The Things They Carried

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Becca Emge

Dr. Tjardes

English 11

The Things They Carried

1.         Tim O’Brien feels he is a coward for going to the Vietnam War because he might be confused about what courage is, as is every other man that went to the Vietnam War. Once he is out of the war, he realizes that the only reason he went into the Vietnam War was to prove to himself and others that he wasn’t a coward, making him a coward for doing that.

2.         The way to tell the difference between a true story and a lie is when the story changes and goes back and fourth between one thing then changes to the other. Tim O’Brien includes the section of how to tell a true war story because he wants you to look for the truths and be able to separate reality from a lie.

3.         O’Brien explains that story-truth is sometimes truer than happening-truth because stories make things present. “‘Daddy, tell the truth,’ Kathleen can say, ‘did you ever kill anybody?’ And I can say, honestly, ‘Of course not.’ Or I can say, honestly, ‘Yes.’” (180) What is being expressed through this quote is that both of them could be the truth, depending on how it is looked at.

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4.         In the book, other random men were given voices, both through dialogue and actions and being observed through it all. One of the men was Henry Dobbins. He asked a simple question about morals and the reaction the response he got showed a lot about his character. It showed that he was somewhat careless, because he at first didn’t understand and when it was explained to him, he responded with a careless remark. All of the voices combine to give a picture of the war because you get to see the way the soldiers really are.

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