Tim O’Brien, the author of the novel is a complicated a

In the passage . Mitchell Sanders tells a story about a bunch of guys going on night watch in the jungle. The guys while they’re there hear strange sounds that you just don’t hear in a jungle. They hear band music and weird calls and things like that. These guys cannot say a thing while they’re there. They are suppose to be watching for enemy movement. Soon the sound becomes too much for them and they completely bomb the place were they hear the sound. Later Sanders admits that there was no music sounds but there was strange noise. Naturally nobody believes him. this shows that if we were told what really happened nobody would feel the insanity of it all.

“ I could tell how desperately sanders wanted me to believe...”.

This passage shows that people ad little details to make stories interesting; we need others to feel what we went through other wise the experience dies as fast as it began.

In “ The man I killed Tim O’Brien kills a man and continues to describe the person as if in a trance, O’Brien makes the person he killed sound like a good guy and makes himself sound like the enemy. O’Brien goes on to describe him in great detail, He tells about how the man might be a school teacher or a Doctor, how the man had not wanted to join the war and had other plans but was forced to. He tells of what the man looks like as he lays on the ground dead. He tells of how the man knew his own fate and how he left his family behind to join a war he didn’t want. This whole time O’Brien cannot take his eyes off of the man he had killed. Kiowa tries in vain to make O’Brien forget about it and feel better. O’Brien just keeps on describing him. O’Brien is too shocked and feels too much pain when he kills this man. The only way he can escape this gruesome action is by thinking about all the things this man must have had. O’Brien is also feeling sympathy for himself he gives the man some of his characteristics, like not wanting to join the war, or going to college. O’Bien knows nothing about this man but is able to tell you exactly what this man has gone threw because O’Brien is relating this man to himself to because he is in pain and sorrow.

Intro

I

“ I start seeing my own body. Chunks of myself...it’s like staring into this huge black crystal ball”.

This passage shows that when our emotions and mind start overwhelming us; we will do anything to find relief.

Tim O’Brien, the author of the novel is a complicated author who’s life has been completely changed and is haunted by his past, the things he has done and experienced. He writes to relieve the tension what he has been through. People call this book fiction because they do not understand what can happen in a war. They would not believe if it was told to them straight on. Tim O’Brien is an author who knows how to make a reader feel what is going on in a book, as well as make the reader feel what the characters in the book were feeling at that time. The Things They Carried is a thrilling story about of drafted soldiers in the Vietnam war. These soldiers have a very tight bond and they become closer as they go through horror, pain,and loss while finding themselves. The soldiers are transformed as they fight against the jungles’ harsh floods, animals calls, bombs, and fire fights (157)

“ The man I killed would have listen to stories about the heroic Trung sisters... He would have been taught to defend the land was a man’s highest duty... Secretly ... It also frightened him... He hoped in his heart he would never be tested”.

The Man I Killed, shows that even in war fighting isn’t always appropriate; it is when we have gone to an extreme we cannot take back that we start questioning our motives and see the beauty of the thing we have destroyed.

SYMBOL

The passage " How To Tell A True War Story" is a great example of my symbol. In it the platoon start traveling at night to take precautions in case the rumors of massive enemy power was true. During this time it becomes harder for the platoon to function correctly. This change was hardest on Rat Kiley he slowly loses it as the jungle plays tricks on them. As day becomes night for them and night becomes day. He worries about giant imaginary bugs eating at his body. Soon the platoon made the adjustment but for Rat Kiley a mental wall was set and refused to move. He couldn’t handle it anymore. In order to end his torment he shoots his own foot. He is then departed to Japan to recover from his injury. The soldiers understanding him completely say nothing. Lieutenant cross goes over to him let him know he would vouch for him just before he leaves. This passage shows that when a situation becomes too much for a person he will do anything to get out of it.

In Tim O’Briens’ story, Lives Of The Dead, O’Brien uses Stories to bring things to life, Tim and the vietnam soldiers all have someone that has died in a way that they miss. In order to cope with the grief their feelings, they reinvent the person. Making them into an interesting and powerful individual. This is the only way the soldiers can escape their current position or numb the pain they feel.

“It was a way of brining body and soul together, or a way of making new bodies for the souls to inhabit.” (239)

Stories in Tim O’Briens’ “ The Things They Carried” symbolizes Empathy and Escape ; when we tell somebody a story we want them to feel the very emotions we felt at that time, Also we all need a way to escape our harsh and dangerous emotions. The symbol Stories is in many places in this story, but where the idea is presented the best is in the chapter “ Lives of the dead”. In this passage Tim is a child that goes by his childhood name Timmy. Timmy is in love with Linda a his childhood girlfriend. He and Linda do everything together, they do not know what love is but they know they are in love; they can feel it. Tragically Linda has cancer and dies over time. Timmy has no idea until he is told one day at school. He heads home and goes to sleep; in his sleep he dreams of him and Linda, he dreams of them talking and being together. Timmy,”...made up elaborate stories to bring Linda alive in ... dreams”(243). The soldiers in Tim’s platoon do something similar: They tell stories about their fallen comrades; it’s their way of keeping the person alive.

The passage “Lives Of The Dead” show that people cannot accept death completely, as a result we have to keep people alive even after they have passed on. In order to do that we create, retell, or imagine stories about those who have died. Sometimes we even picture them being with us at specific moment.

“ Strunks nodded... Lee Strunks couldn’t stop laughing,... I stole his ..jackknife.

This passage shows that even in a hard time of pressure and war; there is relief and peace, a break from the craziness

Enemies is a passage in Tim O'Brien’s novel that represents my symbol well” This is a short chapter about 2 guys fighting over a missing Jack knife. Dave Jensen and Lee Struck were fighting. Dave Jensen being bigger holds Strunk down and breaks his nose. Since they’re in a middle of a war this is bad for Jensen and he knows it. He becomes paranoid, he is now worried about Strunk coming after him when he is fighting the enemy. This kind of pressure drives him crazy, he can’t handle it anymore so he starts shooting his gun into the air randomly. Then later on he broke his own nose and heads over to Strunk and asked if they are cool. In this passage “Stories” is showing humor. It takes a break from the the tense parts of the novel and connects to a funny part of it. Providing the reader a moment of relief from the novel.

STORIES