Summary Of Tim O 'Brien's Novel The Things They Carried'

Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried follows a platoon of soldiers in the vietnam war. The war reveals traits in the soldiers. O’Brien displays that war reveals traits such as boredom, fear, and bravery. War reveals boredom in people. O’Brien describes most of the Vietnam war during the interim of battles. Most of the time between battles provides little entertainment, O’Brien writes, “If you weren't humping, you were waiting. I remember the monotony.” (O’Brien 34). O’Brien displays contrast between battle and peace, this contrast bores soldiers during peace because they become used to the excitement of battle. The soldier’s perception of beauty in war also reveals boredom, O’Brien writes, “war is drudgery […] You admire the fluid symmetries of troops on the move, the harmonies of sound and shape and proportion […] You hate it, yes, but your eyes do not” (O’Brien 80). This displays boredom because the untraditional beauty the soldiers see results from drudgery and insipidness. Clearly war creates a sense of boredom. Tim O’Brien displays war fosters fear. O’Brien describes war as multi-faceted and includes fear, he writes, “War is hell, but that's

War reveals bravery through personal achievement, O’Brien writes, “He wished he could have explained some of this. How he had been braver than he ever thought possible, but how he had not been so brave as he wanted to be. The distinction was important.” ( O’Brien 153). . Tim O’Brien shows internal bravery when he deals with weakness, O’Brien writes, “[Azar] looked down at me with a mixture of contempt and pity. After a second he shook his head. "Man, I'll tell you something. You're a sorry, sorry case." I was trembling. I kept hugging myself, rocking, but I couldn't make it go away.” (O’Brien 216). Azar calls Tim weak for dealing with fear with tears, however this shows Tim’s real bravery because he deals with his problems openly. Clearly O’Brien displays that war reveals