The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien - 1809 Words

SOLDIER! Grab a helmet and buckle up immediately there is no more room for fatuous behavior because it is a matter of life and death. Soldier, adhere to this warning: the draft brings young men into the action of war but the wretched war surely chews them up and spits them back out as a diabolic mutant grieved with woes. A former marine, Tim O’Brien, wrote The Things They Carried in order to demonstrate this aforementioned warning as well the cryptic reality of Vietnam. By implementing a cataloging technique, O’Brien truly brings the horrifying stories of Vietnam to life further roping in his readers so much that they feel themselves carrying the characters burdens of the Alpha Company. Ultimately O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried,†¦show more content†¦Browker seems to look up to his father, who served in WWII and decides to go to Vietnam in hopes of returning as a hero with medals which would make his father proud. On the contrary, there are those who feel the government has infringed upon their First Amendment right (freedom of speech) by drafting them into a war. O’Brien has similar feelings which he expresses, â€Å"If you support the war, if you think it’s worth the price, that’s fine, but you have to put your own precious blood on the line,† (O’Brien 45). O’Brien then proceeds to share his personal story; he testifies of the radical measures he takes under the burden of the draft. The war is asking too much of him, he has a full-ride scholarship to Harvard! His whole life still lies ahead of him but now the door of death is unlocked and beginning to creak open. Like a thief in the night he attempts to steal away to Canada as his way of coping with this hardship of uncertainty that looms before him. O’Brien even turns this scenario over to his readers asking them what they would feel or do as their fragile life dangles by a thread. In the end O’Brien relents and bowing to the draft he goes because he is afraid of being called a coward for the rest of his life. Now for a moment imagine the feeling of humidity so thick one can cut it, surreptitious jungle vines that grab at ones ankles, sounds that chill the bones, sites and the stink of