Too Much to Bear in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Too Much to Bear The things I carry are both figurative and literal. I carry a pen, a pencil, a textbook or two, and paper. I carry memories, experiences, pain, guilt, cowardice, love and happiness. In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien centralizes on why people carry what they do, physical or not. To be honest, I carry what I do because I must. If I don’t carry that one textbook that one day, I’ll regret it. If I forget what it was like have my first icecream cone, what if felt like the instant my mouth froze up and the inside of my head pounded so loudly I almost screamed, I will be less of who I am today. What I carry defines me. In the novel, the tangible and intangible loads the soldiers carry define them; such as Lt. Crosss who carry’s a picture of and intangible feelings for Martha. What the soldiers burdened themselves with was largely determined, emotionally or physically, was by necessity. The tangible objects depicted in the book are especially relevant. The author’s style of writing is very elaborate only because he wants the readers to discern sympathy towards the soldiers. The author tells us about the weight of the objects each of the soldiers carry to supplement our overall total lasting impression. O’Brien says in the first chapter, he recounts the literal objects each soldier carried. â€Å"As PFCs or Spec 4s, most of them were common grunts and carried the standard M-16 gas-operated assault rifle. The weapon weighed 7.5 poundsShow MoreRelatedThe Things They Carried Questions1139 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Things They Carried† Questions a) The main topic of this novel is burdens. O’Brien is writing about what burdens the soldiers and he had to carry throughout war, physically and emotionally. One way I know is because of the title- â€Å"The Things They Carried.† This title almost summarizes the whole book. O’Brien frequently showed and explained the burdens that were inner conflicts of his and outer conflicts too. In the chapter â€Å"The things They Carried,† O’Brien showed an emotional burdenRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1579 Words   |  7 Pageslasting of the numerous burdens placed upon them. When soldiers knowingly carry these burdens into a war zone, it is so a majority of people can live life free from violence and destruction. Strong underlying metaphor is prevalent in Tim O’Brien’s Novel The Things They Carried. Metaphor is used throughout the text of the book to create a sense of understanding or to convey a different meaning than the text originally suggests. This allows the reader to more fully relate to the soldier’s experiences onRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1377 Words   |  6 PagesTyler Nooney Trafford P.6 The Things They Carried Essay The central theme and true meaning of courage is shown vividly in numerous instances throughout Tim O’Brien’s classic novel The Things They Carried. O’Brien’s novel begins with the courage of coming of age, along with the author’s loss of his innocence. Tim, the protagonist of this novel, goes through an incredible change in belief when he must choose to either run away from the Vietnam War or unwillingly join the bloody battle, of which heRead More Courage and Cowardice in The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien902 Words   |  4 PagesCourage and Cowardice in The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien Through The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien moves beyond the horror of fighting in the Vietnam War to examine with sensitivity and insight the nature of courage and fear. Included, is a collection of interrelated stories. A few of the stories are brutal, while others are flawed, blurring the distinction between fact and fiction. All the stories, however, deal with one platoon. Some are about the wartime experiences of soldiers, andRead MoreBeyond The Things They Carried1210 Words   |  5 PagesBeyond the Things They Carried The Vietnam War began in 1954, consisting of many extensive, horrific years of battle that seemed to create more harm to the United States and its soldiers rather than to North Vietnam. The 500,000 United States military personnel returned home with the loss of the war and the loss of their friends on their minds. Although the physical and emotional experiences that the men went through is unfathomable, Tim O’Brien does a great job portraying what life as a soldierRead MoreWounds Endured in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien 704 Words   |  3 Pages Tim O’Brien brings the Vietnam War back to life in The Things They Carried (1990) and elucidates the wounds suffered by soldiers during and after the war. The three main characters in this novel that exemplify the physical, social, and emotional wounds are Tim O’Brien, Norman Bowker, and Mark Fossie. These men go through immense pain both during and after the war, which is not easy to heal . During the war, many soldiers get injured, incapacitated, and/or killed; thusRead More Tim OBriens The Things They Carried Essay735 Words   |  3 PagesTim OBriens The Things They Carried Culture teaches that men must dispense of ridiculous emotions and remain firm, following expected duties. O’Brien develops this theme of the transition from youth to manhood in his short story, â€Å"The Things They Carried.† Through the protagonist Jimmy Cross, metaphors of weight, and futile ideas of freedom, O’Brien reveals how society expects young men in transition to adulthood to let go of impractical idealism and dwell instead on the cruel reality of theRead MoreThe Things They Carried’ by Tim O’Brien Essay1233 Words   |  5 Pages‘The Things They Carried’ by Tim O’Brien provides a insider’s view of war and its distractions, both externally in dealing with combat and internally dealing with the reality of war and its effect on each solder. The story, while set in Vietnam, is as relevant today with the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as it was in the 1960’s and 1970’s in Southeast Asia. With over one million soldiers having completed anywhere from one to three tours in combat in the last 10 years, the real conflict mightRead MoreThe Struggle of Weight in Tim OBriens The Things They Carried1315 Words   |  6 Pagesof Weight in Tim OBriens The Things They Carried The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines the word weight as a mass or quantity of something taken up and carried, conveyed, or transported. Tim OBriens war story The Things They Carried, published in 1990, explores the theme of weight and its importance to men at war in considerable depth. The opening chapter of this book, which was originally written as a short story, is comprised of a collection of lists. OBrien details for hisRead More Necessity in The Things They Carried Essay2336 Words   |  10 PagesNecessity in The Things They Carried Necessity is a rather slippery concept in terms of definition. The notion of what an individual requires for his or her survival varies with the particular situation at any given time. These needs may intensify or become distorted as one finds himself in an increasingly dangerous situation, particularly a life-and-death one such as war. Such dire circumstances may provoke in an average person feelings of extreme vulnerability, and the desire to hold on