Synthesis Essay In the Vietnam war, there were many soldiers at war with each other, and most soldiers were not prepared for the fight. In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien was in the Vietnam war when he was young. The book was not in order but he still talks about his experiences while in the war. His purpose for writing this novel was because he wanted younger audience to know what happened in the war and what the soldiers experienced. O’Brien’s intended audience was young people who were not educated about the war and he discussed the themes shame/guilt and mortality/death. The chapter “The Things They Carried” gives an introduction about the men in the group, it also shows shame/guilt. The chapter talks about the equipment each soldier carried and how it affected them. During this chapter it focuses primarily on LT. Cross and his obsession with Martha. Eventually, after a death in the group, LT. Cross was distracted and he decides to burn the letters Martha sent him. “On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First LT. Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters… Lavender was dead. You couldn’t burn the blame” (O’Brien 22). This quote is important because it tells about why LT. Cross burned the letters and what other …show more content…
The theme Mortality and Death goes with “Ghost Soldiers” because O’Brien was almost to death two times. First time he was shot in the stomach and second time was in the butt. First time Rat Kiley was there but the second time he was shot Kiley was not there and O’Brien did not like the new medic. A quote to go with this theme is, “It’s hard thing to explain to somebody who has not felt it, but the presence of death and danger has a way of bringing you fully awake” (O;Brien 183). This quote is talking about how when he got shot he was more aware of life and that he could die any
Additionally, the quote offers in-depth imagery as to how little can be seen in that environment. This impacts the reader’s interpretation of the military experience as it allows them to fathom the war-ridden environment, and offers insight into how the soldiers processed it. In the exploration of darkness, there is a clear attempt to gain the reader's empathy, as O’Brien makes an additional appeal to pathos through darkness is where characters feel the most alone, the most safe, and the most scared. To illustrate this, the character Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’ love for a woman, Martha, led to the distraction which he believes caused the death of the soldier Ted Lavender.
It also details the death of one of his fellow soldiers, Tim Lavender. Killed while separated from the rest of the men by a sniper. His death is taken harshly by the platoon’s leader a young Lieutenant Cross. Cross was distracted by personnel effects given to him by a woman he cared for named Martha back in the United States. While it is unlikely that Lt. Cross could have saved Lavender even without the personnel effects, he blames himself for the loss of one of his men.
“On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha's letters. Then he burned the two photographs. ”(O’Brien 459). This marks the point where Cross transitions from a child to a man. He lets go of the past and matures to become a better person, a dedicated soldier.
In the novel The Thing They Carry the book it depicts the many issues a person faces going to the war and problems they face during the war. At the beginning of the book we are introduced to Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and a girl named Martha back home whom writes to him. These letters and one-sided love blinded the Lieutenant which resulted in the death of one of his men. He had the responsibility of keeping his men safe and making sure they were gonna get out of the war alive. However, his feeling towards Martha got the best of him which got Ted Lavender killed.
Tim Lavender is shot and killed, and Jimmy feels responsible. He is always thinking about the girl of his dreams Martha, and wondering if she loves him the way he loves her. “He pictured Martha’s smooth young face, thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her. ”(6) Jimmy Cross feels that because he was so distracted and loved someone who he isn't sure feels the same, more than the men he is supposed to protect, that he caused Lavender's death.
He is responsible for the death of Lavender. Through his guilt, Lieutenant Cross arrives at the realization that Martha will never love him in the way he wants her to, and his love for her turns into hatred. Cross, to ease his guilt, burns Martha’s letters and photographs. As the fire reduces Martha’s photographs and
Challenges at War Robert E. Lee once said, “What a cruel thing war is… to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors”. The novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien takes place in Vietnam. He and a handful of other men experience things only one can image and hope they will never have to experience again. They learn how death among them can greatly affect them, and many others. War is not an easy task to get through and these men all had different coping methods.
“Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America, not on the battlefields of Vietnam”- Marshall Mcluhan. In the novel The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien uses his personal experiences to describe his time spent in Vietnam throughout the war. The reason the novel is written in a nonlinear format because he is writing the novel as he recalls his experiences. However, the main purpose of him writing the novel was to help people understand what the soldiers had went through and the truth about the Vietnam War is known to the public. Tim O’Brien uses themes such as storytelling/memory and morality to demonstrate the impact of the experiences the soldiers endured and how that has affected their daily lives.
A lot happens in Tim O 'Brien short story "The Things They Carried", at first, the reader speculates what the short story is about and why it is called "The Things They Carried". The narrator Tim O 'Brien tells and describes all the things that the men have to carry while "in-country" during the Vietnam War in the1960 's. The text 's artistic value comes from its plot, characters, conflict, and style. In the plot of the story the protagonist, Tim O 'Brien starts by describing circumstances that happened while he was in Vietnam. In the beginning of "The Things They Carried" we are introduced to each character by the things they carry.
Tim O'Brien short story "The Things They Carried" is about a unit in the Vietnam War. One of the soldiers “Ted Lavender, a "Grunt" gets shot by a sniper when in route to the restroom. Meanwhile, his superior by the name of, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross points the finger at himself for the catastrophe. One of O'Brien's themes is that emotional problems on soldiers can be heavier than physical problems. Symbolically, the things the soldiers carry represented who they were.
This chapter “The Ghost Soldiers”, showed us how Tim O’Brien and the other soldiers were dealing with the war both physically and psychologically. It also shows us how the Tim O'Brien behaved and felt when he was shot, wounded and had a bacteria infection on his butt and how the war changed the way he thought, and viewed the other soldiers around him. This chapter also contain a lot of psychological lens. From the way Tim O’Brien felt when he was shot and separated from his unit to a new unit to when he wanted revenge on Bobby Jorgenson for almost “killing” him.
“That’s what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future ... Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story” (36). The Things They Carried is a captivating novel that gives an inside look at the life of a soldier in the Vietnam War through the personal stories of the author, Tim O’Brien . Having been in the middle of war, O’Brien has personal experiences to back up his opinion about the war.
Through centuries of great wars and battles, history has displayed brave men and women who have fought for their countries. These audacious people have helped propel countries for the greater good. However, the weight and responsibility, of the war, takes a heavy toll on soldiers that is often overlooked. Tim O’Brien, author of the novel The Things They Carried, records his stories, and the stories of his fellow soldiers during the war. However, three of these soldiers are affected in an outlandish way.
Throughout the text, Cross “could not stop thinking about [Martha]” (p. 116), unable to concentrate on the war or the men he is charged with leading. Consequently, Cross’ distraction and inadequate leadership result in Lavender’s death. Cross finds himself accountable because “he loved [Martha] more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her” (p.
In November of 1955, the United States entered arguably one of the most horrific and violent wars in history. The Vietnam War is documented as having claimed about 58,000 American lives and more than 3 million Vietnamese lives. Soldiers and innocent civilians alike were brutally slain and tortured. The atrocities of such a war are near incomprehensible to those who didn’t experience it firsthand. For this reason, Tim O’Brien, Vietnam War veteran, tries to bring to light the true horrors of war in his fiction novel The Things They Carried.