Sydney Derrow
Final Blog Post
My narrator of "The Things They Carried", Tim O’Brien, is an 21 year old man that got drafted in the Vietnam War. He enters the war a scared young man afraid of the shame that dodging the war would bring him and leaves the war a guilt-ridden middle-aged man who tells stories about Vietnam in order to cope with his painful memories. “And sometimes remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever. That's what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story” (O’Brien 36). This quote shows the significance of the stories he tells. It's a way for O'Brien to cope, yet it's for everyone to remember the soldiers that were invloved in the war. Only the soldiers that were actually in the war would know what happened during those times. These stories mean a lot to O'Brien. It's what kep him sane more than half of the book.
Tim was very hesitant when it came down to going to the war. He was contemplating on whether he should go to Vietnam or run off to Canada. “I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war” (O’Brien 58). Usually, you'd think that cowards run from the war, but O'Brien calls himself out for going in the first place. He let his shame and fear win out over his principles. For O'Brien, the strong thing to do would have been to run away from the war and bear the censure. Instead, he was weak. I think of Tim O’Brien as a strong, independent man that suffices to everything that goes on in his life. He seems to adapt naturally to a lot of stressful situations. My opinion of Tim O’Brien was consistent throughout the story. He seemed like a genuine human being. He had the feelings and reactions as everyone would have in the war, may a little better than usual. He never sugar coated anything throughout the story. Everything he described was gritty and realistic.
The narrator, Tim O'Brien, is the author of the book. He told his side of the story, and gave people the thoughts of what he went through in Vietnam. He basically gave the readers and inside look of the hardships, deaths, and skin crawling memories he saw while serving his country. "He was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man of about twenty. He lay with one leg bent beneath him, his jaw in his throat, his face neither expressive nor inexpressive. One eye was shut. The other was a star-shaped hole" (O'Brien 124). That quote explains some of the gory deaths he's seen. That could easily scar someone for life, especially explaining that dead young man with so much detail. He's seen severeal more deaths, and explaing what he saw just proves to the readers he's been through a lot. Tim’s perspective of the story shows the readers that not everything is what it seems to be. This perspective gives more depth and understanding to the readers.
Along with that, O'Brien keeps the readers involved and wanting to know more about the sufferings these men overcame. “War is hell, but that's not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead (O’Brien 76). He says this to explain the good and bad of the war, but the bad definitely outweighs the good. The deaths, terrible weather, mind-boggling situations of them not knowing what to actually do, and constant terror blows my mind. I couldn’t imagine myself going through the things O’Brien and his men did.
Tim was very hesitant when it came down to going to the war. He was contemplating on whether he should go to Vietnam or run off to Canada. “I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war” (O’Brien 58). Usually, you'd think that cowards run from the war, but O'Brien calls himself out for going in the first place. He let his shame and fear win out over his principles. For O'Brien, the strong thing to do would have been to run away from the war and bear the censure. Instead, he was weak. I think of Tim O’Brien as a strong, independent man that suffices to everything that goes on in his life. He seems to adapt naturally to a lot of stressful situations. My opinion of Tim O’Brien was consistent throughout the story. He seemed like a genuine human being. He had the feelings and reactions as everyone would have in the war, may a little better than usual. He never sugar coated anything throughout the story. Everything he described was gritty and realistic.
The narrator, Tim O'Brien, is the author of the book. He told his side of the story, and gave people the thoughts of what he went through in Vietnam. He basically gave the readers and inside look of the hardships, deaths, and skin crawling memories he saw while serving his country. "He was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man of about twenty. He lay with one leg bent beneath him, his jaw in his throat, his face neither expressive nor inexpressive. One eye was shut. The other was a star-shaped hole" (O'Brien 124). That quote explains some of the gory deaths he's seen. That could easily scar someone for life, especially explaining that dead young man with so much detail. He's seen severeal more deaths, and explaing what he saw just proves to the readers he's been through a lot. Tim’s perspective of the story shows the readers that not everything is what it seems to be. This perspective gives more depth and understanding to the readers.
Along with that, O'Brien keeps the readers involved and wanting to know more about the sufferings these men overcame. “War is hell, but that's not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead (O’Brien 76). He says this to explain the good and bad of the war, but the bad definitely outweighs the good. The deaths, terrible weather, mind-boggling situations of them not knowing what to actually do, and constant terror blows my mind. I couldn’t imagine myself going through the things O’Brien and his men did.
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