The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien Prompt: Describe something you have read, something in your life, or something in the world that is similar to this. Make specific comparisons/connections. Taekwondo is for those who are audacious, enterprising, and intelligent. It is a sport that utilizes the subtle art of studying, probing, and finally attacking with a complex maneuver all aimed at the goal of undermining the opponent. Back then when I was a purple belt, I never really grappled the concept because I thought Tae-Kwon-Do was just another sport to play. However, a few belts later, a shocking event occurred and it changed my whole perspective about the it. I started shaping up, improving and eventually, I would go on to graduate as a black belt in the upper quartile. Similarly, characters from the book The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, faced events much like mine. The soldiers were unfocused and …show more content…
lazy until a traumatizing event happened. Even then, there is still many more stories from the book in which I can compare to my life. Therefore, I believe that my life is similar to the soldiers because of a reputation to uphold and the unfocused mind. Curt Lemon was a tough, respected, and decorated soldier with one flaw, he was scared of the dentist.
Then one day, when he had to go in for a routine inspection, he fainted before the dentist could touch him. That night, he faced the dentist and got him to pull out a tooth because he wanted to preserve his reputation from the embarrassment. Similarly, when I was a black belt, I was known for being quite the creative and subtle fighter. However, people with strengths in that subject, I had a weakness, a fatal flaw in exchange for an advantage in other terms. It was that I never wore a groin protector, shin guards and arm guards as it hinders movement. My opponent knew that, he took advantage of it, and I was there on the mat, in agony and embarrassed. The next few days, I sulked around watching him spar and the next time I fought him, I utilized my newfound knowledge of his weakness, his back was unprotected, and I mopped the floor with him. Like Curt, I held my reputation as my first priority, and when it was hurt, we both went great lengths to repair
it. Lt, Jimmy Cross was a respected officer leading a platoon deep into the jungles of Vietnam. He wasn’t serious about the war, he wasn’t focused on the fighting (more focused on Martha, his crush, and what he would do after the war) and it cost him greatly. One day out on patrol, he led his men into an obvious trap that eventually led to the shooting of his crony Ted Lavender. After the traumatizing incident of his friend’s blood splattering over him, he changed. He burnt any memories of Martha, started enforcing patrol discipline, and became more alert. Similarly, when I was a purple belt, I was unfocused and thinking about unrelated topics. Then one test, it cost me greatly as I almost failed the test. I started shaping up, going to more practices, becoming more focused and the next test I took, I passed with high marks. After all, me and Lt Cross aren’t that different, we both slacked, we both suffered for it, and we both improved in the end. In conclusion, I believe that my life is similar to the soldiers because of a reputation to uphold and the unfocused mind. Like Curt Lemon, I went great lengths to restore my reputation when I was embarrassed. Like Lt. Jimmy Cross, I had an unfocused mind until a shocking event happened which led to great improvement. In the end, regardless of any obstacles or failures, we all benefited from it and it has led us to what we are today, a decorated vet, and a black belt.
In the short story, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, each soldier carries many items during times of war and strife, but each necessity differs. This short story depicts what each soldier carries mentally, physically, and emotionally on his shoulders as long, fatiguing weeks wain on during the Vietnam War. The author Tim O’Brien is a Vietnam War veteran, an author, the narrator, and a teacher. The main character, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a Vietnam War soldier who is away at war fighting a mind battle about a woman he left behind in New Jersey because he is sick with love while trying to fulfill his duties as a soldier to keep America free. Tim O’Brien depicts in “The Things They Carried” a troubled man who also shoulders the
The point of stories it to tell a tale and inflict certain emotions onto the reader. Tim O’Brien uses this in his novel The Things They Carried. These stories were fictional but true, regaling his experiences of war. In the last chapter he writes that stories have the ability to save people. He does not mean “save” in a biblical sense, but as if a person saved the progress on a game they have been playing.
As the cessation of the century approached, Rhee had accomplished more than he had ever hoped, garnering awards and apperceptions virtually too numerous to count. He had been denominated one of President George Bush’s Daily Points of Light. His ebony belt students included not only Members of Congress, but eminent figures like Tony Robbins, Jack Valenti, and Jack Anderson. He had appeared on the cover of Parade magazine with Cheryl Tiegs. And he had been designated by Ebony Belt magazine as one of the top two living martial artists of the 20th Century.
The things they carried, by Tim O'Brien. "Oh man, you fuckin' trashed the fucker. You scrambled his sorry self, look at that, you did, you laid him out like fuckin' Shredded Wheat." I chose to start off my essay with this particular extract from the book because I think that it very much represents the story in itself. Azar said this, after Tim (supposedly) killed a Vietnamese soldier with a hand grenade. It shows that in times of war, how callous men can become. However, callousness varies, whether they choose to be apathetic, like Tim shows us after his grenade episode.
The Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger once said “Perjor est bello timor ipse belli”, which translates to: “the dread of war is worse than war itself”. With this quote, Seneca identifies that war has both its physical and mental tolls on its participants. The psychological and emotional scars of war do much more damage to a solider than the actual physical battles. Tim O’ Brien repeats this idea many years later in his novel “The Things They Carried”, by describing how emotional burdens outweigh the physical loads that those in war must endure. What keeps them alive is the hope that they may one day return home to their loved ones. Yet, the weight of these intangible “items” such as “grief, terror, love, longing” overshadow the physical load they must endure since they are not easily cast away.
Storytelling is one of the major themes in the book “The Things They Carried”, and is conveyed several times throughout most of the novel. The author, Tim O’Brien, uses the theme storytelling to convey his experience in VIetnam during the war. Another reason is to show what his soldiers had felt during the war, and what they experienced from their perspective. He uses many factors to convey this theme like how it has to be embarrassing and has no moral, story truth and happening truth, and he includes the stories of others. These really contribute to the theme of storytelling and why it is such a major theme for Tim O’Brien.
In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien the author tells about his experiences in the Vietnam war by telling various war stories. The quote, "It has been said of war that it is a world where the past has a strong grip on the present, where machines seemed sometimes to have more will power than me, where nice boys (girls) were attracted to them, where bodies ruptured and burned and stand, where the evil thing trying to kill you could look disconnecting human and where except in your imagination it was impossible to be heroic." relates to each of his stories.
How can one tell if something is true or not? How can one tell if what you hear or read is pure fiction or reality? These are questions I often asked myself when I read “The Things they Carried” by Tim O’Brien. You begin to ask these questions throughout the book, but begin to realize that these types of questions don't matter. What matters is the deeper meaning that the author is trying to convey. O’Brien often describes this as “accurate representation,” he does this throughout his book within his portrayals of each individual story or character. What I mean by this is that the author gives a truthful story of what happened, he may add a few extra details, but at the end it is the truth in the way he perceives it and the way he wants his
The impact of the Vietnam War upon the soldiers who fought there was huge. The experience forever changed how they would think and act for the rest of their lives. One of the main reasons for this was there was little to no understanding by the soldiers as to why they were fighting this war. They felt they were killing innocent people, farmers, poor hard working people, women, and children were among their victims. Many of the returning soldiers could not fall back in to their old life styles. First they felt guilt for surviving many of their brothers in arms. Second they were haunted by the atrocities of war. Some soldiers could not go back to the mental state of peacetime. Then there were soldiers Tim O’Brien meant while in the war that he wrote the book “The Things They Carried,” that showed how important the role of story telling was to soldiers. The role of stories was important because it gave them an outlet and that outlet was needed both inside and outside the war in order to keep their metal state in check.
In Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, numerous themes are illustrated by the author. Through the portrayal of a number of characters, Tim O’Brien suggests that to adapt to Vietnam is not always more difficult than to revert back to the lives they once knew. Correspondingly the theme of change is omnipresent throughout the novel, specifically in the depiction of numerous characters.
The workout portion was after all, the most strenuous part. The other forms and kicking combination portion was elementary memorization. Two months into training, I was extremely anxious regarding whether I would be ready for Black Belt test in time. But with Mister Alex's words of assurance I stayed headstrong and determined to pass the test. After working hard with Mister Alex as well as on my own at home for the minimum six months, Mister Alex said I was "definitely ready to take and pass the Black Belt test." When Mister Alex told me this I felt nervous about the veracity of his words. I had been in training for the minimum 6 months only. The average training period at my karate institution was actually 8 months. I felt under prepared for the test, but I was only kidding myself by undermining my
Going to class everyday without fail, reviewing and completely perfecting the five years of curriculum I had so carefully worked through, to the point where everything was completely automatic, and preparing for the fifty push-up requirement, were not enough. The black-belt test requires creativity through my creation of a personal kata and a self-defense to every attack I had learned. Beyond this, physical endurance and stamina are required in order to spar for ten minutes straight at the end of the four hour test, with a fresh opponent every minute. The black-belt test was the most physically grueling challenge I had ever faced and was much more mentally exhausting than any academic
When the United States entered the First World War, the government took over all radio operations and shut down both professional and amateur radio broadcasters. The use of radio was reserved exclusively for the war effort. In the air, radio was used for the first time between multiple planes and the ground to keep formations and lead the pilots to their targets. This was the beginning of air traffic control and walkie-talkies. In addition, soldiers who had been wounded were entertained in the hospital by news and music played over the radio. Although radio was not allowed back into public until 1919, it continued to be used by troops coming home to entertain each other and was even used for dances. All of radio’s uses from the war soon became prevalent in everyday life and radio has been used in these ways ever since. Our lives are filled with constant sound most of it coming from the radio being on all the time; whether in the car or at home, music, news, weather, and traffic are provided through radio. There is a station for everyone. Moreover, when we travel by plane, airports would be chaotic and have no way to tell who is taking off and landing if not for radio use to control the traffic and make everything run smoothly. Many jobs also have much use of radio needed to communicate with other workers in careers such as law enforcement and trucking.
War defines what type of person someone is. The Things They Carried specifically uses the objects that people carry to explain their personalities. Kiowa carries with him “an illustrated New Testament” as a symbol of his religious beliefs; Ted Lavender carries tranquilizers and “six or seven ounces of premium dope” to help calm himself in times of distress (4). As the story progresses, the objects that people like Kiowa and Lavender carry come to define their characters, both to the readers and to the soldiers within the story. Because of the war, soldiers do not care about each other’s personalities, they only know about the personal objects that they carry with them. Soldiers are not only defined by the physical objects they carry; they
As I prepared for the last match, I could tell my partner lost hope in me from his glances that read “what a beginner”, so I had low expectations from him. However, that did not stop me, I had this lingering eagerness barely hanging on to me. So as we got to our rebuttal speeches, I pulled out my wild card. I loudly spat out my inner thoughts with anger on behalf of the topic, my partner's jaw dropped and everyone's pupils dilated as they watched silently to what I had to say. I remember the feeling of fulfillment I had when I sat down with a twisted smirk on my