One of the major concepts is the role of social interaction in adolescent development. The protagonist, Charlie, is exposed to many social extremes; gay bashing, group violence, rape, communal drug use, etc. While Chbosky fails at introducing these situations realistically (the effects of which will be discussed later), they still serve as talking points on the social interaction of young people, and as such, they are valuable to the novel. Chbosky argues in favor of realization of trauma as potential for growth; the supposed everyman Charlie was a molestation victim as a child, a fact he repressed until urged to enter into a sexual situation he could not deal with. While his breakdown provides the epilogue for the book and places him into a mental hospital, he comes out of the whole thing as a supposed fuller individual who is more self actualized than he would have been without realizing the sexual trauma of his youth or, more drastically,…
1. outline key points of theories about the emotional and psychological processes that indviduals and key people may experience with approach of death…
Death is a horrendous thing that can cause an irreplaceable hole in somebody’s life. Death can also represent chaos and the pain of another character in the story. In Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, the deaths of Johnny, Dally, and Bob created an intriguing plot and unveiled the hidden feelings and personalities of characters who react to the deaths, like Dally and Randy. The major deaths in The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, which are the deaths of Candy’s Dog, Curley’s Wife, and Lennie, displayed the personalities of the characters who killed them and developed the story in the book. The theme of death reveals hidden elements of characters who strongly felt a certain way about the character. Even though death is the end of a character, it…
In “The Things They Carried,” Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is torn between being a good leader to his soldiers and his love for Martha, thus making him a truly dynamic character. A dynamic character is someone who undergoes an important, internal change because of action in the plot. For example, personality or attitude would be two that play a role in against Lieutenant. Jimmy cross shows us in the story just what a dynamic character is, and I am going to explain how he acts before the climax and how he evolves after.…
The Things They Carried by Tim O’ Brien is a collection of twenty-two short stories about the mental and physical endeavors that the American soldiers in the Vietnam War that comes together in one short novel. In this collection O’ Brien often blurs the lines between fiction and reality in order to push the reader to sympathize with the soldiers as they carry guilt, shame, cowardice, malice, and confusion. Many of the soldiers in these stories seek relief from the emotional weight they carry, and O’ Brien uses storytelling to give these fictional characters a bit of closure of some kind. O’ Brien constantly makes us question the veracity of the stories we read by making the characters in the stories question themselves and include hearsay in their stories. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien seems like a simple war story from the beginning, but the stories soon reveal that the book is actually about the tangible and intangible weight that the soldiers in Vietnam were forced to carry.…
In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, narrative elements shape an author’s idea, and can even contribute to how effective they were in re-telling their experiences. Without them, the story would be bland and boring to the reader, and sometimes unbelievable. Tim O’Brien effectively uses different points of view to retell the soldiers’ Vietnam War experiences.…
Kiowa is in awe of Lavendar’s death because he was the only one to see it happen. He and the others realize that death can take them at any time, even when they think they are safe. Kiowa could not get his mind off the event and repeats the story to the other men, revealing his thoughts and fear of death. In order to deal with death, he dehumanizes Lavendar by comparing him to cement, thus making death seem less personal. Even though Kiowa is portrayed as not feeling emotions, it is this detachment from death that enables him to hide his fear.…
In the novel, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, he vividly depicts the situations of war-life in Vietnam using very interesting characters. Though some of the characters he uses are not actually real people, but just made up to serve as symbols in his story. In some cases these characters serve more to the story through their symbolism rather that their character. The three characters who embody this the most are Kiowa, Mary Anne Bell, and Kathleen.…
In the book, The Things They Carried written by Tim O’Brien, the challenges faced by war are explained in the form of stories. The effects that war can have on a soldier in Vietnam are not solely limited to the physical state, but also the mental state, as is shown when O’Brien introduces the character Mary Anne Bell in chapter nine. The corruption that war brought to an individual’s life led to an altered view of morality and Innocence, as well as the desensitization of an individual.…
The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, is about the experience multiple soldiers go through during the Vietnam War. There are stories about the love, hardships, friendships, and loss all the soldiers go through. By going to war, the soldiers all lose a part of themselves. I believe the message Tim O’Brien is trying to convey in his novel is people who do not go to the war, do not understand what it is like. I think throughout this novel, O’Brien tries his best to give the people who are not a part of the war an opportunity to understand. There are multiple examples throughout, The Things They Carried, demonstrating there is no clear understanding from the people at home for what it is like at war. In addition to the disconnection, Tim…
Throughout his novel, the things The Carried, author Tim O’Brien uses a plethora of strategies to give the reader a deeper incite into the day to day life of an American ground soldier during the Vietnam War. O’ Brian shares with us his extensive knowledge and first hand experiences throughout the novel. Being a veteran of the Vietnam War helps O ‘Brian gives us a look into American’s longest war, not often given. Aside from recalling past events, he uses many unique techniques that we may be less used to. The first is the use of characters and objects as representations. This is one of the tactics most often used in the book. Another way that O ‘Brian uses rliterature to emphasize a point is the use of meta-fiction. This is basically telling the truth in a lie. Lastly, his knowledge and experiences add another dimension to this book that can really engage the reader. All of these components working together are what has mad the Things They Carried, such a critically acclaimed book.…
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien continuously uses repetition of talking about the items the soldiers carry mentally and physically to show the burdens of war. Each item O’Brien talks about tells a little about each character and what fears they try to escape from. An example would be “Dave Jensen carried three pairs of socks and a can of Dr.Scholl’s foot powder as a precaution for trench foot.” (O’Brien pg.1) Jensen carried these things so you could be very clean and sanitary this what his break to get away from the chaos that the war brought. All the soldiers have a common fear of death or being seen as a coward during many hardships of the war. To get away from all the pressure and terror war brought each soldier had their own way of coping.…
War is an amazing, yet horrifying experience for the soldiers. Many of them come back with little change in their personalities, but most of them come back traumatized from the horrible experiences in war. In the story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien describes a few ways a soldier might try to use in order to escape the harsh realities of war. He demonstrates soldiers trying to escape reality by describing what they did mentally, physically, and emotionally to forget.…
The short story I chose to write my essay on is "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien. The soldiers in the story had to deal with not only accepting the deaths of those they became close with, but also dealing with the knowledge that they took another human beings' life. The author shows how they had to carry not only their equipment; but the emotions that came along with being in a war. The emotions I speak of are ones that come from knowing they were mere grunts-and as such, were replaceable. That moment where they silly cease to exist could arrive when they least expected it. This analysis is about the way Cross and his soldiers dealt with the war, not physically but emotionally.…
Death is a necessity to culture and society therefore it is irrational to fear the unenviable and the necessary. Death whether physical or non-physical will always cause change. The change that is caused by death does not always have to be direct but can manifest itself as an indirect change. Throughout time societies have risen and fallen, times changes, nothing is ever going to stay the same. Death is a factor that will impact everyone who is alive as they will meet death. As society’s change and cultures evolve so do the people; to keep change occurring death must ensue for creation to occur. Society’s and cultures depend on death. Death is the drive of progression which drives society’s and cultures to get farther from the unetible death.…