Essay, Research Paper
It was necessary and crucial to for The Things They Carried to be written anachronistically and in short story form to convey the messages and themes of the novel. Tim O Brien would not have succeeded in communicating his points to the reader if the novel was written as one long chronological story. There are three main themes that emerge from The Things They Carried; story truth vs. happening truth, the fact that one can make deceased people come alive through stories, and that the war corrupted people and made them lose their innocence. The Things They Carried is a collection of related short stories about the Vietnam War.
One of the themes that permeates the book is the theme of story truth vs. happening truth. O Brien believes that in order to make the reader feel what was going on in the war, or the happening truth, it is necessary to create a story and exaggerate a little. These stories are called the story-truths. Throughout the novel, O Brien interjects and explicitly tells the reader that the story he is telling is not completely true, rather, it s a story truth. In the chapter entitled Good Form, O Brien states that almost everything he writes is invented. Earlier in the novel, in the chapter entitled How to Tell a True War Story, O Brien also implies that his stories are not true. The short story format allows O Brien to interject and tell the reader not to believe what he is saying. However, if the book were written chronologically and in the form of one long story, O Brien would have had to awkwardly insert passages about story truth vs. happening truth in the middle of the story. Those passages would have seemed out of place because the story would have had a certain flow to it. However, by writing anachronistically and in using short stories, O Brien allows himself to insert chapters about story truth vs. happening truth without disrupting the flow of the book- because there is no real order to the novel.
Additionally, O Brien presents a theme of making dead people come alive through stories. He goes about doing this by interposing the death of a girl he loved, Linda, when he was 9, to the deaths he experienced in Vietnam about ten years later. O Brien brilliantly relates this theme in the last chapter, entitled The Lives of The Dead. This chapter consists entirely of O Brien switching off between describing Linda s death and the deaths at Vietnam- an obvious way of relating the theme. If the book had been written chronologically and in the form of a long story, the death of Linda would have come first and the deaths at Vietnam would have come later. The way O Brien clearly relates his theme in the last chapter would not have been possible.
Similarly, the theme that war corrupted people would not have been so striking if the novel had been written in a different format. O Brien plainly showed the truth of how war corrupted people in the chapter entitled Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong. In that chapter, the reader is introduced to a character named Mary Anne who changes from a carefree, innocent teenager into a woman who loves going out on all-night ambushes. The short length of the story allows the reader to focus on its tragic end. Other stories, such as the story of Norman Bowker, also portray how war mentally ruined the lives of many. The focus of these stories was on the outcome of the war. However, if the story had been written chronologically and in the form of one long story, the focus would have been on the war itself rather than on the outcome. The novel also would not have focused on as many radically different people if it had been written as one long story. Because the novel was written the way it was- as a collection of short stories- the reader is explicitly shown how the war effected many different types of people.
Since O Brien wanted to relate all the above mentioned themes in the most lucid manner possible, he chose to write The Things They Carried as a collection of short stories. This allowed him to interject with comments about story truth vs. happening truth without disrupting the flow of the book. It also allowed him to bring different examples of how war mentally ruined many lives. Because the novel was not written in chronological order, O Brien was able to vacillate between the death of Linda early in his life and the deaths at Vietnam. If O Brien had written the novel as a typical fiction story, the themes he wanted to communicate to the reader would not have been as obvious and as easy to figure out. It was crucial that O Brien wrote The Things They Carried anachronistically and in short story form.
Другие работы по теме:
Структура цикл
Лабораторная работа №3 Структура цикл. Двигаясь равноускоренно с ускорением aпоезд достигает скорости Vt=60 км/ч. За какое время эта скорость достигнута и какой путь пройден за это время ?
Dr Dolittle Essay Research Paper The Adventures
Dr. Dolittle Essay, Research Paper The Adventures of Doctor Dolittle The book I read was The Adventures of Dr. Dolittle. The author has an excellent writing style and the book is laid out in an easy to read format.
Comparison On
“Watership Down” And “From Hutch To House Pets….” Essay, Research Paper Not every author has the same opinion on certain creatures’ status as living things. The extract from “Watership Down” by Richard Adams and the article “From Hutch to House Pets A Rabbit is the Perfect Companion, Even Inside the Home” by Susan Clark are written from a different format of text and therefore have different persuading technique on rabbits as subject matter.
Strength To Forget Essay Research Paper Courage
Strength To Forget Essay, Research Paper Courage means a lot of things. Sometimes courage is the will to fight and overcome; sometimes it is the foresight to run away. And maybe, when the past obscures the present like the shadow of a ghost, courage is the strength to forget. In his compilation of short fiction, The Things They Carried, Tim O?Brien uses the Vietnam War, a shadow of his own past, to illustrate courage in many ways.
Music Everywhere Essay Research Paper The rhythm
Music Everywhere Essay, Research Paper The rhythm flows through one s head. It can be viewed many ways, but effects everyone differently. This naturally occurring and man made miracle can t be summed up in just one short essay. Yet many have and will continue to try. It s carried across millions of airwaves everyday.
Things As Related To Stuff Essay Research
Paper There is a highly distinguishable difference between things and stuff per se. In this essay I will help the reader become proficient in identifying what may fall under the classification of things and what is
Things They Carried Essay Research Paper In
Things They Carried Essay, Research Paper In the story ?Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong? in The Things they Carried by Tim O? Brian Mary Ann Bell goes from one end of the spectrum to the other.
Poem I Think About You Essay Research
Paper Sometimes when I think about how things could have been I can’t help but think about that day The way you looked so different, so sad When I think about it I want to die
Mp3 Vs Md Essay Research Paper MD
Mp3 Vs Md Essay, Research Paper MD vs MP3 The day is almost here. It’s not the second coming. Its not the day Linux outsells Windows. Nor is it the day when we all own flying cars and our shoes tie themselves. It’s the day the CD dies. By using digital recording techniques, recorded music could sound as true as the original, and any part of a recording could be accessed instantly.
History Of Vrml Essay Research Paper HistoryVRML
History Of Vrml Essay, Research Paper History VRML was conceived in the spring of 1994 at the first annual World Wide Web Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Tim Berners-Lee and Dave Raggett organized a Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) session to discuss Virtual Reality interfaces to the World Wide Web. Several BOF attendees described projects already underway to build three dimensional graphical visualization tools which inter-operate with the Web.
Mp3 Audio Essay Research Paper What is
Mp3 Audio Essay, Research Paper What is the hottest buzzword around the Internet today? What topic has replaced sex as the most searched for term on the web? The answer to both of these questions is MP3 audio.
The Things They Carried Essay Research Paper 2
?The Things They Carried? Essay, Research Paper Nickolas Kreger Kreger 1 Mr. Wakoson English II 21 September 2000 ATTENTION TO DETAIL “The things they carried,” is a fictional story of a group of soldiers in the Vietnam War. The story is so realistic that one might forget that it is fiction.
American Dream Of The Soldiers Of The
Vietnam War Essay, Research Paper ?When we first got here–all of us–we were real young and innocent, full of romantic bullshit, but we learned pretty damn quick.? This quote was extracted from the
USTDA Essay Research Paper After going to
USTDA Essay, Research Paper After going to the Tradeport website, I have decided to do my paper on a US federal government agency. I explored a few of the agencies and decided to choose the US Trade and Development Agency.
State Of The Union Essay Research Paper
Bill Clinton says that the government must shape a 21st century revolution. He carried on in his last state of the union address making all kinds of proposals ranging from healthcare, fighting crime and education to name a few. He says they must focus on the middle class, proposing a 350 billion dollar tax cut.
To Kill A Mockingbird An Episodic Novel
Essay, Research Paper An Episodic Novel Harper Lee?s, To Kill A Mockingbird is clearly a bildungs roman. Bildungs roman is defined as, the development of the protagonist?s mind and character, as the character passes through childhood into adulthood. Harper Lee enriches and builds her novel by using an episodic format.
Comparing USA Today The Hardcopy And Online
Versions. Essay, Research Paper The two formats of USA Today are similar and yet very different. The online format gets updated regularly during the day and the fron page articles for the following day are posted in the evening. So if you want to, you can find out what’s going to be in the paper. Now, of course current events that are sent to the presses right before the run are not updated ahead of time.
Poetry Essay Research Paper This poem was
Poetry Essay, Research Paper This poem was very hard to make an argument for to tell what it means. The poem deals with the idea of depression, hurt, weighted choices, and death. It is the most uplifting of poems, but I don t think Emily Dickinson was trying to make it that way. She uses the idea of winter to represent darkness, the comparison of the weight of a choice the heft of Cathedral tunes.
Noah Claypole Essay Research Paper The Characterization
Noah Claypole Essay, Research Paper The Characterization of Noah Claypole The process of characterization is that which every author uses to make, build, or create a character. In Oliver Twist, the characterization of Noah Claypole, is carried out in three ways: the author has the character say things that tell the reader what sort of a person he is, do things that reveal his personality, and the author also has the storyteller describe Noah to expose things concerning his nature.
Read Your Way Round Spain Essay Research
Paper Read your way round Spain The Rough Guide to Spain This updated tenth edition has had a complete makeover with a glossy new colour introduction that gives you a flavour of the country’s highlights. Soon all Rough Guides will have this new format, which lists 44 things not to miss. From paella to Picasso, Seville’s Feria de Avril to Spanish league football, and the Guggenheim to Goya, this taster is sure to whet the appetite.
The Concept And Antilogy Of Necessity In
The Things They Carried Essay, Research Paper The Concept and Antilogy of Necessity in The Things They Carried The Things They Carried by Tim O Brien, a medley of short stories tied together by a common theme, examines the many facets of necessity and poses a question of just how valuable the things we hold to be necessities really are.
Why Tim O
’brien Lies Essay, Research Paper Why Tim O Brien Lies All of us are guilty of lying at one time or another. Whether it was a little white lie like whether the toothfairy is real or not, or if it was something significant, such as if you committed a serious crime, we have all done it. Lying is definitely a part of society, and no one really likes it or appreciates it.
The Things They Carried By Tim O
’Brien Essay, Research Paper What did they carry? Was it just their standard issued gear? Was it relics from ?the world?? Or was it something more sinister? Tim O?Brien explores these
Technological Advances In World War 2 Essay
, Research Paper New advances in technology changed warfare in WW2. The change in technology since WW1 has produced such things as Atom Bomb, and new and improved sea and air warfare. New techniques had to be used because of technology, techniques such as ?mouseholing?. More people were killed because of technology, as more people died in WW2 than WW1.The technological advances in WW2 changed the battlefield completely as more deadly auxiliary was introduced.
Nothing Essay Research Paper An ecommerce solution
Nothing Essay, Research Paper An e-commerce solution for a business is the incorporation of all aspects of the business operation into an electronic format. Many well-established businesses have been selling on-line for years. For example, Dell Computers Corp., has been selling computers directly to end-users for years.
What Are Mp3 Files Essay Research Paper
WHAT ARE MP3S ? A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE UNAWARE OF ALL THE RESOURSES THE INTERNET OFFERS. MP3S ARE MUSIC FILES OF NEAR CD QUALITY THAT COULD BE FOUND PLENTIFLY AND EASILY ALL OVER THE NET. THESE FILES ARE LEGAL ONLY IF USED IN THE CORRECT MANNER. A NORMAL SONG IN WAV. FORMAT IS ABOUT 30-50 MEGABYTES IN SPACE, THE SAME SONG IN MPEG FORMAT IS ABOUT A TENTH THAT SIZE 3-5 MEGABYTES, MUCH SMALLER, THUS EASILY UPLOADED AND DOWNLOADED.
The Things They Carried Possessions Of Character
Essay, Research Paper The Things They Carried: Possessions of Character “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien, contains many references to “possessions of character.” Many things Lt. Cross carries were carried by all,
The Things They Carried 2 Essay Research
Paper In Tim O Brien s The Things They Carried detailed description and realism were used to capture the audience and draw them into the actual events in the story, allowing them to feel the burden of emotional and physical weight on the characters, who were fighting to preserve their sanity and lives. The vivid detail and realistic narration were only tools used by the author to prepare a story that goes beyond the war in Vietnam, focusing on the other things that soldiers carried – inner thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
The Things They Carried
– Tim O’biran Essay, Research Paper Tim O?Brien?s ?The Things They Carried? is a tale that deals not only with the physical risk of war, but also with the emotional effects it has on the young soldiers. Lt. Jimmy Cross is the designated leader. He has been placed in a position of authority and great responsibility.
Uncle Sams Song Essay Research Paper Uncle
Uncle Sam`s Song Essay, Research Paper Uncle Sam’s song, "I Don’t Ever Wanna See You Again" is a song about a guy who gets his heart broken by his girlfriend. In this song Uncle Sam is
Stockings Essay Research Paper
“Stockings” Some people wish on rabbitś feet. Others carry lucky coins and even lucky underwear. Henry Dobbins carried his girlfriend́s silk stockings. “He liked putting his nose in the nylon and breathing in the scent of his girlfriend́s body; he liked the memories this inspired…They gave access to a spiritual world, where things were soft and intimate, a place where he might someday take his girlfriend to live.”(129) These stockings also “ kept him safe.” (129) He seemed to avoid all of the usual occurrences of war: mines, wounds, and sickness, and the guys “came to appreciate the mystery of it all.” (130) Henry never got the chance to take his girlfriend to his special place, because she broke up with him during the war.