Abstract This paper looks closely at the short story by Tim O'Brien, "The Things They Carried". The work selects as its thesis the items which were carried, and what they symbolize. The paper also comments upon what it means to not have items of value or to burn and give up the burdens which were first brought to war. It concludes that these items saved the soldiers and bring them humanity.
From the Paper "Tim O'Brien's powerful words in the short story "The Things They Carried", the title and first chapter in his collection of work concerning soldiers during the Vietnam War, connect to readers as they remind us of burdens being carried--physical, emotional and spiritual. As the soldiers gain personality via their possessions--both those they carry as well as those they leave behind--we come to envision these men as the 'everyman,' those who go off to war and symbolize a country. As the images of these burdens gain a solid presence in the story, they represent the lives and hopes of each soldier, even as they are cast away by the principle character in the tale, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. Near the first lines of the story, O'Brien introduces the readers to the theme of the 'carried,' or burdens. Each soldier is made unique by..."
Abstract This paper is an interesting look at Carrie's relationships with men in the novel "Sister Carrie" by Theodore Dreiser. The author details how the the male characters are actually Carrie's progress up the hierarchical ladder of society until she reaches a point where she can progress no further because her desires are limitless. The author concludes that the men in Carrie's life represent a means of attaining material comfort, wealth and a feeling of fulfillment for Carrie.
From the Paper "Carrie's first relationship is with Drouet. The novel begins with Carrie and Drouet flirting on a train approaching Chicago. Although he comes across as a seducer, he is in actuality, only a reflection of Carrie's own desires. Throughout their relationship Carrie manages to gain the experience and social skills requisite for pursuing higher aspirations. Drouet himself is a traveling salesman. At first he seems impressive and Carrie is attracted by his bearing, clothes and luggage. She is flattered that he has noticed her: "There was something satisfactory in the attention of this individual with his good clothes" (Dreiser, p.11)"
Abstract In the book "Sister Carrie" by Theodore Dreiser, the character of Carrie Meeber visits a series of cities as she develops from a frightened and inexperienced girl into a successful career woman. The two locations that have the most significant impact on Carrie's personal development are those of Chicago - where Carrie begins her journey - to that of New York - where Carrie accomplishes her dreams of becoming a successful actress. This paper examines the contrast created by Dreiser in terms of his presentation of both Chicago and New York and how these two cities impacted Carrie's development into a professional and accomplished woman.
Abstract This paper examines how a primary theme of "The Things They Carried" is baggage and burdens - both physical and mental in nature. It looks at how the things that the characters carry in the story function in both a literal and figurative nature. While all of the characters carry heavy physical loads during the war, they also carry heavy emotional loads, such as love, sadness, longing, and of course, fear. It also discusses how the physical loads that the characters carry throughout the story have certain significance to the emotional baggage that each character carries.
From the Paper "The characters in "The Things They Carried" possessed emotional baggage from the start of the war, as was evident in the letters that Jimmy Cross carried, and the New Testament that Kiowa carried, which connected to their pre-war lives. However, with war came emotional baggage that occurred during the war, on top of the previous burdens that the characters may have experienced. Jimmy Cross was a leader of a group of men at war, however when Tim Lavender, a young, scared soldier who embodied the fear that all of the soldiers shared, died, Jimmy Cross felt a great amount of responsibility for it. Cross felt that his longing for love and his obsession with Martha's letters got in the way of him being able to do his job correctly, and the fact that Lavender's death was preventable (which also displayed how expendable lives are in war), made Cross change forever. "
Abstract In this paper, the author explains what currency carry trades are. He uses the yen as a prime example of a currency carry trade and talks about its lasting period of 3.5 years. The author discusses the highs and lows of the yen and also the dollar, and the reasons behind it. The author explains the logic behind the currency carry trade and how it can happen. The author then proceeds to discuss the interest rate differentials which help to understand the changes in the currency markets. The author concludes with his opinion that if the Euro carry trade is happening now and lasts as long as the yen and dollar carry trades, then the Euro will continue down until sometime in 2008.
From the Paper "In fact, from April 1995 to July 1998 the Japanese currency went from 80 to 147 yen per US dollar, a period of 3.25 years and a loss of 66% purchasing power. From August 1990 to September 1995 the Bank of Japan had lowered the Official Discount Rate from 6% to 0.5%. The US 3-month TBill rates were between 5% and 6% and longer duration bonds over 7%. Thus was born the "yen carry trade."Of course this ended sadly in 1998 when the dollar fell by about 9% in the period between August 31 and September 7, 1998 and then by a further 12% on October 7 and 8. That was the end of the yen carry trade."
Abstract This paper presents an examination of two characters in Theodore Dreiser's "Sister Carrie". The writer of this paper provides an insight into the events which lead to the eventual outcome of Carrie and Hurstwood. The writer uses examples from the book to comment on the paths each life takes and explains why they each end up the way they do.
From the Paper "Many times fiction imitates real life with a hint of reality and truth that are amazing. The characters within the stories written are believable and cause the reader to feel emotions for their plights. There are many classics that provide a foundational understanding and empathy for the characters in the book, and Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie is one example of such work. The novel depicts the lives of two very different people, Hurstwood and Carrie who come from different worlds. As the book unfolds the two characters transform their lives until they end up in almost each other's original starting point. While one character climbs ahead and up in the world, and the other one sinks so low he ends his life in suicide the interesting way that they choose their paths and the inner reasons that drive them make the book a timeless classic."
Abstract The paper introduces "The Things They Carried" by Tim O"Brien, a collection of stories all involving the heavy emotional burden soldiers carry into the Vietnam War. It discusses how the book reads more like the memories of an old man, not ordered by chronology, but rather by the experiences of pain, tragedy and death that overcome a person in the moment. This paper explores O"Brien's description of the soldiers? lives before, during and after the Vietnam War, as well as examines the real things that these soldiers carried with them into battle.
From the Paper "When the soldiers return home after the Vietnam War, life doesn?t get much better for them. Instead of a hero's welcome they are met with ignorance and indifference, thereby making them feel alienated from routine life. A classic example of this is what Norman Bowker experiences upon his return. Norman found it difficult to think of life after the Vietnam War as relevant. Anyone who had not experienced the Vietnam War first-hand could not possibly understand its vulgarity or empathize with the soldiers who lived the war. Also, people back home were not interested in knowing about the Vietnam War. ?[The town] had no memory, therefore no guilt....It did not know shit about shit, and did not care to know.? (O?Brien, 1999, 143)."
Abstract This paper reviews the Vietnam War novel "The Things They Carried" by Tim Obrien, which analyzes the emotional baggage carried by the grunts. The paper points out that, in addition to physical objects, the soldiers carried madness, delusions, hallucinations, grudges. The author feel that whether the stories comprising the novel are literally true is irrelevant, because the emotions behind them are true.
From the Paper "The baggage the soldiers discarded and acquired in country is as significant as the baggage they brought with them. Once again, in "The Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong"?the greenies are the antithesis of John Wayne's Green Berets. Those green berets were clean-shaven men. Men who slept in pajamas, on mattresses. Men who adopted dirty faced orphans with puppies and baseball caps. Men who protected the indigenous elderly, weak and infirm. Men who died almost soundlessly , bloodlessly, and always valiantly and never stupidly. Those recruiting poster green berets carried with them every western value ascribed to a fighting man by their countrymen from truth, justice and the American Way to baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet."
Abstract Weight is an important metaphor in "The Things they carried". This paper explains that at the outset of the short story, by Tim O'Brien, the reader is given an account of the burden each soldier is carrying. With this physical burden the themes of his story began to grow. It discusses how with this effective metaphor O' Brien is able to mold the reader's understanding of the mental burdens being carried by the men in his story, for it is the mental burden which far outweighs the physical to men on the battlefield.
From the Paper "The mental burden defines a soldier's experience, and the mental burden exacts the most exhausting suffering on all soldiers. Soldiers learn early in their careers that physical burdens and physical suffering can be endured no matter the weight carried or the pain felt. As a soldier serves, his tolerance for these types of burdens grows and eventually becomes a sensation rarely reflected upon. The physical burden of equipment can be put down and physical pain endured is weakness leaving. It is the burdens which can not be relinquished that ware a soldier down. It is the mental weight of their experiences that cannot be let easily go. It is the description of these burdens that are most profound in the theme of the story and reveal the psychological experience of war. Soldiers carry much more than their equipment into battle. "
Tags: mental, battle, experience, battlefield, war
Abstract A superior horror story is a combination of reality, supernatural and the fantastical worked into a suspenseful, captivating, believable story. The paper shows that Stephen King's novel, "Carrie", utilizes these literary elements to create a modern-day horror story. The character, Carrie, is realistic because she is, from all outward appearances, a normal teenage girl that suffers from merciless teasing. Carrie is also realistic because while we pity her, we also detest her actions. This realistic character is placed in a supernatural setting with her telekinetic powers, which makes the novel fantastical.
From the Paper "King also creates a very realistic character with Carrie in that she is depicted in two very different ways, which plays on our emotions. She is, on one hand, a creature to be pitied and on the other, she is a creature to de despised. At the beginning of the novel, we cannot help but feel sympathy for Carrie as she experiences her first menstrual cycle. Her first response is that she is "bleeding to death" (9) and the fact that Miss Desjardin is unsympathetic fosters our compassion for the girl. In addition, Carrie's classmates were "throwing sanitary napkins" (15) at Carrie in the shower."
Abstract This analytical research paper presents a detailed book report on Sister Carrie, a marvelous piece of writing by the renowned figure of literary realism movement of the nineteenth century, Theodore Dreiser. Based on thorough analysis and research, the paper discusses the aspects that highlight the context in which the writer came up with the book surrounding the intricate social and moral context. Moreover, the paper discusses the experiences, responses and restraints of the fictional characters as depicted by the author. All statements made and opinions given are supported with examples and historical evidences. Further discussion of World Columbian Exposition highlights the impact of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 on Chicago relating it to the story of Carrie.
From the Paper "Theodore Dreiser, the famous realist of his times was born in 1871 on August 27 in Indiana and belonged to a German-American poverty-ridden family of ten children. Exchanging hands with poverty, struggle and education, after his return to Chicago from Indiana University, Bloomington, he entered the world of journalism and got married after working with Chicago Globe and Globe Democrat (Classic Notes). Soon after moving to New York with Sara, his wife, he started working diligently on his first novel, Sister Carrie (Classic Notes). This first novel received extreme rejection as well as criticism from a number of publishers and a few writers, however, with this novel, the readers as well as the writers of the American literature were introduced to the concept of realism. Dreiser based his first novel on the real life history of her sister Emma (Classic Notes) who experienced loss of dignity at the hands of her illegitimate lover, thereby discussing the innocence of women, their submissive position in the society and the "cosmopolitan virtues" (Dreiser: 1) of the world. With the story of Carrie, the author has taken his readers on a journey to the world of vices and the immoral practices that were common at the time when this novel was written. In short, "Dreiser wrote as a Realist, and believed that fiction should not merely depict an idealized version of life for readers, but should show how people really felt and thought about things" (Classic Notes)."
Abstract This paper examines Tim O'Brien's, "The Things They Carried," which is a compilation of several short stories or vignettes, about the experiences of the men who fought in the Vietnam War. The author uses commentary from two other literary sources who have analyzed the materials that were covered in O'Brien's book. The author discusses how O'Brien's background influenced the structure and content of the book. Some of the themes found in the different stories include courage, loneliness and memories and how the men carry all of these, along with their supplies, with them througout the war. This writer feels that it was the stories and the intimacy of the sharing of these feelings that helped many of these men survive the war, relatively intact.
From the Paper "Characterization is one of the most important parts of this novel, and O'Brien manages to create vivid characters that are sympathetic and very real at the same time. How can a man named Rat be sympathetic? It is partly because of the thread of storytelling that is the backbone of the novel. "For Rat Kiley. . . facts were formed by sensation, not the other way around, and when you listened to one of his stories, you'd find yourself performing rapid calculations in your head, subtracting superlatives, figuring the square root of an absolute and then multiplying by maybe" (O'Brien 101). Much of O'Brien's novel reads like the folktales of old, passed down orally from generation to generation. Rat Kiley is clearly a born storyteller, for he makes his listeners think and think hard while he spins his tales."
Abstract This paper analyzes how the abstract idea that specific facts and events are inconsequential when looking at a theme or idea as a whole is used in the novels, "The Things They Carried" by Tim O?Brien, and "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston. It shows how, through the use of talk story, as in Kingston's novel and the basis of a "true war story" in "The Things they Carried", the respective authors use the idea to portray the true meaning of the work. It looks at how both Kingston and O?Brien use this twist in a story to fully develop the themes portrayed and to get across the true meaning of their stories and what they want the reader to take away from the stories.
From the Paper "The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston is a non-fiction story of a Chinese-American girl growing up in California. Throughout the novel Kingston uses the talk stories from her mother to outline what a true woman warrior is and who Maxine's mother expected her to be. The first example of this is the legend of Fa Mu Lan told in the chapter ?White Tigers.?2 The story tells of the warrior Fa Mu Lan who manages to be everything to everyone, able to satisfy the role of wife and mother while still leading her people to victory in battle. Fa Mu Lan becomes what every Chinese woman wants to become, the powerful warrior that protects her family and the nurturing mother that raises her children."
Tags: twist, nconsequential, vietnam, chinese, talk, war, story
Abstract This paper examines ?The Things They Carried? by Tim O' Brien, the story of 12 soldiers, members of the Third Platoon, Alpha Company, Fifth Battalion of the 16th Infantry, 198th Infantry Brigade of the American Division in the Vietnam War of 1969. It looks at how O"Brien relates his and his companions" desolate and fatal experiences during that war and how he uses those experiences to explore the complications of memory and trauma, the most lasting of the things he and his companions endured, and which have remained with him to this day. It examines how it lists the many things they carried into war that were more real and terrifying than bullets, guns, grenades, and disease, such as the deaths, injuries, and sicknesses, and the overall brokenness they had to face in fighting.
From the Paper "O"Brien gives major focus on the death of his closest friend, Kiowa throughout the book. It was a freak incident in that his own platoon killed him by mistake when it camped in a latrine on the banks of the song Tra Bong. It was plain to see why the author held Kiowa closest to his heart: Kiowa shared his sentiments about the cruelty of war. Kiowa was also a very compassionate and intelligent man, but precisely because of the kind of soul he was that O"Brien gave greater coverage of Kiowa's very costly death than his life. It was a gutting loss he carried with great pain and could never get over with."
Abstract This paper explains that Tim O'Brien's novel, "The Things They Carried",
illustrates that the greatest weight soldiers bear comes from nothing they can physically carry, but rather their emotions, grief, terror, and love. The author points out that O'Brien utilizes the composite novel form, which allows him to play with multiple settings, characters, the theme of storytelling, and even allusiveness, in a way that most fully incorporates the whole of humanity into his story. The paper relates that, through his unique narration, stylistic technique, and attention to detail, O'Brien captures the psychological aspects of war.
From the Paper "The psychological burden of war goes far beyond that of simply fighting. The struggle of staying alive was always emphasized after encountering a battle for which they found themselves alive. "For the most part they carried themselves with poise, a kind of dignity. Now and then there were times of panic, when they squealed or wanted to squeal but couldn't" (19). The fear of losing life was compounded by the idea of being a brave and courageous soldier. The fact of surviving always brought a sense of life to the soldiers. The psychological pressure of fighting and surviving was always followed with a sense of reassembling themselves as soldiers. O'Brien states that for the most part, the soldiers were "afraid of dying but they were even more afraid to show it" (20). Coping with the pressure of war was discovered by way of telling jokes and creating a "hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness" (20). Their encounters with death were instances where "irony was mixed with tragedy" (20). These statements illustrate how the soldiers did their best to cope with the psychological pressure of the war."
