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Symbolism of "The Things They Carried
Symbolism of "The Things They Carried
Deep meaning of the things carried by tim o'brien
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“I wasn’t afraid”(Page 135) as Paul Berlin; a soldier in the Vietnam war, keeps on saying to himself over and over again. Paul Berlin is drafted into the American Army to fight in the Vietnam War against Vietnamese communist, which then leads him to realize how brutal and violent a war could be.
After being in the war for the first day and having to witness death of a person and holding a fully loaded gun for the first time in his life, Paul Berlin was overwhelmed with fear and anxiety. Paul Berlin never wanted to take away a person’s life, but he was forced into joining the American army but Paul has to try to overcome fear and fight through the challenges that are lying ahead of him. Through the story
“Where have you gone Charming Billy”, Paul Berlin is a coward but at the same time being ambitious and tries to complete his duties.
In the eyes of his fellow soldiers, it is hard for them to believe that Paul Berlin is a coward, a soldier who is afraid of war and death, but Paul tries to hide his feelings and fear deep inside. Paul has to walk very much in the war, every s...
The Vietnam War was a controversial conflict that plagued the United States for many years. The loss of life caused by the war was devastating. For those who came back alive, their lives were profoundly changed. The impact the war had on servicemen would affect them for the rest of their lives; each soldier may have only played one small part in the war, but the war played a huge part in their lives. They went in feeling one way, and came home feeling completely different. In the book Vietnam Perkasie, W.D. Ehrhart describes his change from a proud young American Marine to a man filled with immense confusion, anger, and guilt over the atrocities he witnessed and participated in during the war.
This idea and the drafted make decide to run away from his responsibility and from his society. However, the feeling of shame embarrassed and bring crowed in the eyes of his family and friends make him go to war.
about the war and his lack of place in his old society. The war becomes
In the book “The Things They Carried” four female characters played an important role in the lives of the men. Whether imaginary or not, they showed the power that women could have over men. Though it's unknown if the stories of these women are true or not, they still make an impact on the lives of the soldiers and the main narrator.
For the most part, Paul at least outwardly appears to have adopted the war mindset. His actions are very much those of the typical soldier. For example, Paul, like all the other soldiers, will do anything he can for food. He is well accustomed to relieving himself out of doors: "Here in the open air though, the business is entirely a pleasure. I no longer understand why we should always have shied at these things before. They are, in fact, just as natural as eating and drinking" (8). Most of all, he values his survival above social customs: "We have lost all sense of other considerations, because they are artificial. Only the facts are real and important for us. And good boots are scarce" (21). For Paul, as for most soldiers, the rules of normal, polite society simply do not apply at the front. In the time between Paul's volunteering for the war and the beginning of the book, he has changed. For all the physical evidence, he is a common foot soldier.
I wonder what it was like to witness the Vietnam War firsthand in combat. Well, in the short story, “The Things they Carried,” by Tim O’Brien, the theme was portrayed as the physical and emotional burdens that soldiers had to deal with during the Vietnam War.
War can destroy a young man mentally and physically. One might say that nothing good comes out of war, but in Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, there is one positive characteristic: comradeship. Paul and his friends give Himmelstoss a beating in which he deserves due to his training tactics. This starts the brotherhood of this tiny group. As explosions and gunfire sound off a young recruit in his first battle is gun-shy and seeks reassurance in Paul's chest and arms, and Paul gently tells him that he will get used to it. The relationship between Paul and Kat is only found during war, in which nothing can break them apart. The comradeship between soldiers at war is what keeps them alive, that being the only good quality to come out of war.
The novel “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’ Brien takes place in the Vietnam War. The protagonist, Lieutenant Cross, is a soldier who is madly in love with a college student named Martha. He carries around photos and letters from her. However, the first few chapters illustrate how this profound love makes him weak in the war.
a Vietnamese man in a hut he was supposed to check out, and from this point on he does a lot of thinking about why he is fighting in the war. From experiences like this Perry changes both
In All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul is morphed from an innocent child into a war veteran who has a new look on society. Paul used to have a carefree life where he was able to be a kid, but when he enlisted into the army it all changed. Paul became a person whose beliefs were changed because of the war. Paul doesn't believe in society anymore especially parents, elders, and school, which used to play a big part in his life. He changed his beliefs because society does not really understand how bad war really is and pushed many young men, who were not ready, into the army. Paul connects with his fellow soldiers because they are going through the same situation and feel the same emotions. Paul's beliefs were changed by the lies that were told to him.
The narrative of Paul Berlin’s made up scenario represents his struggle with following Cacciato or staying to do his duty. At one point in the imaginary journey to Paris, “Paul Berlin’s motives, as shapeless as water, washed through his imagination: a briny, sodden pressure that weighted him like gravity, layers of inclination pressing him deeper and deeper. His brain had the bends. Things were out of control. Gone haywire. You could run, but you couldn’t outrun the consequences of running” (O’Brien 226). The simile comparing his motives to water shows that while Berlin realizes that there is a lack of purpose in the war, he has not yet accepted the lack of purpose as Cacciato did. By comparing Berlin’s internal conflict to “the bends,” O’Brien shows the high level of moral ambiguity that the war brings: Berlin is unable to decide what is right. However, by the end of the novel, Paul Berlin comes to a conclusion. In an imagined scenario with Sarkin Aung Wan, Berlin says, “More than any positive sense of obligation, I confess that what dominates is the dread of abandoning all that I hold dear. I am afraid of running away. I am afraid of exile. I fear what might be thought of me by those I love. I fear the loss of their respect. I fear the loss of my own reputation” (O’Brien 320). The anaphora – “I am afraid” and “I fear” – highlights Berlin’s desire to maintain honor. This view differs drastically from that of Cacciato, as Berlin chooses to hold onto honor in the place of a purpose, while Cacciato accepts a lack of purpose and leaves. Thus, O’Brien shows how in war, the only reason for fighting is for reputation, for honor. When Berlin reflects on his imagined journey, he says “with courage it might have been
Tim O’Brien wrote the novel The Things They Carried in 1990, twenty years after the war in Vietnam.In the novel,Obrien takes us through the life of many soliders by telling stories that do not go in chronical order. In doing so we get to see the physical and mental things the soldiers carry throughout the war in Vietnam.Yet the novel is more than just a description of a particular war. In the things they carried Tim O’Brien develops the characters in the book slowly, to show the gradual effect war has on a person. O’Brien shows this by exploring the life of Henry Dobbins, and Norman Bowker.
People who have actually been through war know how horrible it is. Society on the other hand, while it believes it knows the horrors of war, can never understand or sympathize with a soldier’s situation. The only people who can understand war is those who have been through it so they can often feel alone if they are out of the military. Paul cannot even give a straight answer to his own father about his dad’s inquiries about war. Paul’s dad does not understand that people who have been in the war can in no way truly express the horrible things that that have seen and experienced. Nor can Paul fit in with the society who does not understand him. Paul and so many others were brought into the war so young that they know of nothing else other than war. Paul held these views on society as he said, “We will be superfluous even to ourselves, we will grow older, a few will adapt themselves, some others will merely submit, and most will be bewildered;-the years will pass by and in the end we shall fall in to ruin.
After entering the war in young adulthood, the soldiers lost their innocence. Paul’s generation is called the Lost Generation because they have lost their childhood while in the war. When Paul visits home on leave he realizes that he will never be the same person who enlisted in the army. His pre-war life contains a boy who is now dead to him. While home on leave Paul says “I used to live in this room before I was a soldier” (170).
The author's main theme centers not only on the loss of innocence experienced by Paul and his comrades, but the loss of an entire generation to the war. Paul may be a German, but he may just as easily be French, English, or American. The soldiers of all nations watched their co...