A Cultural Studies Approach to "Enemies" in The Things They Carried
Two men who fight over a jackknife in "Enemies", a chapter in Tim O'Brien's work, The Things They Carried. A cultural studies approach to "Enemies" allows the reader to look much deeper into the meaning of the events that unfold in "Enemies". The fight over the knife could very well reflect the events occurring in society during that time.
In short, "Enemies" is about two men, Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen, who are battling not only in a war but with each other. They were viciously fighting about a missing jackknife. A question that the reader might ask themselves is, why were they fighting over a jackknife? Did it have some special sentimental meaning? These questions cannot be answered; they can only be left to wonder.
Vietnam was a very mentally and physically strenuous war to fight. At any given point any soldier could snap. That is exactly what happen...
First, the customers are compared to sheep which further pushes the message of Sammy’s boring life. Sammy reinforces this when he describes the customers, “All this while, the customers had been showing up with their carts but, you know, sheep, seeing a scene, they had all bunched up on Stokesie, who shook open a paper bag as gently as peeling a peach, not wanting to miss a word.” This quote compares the monotonous customers to sheep who are gawking at what’s going on but not commenting on anything. Second, the clothing symbolizes the difference between dull, the customers, and fresh, the girls. The typical A&P customer is “A few house-slaves in pin curlers” and dressed in “baggy gray pants,” while the girl have a “good tan” and “long white prima donna legs.” The girls not only appeal to Sammy’s male hormones but also to his yearning for something
Sammy's thoughts, as told to the reader in his narration, betray a deep understanding of the people he comes in contact with. When the girls walked into the store, he began to describe not only their looks, but also their attitudes and personalities without ever speaking to them. The one who held his attention was also the one he named "Queenie". On page one he says, She was the queen. She kind of led them, the other two peeking around and making their shoulders round. Sammy understood that she was the one in charge, and by saying that the other two made their shoulders round he showed that he realized their passivity was by choice; they followed her by their own wills.
Another unique aspect to this book is the constant change in point of view. This change in point of view emphasizes the disorder associated with war. At some points during the book, it is a first person point of view, and at other times it changes to an outside third person point of view. In the first chapter of the book, “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien writes, “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity (2).
Sammy sets the scene of a sunny, summer beach day in which three young girls dressed in nothing but bathing suits enter the store to buy some snacks for their day in the sand. Sammy is deeply intrigued by the girls and watches every move they make while ringing in other customers at the store. The girls parade through the isles as if they are putting on a show, just for Sammy. This is Sammy’s first live “girlie show” and he doesn't want to miss one single detail. Sammy expresses his excitement and fondness of one particular girl as he conveys the details of the one scene:
Most of the soldiers did not know what the overall purpose was of fighting the Vietnamese (Tessein). The young men “carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place” (O’Brien 21). The soldiers did not go to war for glory or honor, but simply to avoid the “blush of dishonor” (21). In fact, O’Brien states “It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather, they were to...
Simone de Beauvoir was born January 9, 1908. She was the first child of a white middle class Catholic family living in Paris; and her birth order was one of the key facilitator s of her early intellectual growth. She was followed by one sister; and given this position in the family, de Beauvoir was treated as a honorary son. Thus, during her early childhood she received much of the privileged attention normally reserved for males, which led to the keen development of de Beauvoir's intellectual capabilities. She once wrote, "Papa used to say with pride: Simone has a man's brain; she thinks like a man: she is man" (Okely 23). Hence, the absence of a brother in her life provided the foundation for the nourishing of he...
The soldiers that fought in the Vietnam War had to endure many incredibly horrifying experiences. It was these events that led to great human emotions. It was those feelings that were the things they carried. Everything they carried affected them, whether it was physical or mental. Everything they carry could in one way or another cause them to emotionally or physically break down.
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.
It has been debated by varying scholars as to whether Caesar Augustus’ foreign policy to expand Rome’s empire had more to do with defensive imperialism as a response to encroaching threats, or rather, an aggressively, unprovoked move to claim hegemony over the known world. However, I would like to postulate in support of the former theory that in an attempt to restore and ensure long-lasting security to their empire, Augustus was forced to take proactive measures in order to preserve it. With territorial boundaries normally running along the rivers so as to provide a better defensive posture, he felt it necessary to expand the northern border to the river so as to secure their autonomy and position. Perhaps if he could establish a wide buffer
Geoffrey Canada’s characters in Fist Stick Knife Gun use violence to increase their status and honor, and to make themselves stand out from the rest of their group as being more powerful. Canada’s violence is necessary to his characters as it is their only way to distinguish different people’s power. Canada’s characters also use violence to save their lives, as the adults in their life cannot protect the children. Canada writes: “status was a major issue for boys on the block” (Canada 18), a very blunt yet compelling statement that describes the importance of “status” for the boys on the block. “On the block,” respect and power means everything, as social order is decided by these qualities. Canada argues that in the South Bronx this “status” and social order could only be decided ...
In Vietnam, friendly fire was common. The United States soldiers often shot innocent civilians. When the U.S viewed the brutality of the war and the torture of countless Vietnamese citizens through journalism, the President knew the public’s reaction was to such a point that he would never get re-elected, therefore he didn’t run, and his party lost the election.
In this inquiry the relationship between force and mass was studied. This inquiry presents a question: when mass is increased is the force required to move it at a constant velocity increased, and how large will the increase be? It is obvious that more massive objects takes more force to move but the increase will be either linear or exponential. To hypothesize this point drawing from empirical data is necessary. When pulling an object on the ground it is discovered that to drag a four-kilogram object is not four times harder than dragging a two-kilogram object. I hypothesize that increasing the mass will increase the force needed to move the mass at a constant rate, these increases will have a liner relationship.
Ernest Hemingway is known as one of the best writers of our time. He has a unique writing style in which he manipulates the English language to use the minimum amount of words and maximize the impression on the reader. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place is a prime example of this. Here, Ernest Hemingway uses his writing style to reinforce the theme of “Nada”. The setting is simple, the characters are plain, and the dialogues among them are short and to the point. It is with the absence of similes and metaphors that the reader is able to appreciate the work for what it is.
Mathematically, Hooke’s law states that F equals the displacement or extension length multiplies a constant k, or F = k∆l. F is the force in the spring which migh...
As we got further and further into the Vietnam War, few lives were untouched by grief, anger and fear. The Vietnamese suffered the worst hardship; children lay dead in the street, villages remained nothing but charred ashes, and bombs destroyed thousands of innocent civilians. Soldiers were scarred emotionally as well as physically, as