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Symbols and metaphors in the story the things they carried
Symbolism of "The Things They Carried
Symbolism of "The Things They Carried
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The symbols in The Things They Carried range from a pair of stockings from a soldier's girlfriend to tranquilizers. Some of the soldiers carried many items while other soldiers only carried a few items. The soldiers carried items such as letters, photographs, pebbles, stockings, tranquilizers, and drugs.
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried many different items he received from the girl he loved while he was in Vietnam. Jimmy Cross carries a pebble that Martha sent him in a letter. Martha is the girl that Cross loves and writes to. Martha talks about how the pebble reminds her of Cross and decides to send it. The narrator says, "In the first week of April, before Ted Lavender died, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross received a good-luck charm from Martha. It was a simple pebble" (7). Martha knows that Cross needs something to hold on to for good-luck, so she decides to send him a pebble. Lieutenant Cross also carries
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Henry Dobbins carries the pantyhose for luck and as a comforter. The narrator says, "Henry Dobbins carried his girlfriend's pantyhose wrapped around his neck as a comforter" (9). The pantyhose makes Henry Dobbins feel safer when he is in battle. The narrator says, "The pantyhose, he said, had the properties of a good-luck charm" (111). Henry Dobbins thinks that the pantyhose is the reason why he does not get shot during battle. Henry Dobbins and everyone else thinks the pantyhose is good-luck. Dobbins gets caught in the open during a firefight and trips a bouncing betty but does not get injured which makes him and everyone else believe the pantyhose is good-luck. Also, Henry Dobbins says, "No sweat. The magic doesn't go away" (112). Henry Dobbins says this after his girlfriend breaks up with him. Dobbins believes that even though his girlfriend breaks up with him, the pantyhose will continue to give him good-luck during battle. Henry Dobbins carries his girlfriend's pantyhose with him for good-luck and a
Although their physical loads did not weigh the soldiers down, they definitely became their necessities. Certain physical burdens became items that helped them escape from the reality of being at war. Even though these men had things they had to carry, they elected to carry more. The items they carried were intended to illustrate aspects of their personality. All of them carried great loads of memories, fears, and desires. These abstract objects were an essential part of them and therefore could not be put down. They continued to carry these emotional burdens along with them throughout the war. And as Lieutenant Jimmy Cross came to realize, “It was very sad…the things men carried inside. The things men did or felt they had to
Lt. Jimmy Cross is extremely affected by Martha as his one time girlfriend; he is obsessed with even the thought of her.-- So obsessed with her, he even becomes distracted to the point an accident occurs for which he blames himself for the longest time. That Martha was a distracting factor shown through Tim’s observations of Lt. Cross. He loved her so much. On the march, through the hot days of early April, he carried the pebble in his mouth, turning it with his tongue, tasting sea salt and moisture. His mind wandered.
Regardless of the personal items each one takes, they all share 2 items in common: their boots and their helmets. Almost all of them also have pictures of them, but Jimmy Cross takes 2 very special ones. He has 2 pictures of the woman he loves, Martha. What these guys are truly carrying is some extreme emotional and physical troubles. Amongst his personal items, Jimmy Cross also takes with him navigation tools.
In particular, The Things They Carried depicts this consequence of war through the repetition of phrases such as “they carried” and “they would” to indicate the homogeneity among the soldiers when fighting as a collective. Additionally, it is important to note how prevalently longer sentences are incorporated within the text to suggest the plethora of items they carry in common for the war, as O’Brien elaborates, “They carried M-14s and CAR-15s and Swedish Ks and grease guns and captured AK-47s and Chi-Coms and RPGs…” (7). In this case O’Brien’s inclusion of “and” allows him to extend his sentences in order to convey how uniform the soldier’s identities have become due to the war, as they are now only responsible for carrying their necessary weapons and equipment. Another passage that suggests the soldiers’ uniformity is when O’Brien depicts their lifelessness while marching by claiming, “They marched for the sake of the march. They plodded along slowly, dumbly, leaning forward against the heat, unthinking, all blood and bone, simple grunts…but no volition, no will, because it was automatic,” (15).
The most interesting thing I found while reading this story is that even though the soldiers carried a ton of weight around with them, they insisted on carrying as much as possible to insist they were prepared for any given situation. Also, just as we are all different individuals, each soldier carried their own personal things that depended on their own habits and hobbies. Some examples of the necessities the soldiers had to carry with them include, “Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pockets knives, heat tabs, wrist-watches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C-rations, and two or three canteens of water (O’Brien 125). These were just some of the things these men had to carry with them just to undergo some of the conditions surrounding them. Besides those items I explained things like weapons and magazines made up most of the majority of the weight.
Throughout the chapter many of the soldiers like Ted Lavender, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, Dave Jensen and Henry Dobbins all carried items that reminded them of home and kept them from panicking during the war. For Ted Lavender, who was terrified of the war, carried about six to seven ounces of drugs. He also carried tranquilizers, which kept him calm through every mission they had to do. Lavender took a tranquilizer right before he went to the restroom, on the night h...
One of the clearest points in The Things They Carried is that of the importance of certain objects or feelings used by the soldiers of Alpha Company to survive the war. Jimmy Cross, the leader the group, carries a picture of a Martha, a girl who writes him from the states. Jimmy knows that there is no real relationship between the two, but he uses the picture the help keep him connected to the world he was forced to leave behind. He creates stories in his head about what will happen when he makes it back home, alive. The Bible carried by Kiowa was given to him by his father. When the book is mentioned, it is referring to the smell of the New Testament: the leather, glue, ink and paper. Kiowa carries the Bible as more of a remembrance then as a show of his faith. The stockings carried by Henry Dobbins came from his girlfriend. He carefully raps them around his neck each time the company moves out. Even after his girlfriend ends the relationship, Henry continues to wear the stockings because in his mind, their symbolism has not changed. All these items are psychological tools used by the soldiers to keep them connected to their homes and loved ones. The items are not important just because of who gave them to the soldiers, rather they are important because they seem like t...
Lieutenant Cross is a character who, until the death of a soldier, has been very loose and not taken the war seriously. He had let his soldiers throw away their supplies, take drugs, and sing happy songs in the middle of the serious war. He was only concerned with Martha; he dreamt about being with her, and he was delighted when he received letters from her. Tim O’Brien says, “Slowly, a bit distracted, he would get up and move among his men, checking the perimeter, then at full dark he would return to his hole and watch the night and wonder if Martha was a virgin.” (p. 2) This shows how all he cared about was Martha; he was not paying attention to his real life and his surroundings. He was basically living in a world of fantasy because they lived in two separate worlds. Being unable to wake up from this dream made him potentially weak because his mind was always wandering elsewhere, never in the current situation. This made him an easy target for his enemies because if this had gone on, then he would start to fear death, fear fighting, and fear the war. He would become a coward because he would wish for the day when he could be with Martha again after the war. This would greatly weaken him and his army both, and they would most likely lose to the enemy.
The pain that was felt on the body was created by all of the literal things that the soldiers carried. The most important of these physical objects were the numerous weapons, explosives and ammunition cartages that had to be carried at all times. Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs.and two or three canteens of water. Together, these items weighed between 12 and 18 pounds. They all carried steel helmets that weighed 5 pounds.
War severely affects people. In the novel, The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, the author depicts scenes from the tragic Vietnam War. O'Brien uses a massive cast of characters to describe the horror of this place. Rat Kiley, a character in the novel, carries two physical, symbolic things with him-a medical kit and comfort. Kiley carries these things for many reasons, and shows their purpose as symbols.
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross: Carries with him pictures and letters of Martha (the woman he is in love with). She is an English major, and her letters are full of poems. While Martha does not reciprocate his love, he reads her letter every night with such care. Marthe and her tokens he carries is the hope the hope he carries with him, its what gives him strength, and while he knows she does not love him, it still gives him something to look forward to, being able to see her again. It is this love that ultimately turns in to guilt, he feels that he was so focused on himself, his dreams for the future, that he was not present enough, was not able to hinder the death of his
What do you carry? What do you carry with you on your person? How about what you carry in your heart? Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carries with him more than just letters from his beautiful pen pal, Martha. He luges around the weight of the world, his men’s lives sit on his shoulders. Everything is up to Lieutenant Cross, yet he finds himself distracted and lusting over a woman who only signs love. The story "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien is an engaging read that encourages you to dig deeper and reevaluate what you are “carrying” around with you everyday and how if effects those around you.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest was an eye opener for the public about the mistreatment in hospitals. Symbolism played a crucial part in the novel but one recurring idea was the Christianity religion and how the character McMurphy “bears a crown of thorns” in biblical reference to Jesus Christ. Ken Kesey develops the idea of Christianity through the character of McMurphy and events.
In the “Things They Carried”, O’Brien characterizes the soldiers and conveys the emotional burden of war by the things the men carried with them. The emotional burden of leaving their belongings, friends and family at home was incredibly difficult for the soldiers so anything the soldiers brought from home was a good representation
Lt. Cross is the main character in the story and the author stressed to the reader that there is a war between personal life and war life. “He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war.” (The Things They Carried.42) Lt. Cross allowed for his emotional burden to also become his mental burden. Jimmy Cross loved a woman that was in his past and he held on to every memory that he could of her. This character also has his platoon li...