Courage and Cowardice in The Things They Carried by Tim...

Courage and Cowardice in The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien Through The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien moves beyond the horror of fighting in the Vietnam War to examine with sensitivity and insight the nature of courage and fear. Included, is a collection of interrelated stories. A few of the stories are brutal, while others are flawed, blurring the distinction between fact and fiction. All the stories, however, deal with one platoon. Some are about the wartime experiences of soldiers, and others are about a 43-year-old writer reminiscing about his platoon’s experiences. In the beginning chapter, O’Brien rambles about the items the soldiers carry into battle, ranging from can openers, pocketknives, and mosquito repellent o†¦show more content†¦Some of the soldiers were such cowards that they injured themselves just to be taken away in a helicopter and extracted from the war scene. The soldiers â€Å"spoke bitterly about guys who had found release by shooting off their own toes or fingers. Pussies, they’ d say. Candy-asses† (22). However, deep down inside, the soldiers who did all the mocking â€Å"imagined the quick, sweet pain, then the evacuation to Japan, then a hospital with warm beds and cute geisha nurses† (22). The soldiers even dreamt at night about freedom birds. The men were flying on a â€Å"real bird, a big sleek silver bird with feathers and talons and high screeching†¦ The weights fell off; there was nothing to bear† (22). The soldiers did not want to be at war, they imagined to themselves â€Å"It’s (the war) over, I’m gone!—they were naked, they were light and free† (22). Furthermore, O’Brien himself admits he went to war not out of courage, but out of embarrassment and cowardice. In the chapter â€Å"On The Rainy River,† O’Brien received a draft letter for the Vietnam War. He was in shock, â€Å"I was too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, to everything. It couldn’t happ en. I was above it. A mistake, maybe—a foul up in the paperwork. I was no soldier†¦ I remember the rage in my stomach. Later it burned down to a smoldering self-pity, then to numbness† (41-42). Obviously, O’Brien did not want to go to war. However, he wasShow MoreRelated Myth of Courage Exposed in The Things They Carried Essay2662 Words   |  11 Pagesstudents we are brainwashed by ancient myths such as The Iliad, where war is extolled and the valorous warrior praised. Yet, modern novels such as Tim OBriens The Things They Carried (THINGS) challenge those very notions. Like The Iliad, THINGS is about war. It is about battles and soldiers, victory and survival, yet the message OBrien gives us in THINGS runs almost contradictory to the traditional war story. Whereas traditional stories of war take place on battlefields where soldier battles soldierRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1377 Words   |  6 PagesTyler Nooney Trafford P.6 The Things They Carried Essay The central theme and true meaning of courage is shown vividly in numerous instances throughout Tim O’Brien’s classic novel The Things They Carried. O’Brien’s novel begins with the courage of coming of age, along with the author’s loss of his innocence. Tim, the protagonist of this novel, goes through an incredible change in belief when he must choose to either run away from the Vietnam War or unwillingly join the bloody battle, of which heRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien Essay832 Words   |  4 PagesSummary: â€Å"By and large they carried these things inside, maintaining the masks of composure† (21). In Tim O’brien’s The Things They Carried, the American soldiers of the Vietnam War carry much more than the weight of their equipment, much more than souvenirs or good-luck charms or letters from home. They carried within themselves the intransitive burdens—of fear, of cowardice, of love, of loneliness, of anger, of confusion. Most of all, they carry the truth of what happened to them in the war—aRead MoreCoping Methods in the Things They Carried Essay875 Words   |  4 Pagesdoes O’Brien use The Things They Carried to cope with the psychological impact of his experience in the war? In â€Å"The Things They Carried† Tim O’Brien uses this story as a coping mechanism; to tell part of his stories and others that are fiction from the Vietnamese War. This is shown by using a fictions character’s voice, deeper meaning in what soldier’s carried, motivation in decision making, telling a war story, becoming a new person and the outcome of a war in one person. Tim O’ BrienRead MoreConfusion in War1394 Words   |  6 Pagesown stories, one a true recollection of what actually happened and another, the fictional account he can tell when he returns home. The book is metafictional; it explores the process of writing a war story (Calloway 188). In Going After Cacciato Tim OBrien utilizes metafiction to examine the confusion of war. O’Brien’s narrative structure demonstrates the confusion of war. In no particular sequence, he explores three separate narratives, but only two of these narratives happen according to a logicalRead MoreTTTC2223 Words   |  9 Pagesï » ¿Kyla Cloud Paulson English 101 15 April 2015 They Carried Emotional Burdens In the novel, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien not only are there many cases of lost innocence but there are many other complications that come with it. The novel itself is stated to be a fiction novel, but in many examples it shows that Tim O’Brien himself had a personal connection to the stories told. This leaves us with the idea that just like his character, Tim O’Brien was using storytelling to combat his experiencesRead MoreReflections on Literature by Tim OBrien and Henry David Thoreau681 Words   |  3 Pagesindividuals. Tim OBrien, in his book, describes a number of personal events that he experienced as a result of his experiences in Vietnam. One of the most interesting assertions he makes is when he claims that because he went to war, he was a coward. (OBrien) He makes this claim because he was really opposed to the war but did not have the courage to stand up an announce his opposition. Instead he simply obeyed orders and sent to war. But he for gets that there is a difference between the courage to standRead MoreEssay on The Things They Carried Chapter Analysis1989 Words   |  8 PagesThe Things They Carried: Chapter 1 Significant Quote: â€Å"In the accompanying letter, Martha wrote that she had found the pebble on the Jersey shoreline, precisely where the land touched the water at high tide, where things came together but also separated.† (8) Speaker: Tim O’Brien Audience: The reader Significance: This symbolizes Martha and Jimmy’s feelings for each other. They are separated by the war, but together in their minds. Questions: 1. What prompted the separate-but-together thoughtRead More The Things They Carried - Themes Essay970 Words   |  4 Pagesnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;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. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Tim O’Brien is drafted one month after graduatingRead More Revelation through Experience in Heart of Darkness, Going After Cacciato, and The Things They Carri3247 Words   |  13 PagesRevelation through Experience in Heart of Darkness, Going After Cacciato, and The Things They Carried Foreign lands seemingly possessed by evil spirits as well as evil men, ammunition stockpiles, expendable extremities and splintered, non-expendable limbs carpeting the smoking husks of burnt-out villages, the intoxicating colors of burning napalm, and courage mixed with cowardice in the face of extreme peril. These are just a few examples of the spell-binding images presented in