing points of view, “clashing the boundaries between truth and fiction” , and use of repetition for effect. Tim O’Brien creates a one of a kind storyline in the novel “The Things They Carried”. Style is how an […]
The main character in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, Louise, experiences a moment of unexpected liberation due to a strange mix-up. Despite being falsely informed that her husband had died in an accident, Louise secretly rejoices at the news. The story is significant in its symbolic portrayal of the oppression of women during […]
The setting of the poem contributes greatly to the meaning. The title, “Casualty-Mental Ward” is essential to understanding the setting. I personally think that the setting takes place in a mental ward itself and that the speaker is a patient there. This can be seen by looking at line 16, “As all eyes close, they […]
1. Tim O’Brien feels he is a coward for going to the Vietnam War because he might be confused about what courage is, as is every other man that went to the Vietnam War. Once he is out of the war, he realizes that the only reason he went into the Vietnam War was to […]
The essays on The Things They Carried explore various aspects of the Vietnam War, which was a highly challenging conflict. One reason for this difficulty was the absence of clear boundaries, making it nearly impossible to conquer territory. Moreover, soldiers had to face harsh weather conditions, tough terrain, diseases, and their own personal struggles. This […]
There is something special about human beings. Human beings have the capacity to sacrifice themselves for others. Not all do it and many do just the opposite. In the story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’BRIEN, demonstrates that statement. Jimmy Cross, who is 1st lieutenant of his platoon, is a man of integrity and […]
All around a person can easily hear or read a story about a soldier of war and how that person is forever scared mentally or physically, by the things he or she encountered or saw in their time of duty. Demonstrated in the movies all the time are veterans having flashbacks back to the war […]
Most authors who write about war stories write vividly; this is the same with Tim O’Brien as he describes the lives of the soldiers by using his own experiences as knowledge. In his short story “The Things They Carried” he skillfully reveals realistic scenes that portray psychological, physical and mental burdens carried by every soldier. […]
In his collection of short stories, ‘The things they carried’ Tim O’Brien attempts to explore the ‘bloody eccentricity’ of Vietnam- a war dominated by uncertainties and unlike any war which had gone before. The stories connect a group of fictional soldiers called the alpha company in their journey through the war. The Vietnam War divided […]
Martha was Jimmy Cross’ first “love”. He was obsessed with her even though she only thought of him as a friend. They wrote each other letters in a friendly way but Jimmy Cross thought of it as more than that. “He would sometimes taste the envelopes flaps, knowing her tongue had been there… More than […]
During the Vietnam war, soldiers in Tim Obrien’s The Things They Carried had to find unconventional coping mechanisms to survive. Unlike in American society, where anti-depressants, psychiatrists, and massages are readily available, these soldiers had to make do with what they had in the Vietnamese jungle. They couldn’t carry many items or burdens, but if […]
