A short comparison of The Things They Carried and How To Read Literature Like A Professor
Tim O'Brian and Thomas C. Foster are both fantastic authors. They both have written fantastic titles, The Thing They Carried ( By Tim) and How To Read Literature Like A Professor (by Thomas). Even though they were published in different years and different parts of the world, they still are very similar. One is about war and the other one on literature, but when examined you can clearly see religious influences in their writing. Oddly enough, they are influenced by many of the same ideas. In the Things They Carried there are many references to the Bible, I enjoyed Tim O'Brian's comparison of Jimmy Cross and Martha to Adam and Eve. In the book, Jimmy had the potential to be a great leader had it not been for his obsession with Martha, the distraction that she provided was too great and it led Jimmy to fail his men. He committed the forbidden act of letting one of his men die. In the book it even goes as far as to call Vietnam the “Garden of Evil.” After his run with fafilure he reaches deep within himself and becomes the best leader he can be. Then taking the blame for losing his men, taking that burden from the others. Eating is communion, plain and simple as that. No matter how small the gathering may be,it always has an air of trusting and friendship to it. In the Things They Carried there were many acts of communion, when the men smoked Lavender's dope, when they received Christmas cookies, and several others are all good examples. It means much more than simply eating the meal, the air of the meal writes volumes on the relationship of characters. Telling much more than simply stating that characters are friends or enemies. Every trip is a quest, it may seem like a insignificant trip, but it's extremely likely a quest for knowledge or a certain experience to be given to the character after complementing the quest. In the Things They Carried, Tim has his own quest, he receives a draft notice and does all that he can to avoid it. As he's