Formally late Analysis

The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien

1. The main character, named Tim O'Brien (its supposedly an autobiography), is put through many various and rather extreme scenarios with his Alpha company as they are called. The entire story is told with the aid of items or ideas that are representative of the mental status of the protagonist's cohort. The story is broken into many different sub-sections dealing with key aspects of the plot. The first section deals with introducing what men carry to calm them down or help them remember. Marijuana, knives, gum, and pantyhose are talked about in the exposition. Each item is supposed to describe the charecter they belong to. The individual who chews the gum is the most on edge, and jittery etc. In this section, a man named lavender gets killed in action and the company commander blames himself for his death. In the second section, a platoon mate of two show that the life on the front wasn't too bad. In "Love" a man named Cross is seen to be back with his wife or lover, while in the the field, he explains how men pass the time playing games or talking to women. However, it gets darker when another platoon member is killed and his remains are grotesquely displayed. The next few sections are about coming to grips with the gravity of the situation they were in. This refers to the anger that the individuals experience in the platoon. A few argued over the loss of a knife for example. But in the latter sections they express gratitude and appreciations in harder times as the trivial pursuits of general life escapes them. He goes into the first time he had to end a life, which was traumatic and took much of his willpower to bear it so he claims he didn't! In a war zone he never once had to take a single life. He is haunted by apparitions and ghosts of the men he fought with through the story, none of them were happy for their deaths. He goes through the ennding of the story bearing the weight of death as well as the burden of knowing his friends had died while he lived.

2. Everyone has their own vices, everyone is different in what they believe and how they uphold their lives. That doesn't make anyone less human than another, it is simply an excuse to call yourself different from societal norms.

3.The protagonist is constantly changing, he takes his vows of nonviolence very seriously, however is overcome with a variety of emotion that aren't indicative of a pacifist life style. This shows that the ferality and ferocity of war can take its toll on any number of people in any number of ways.

4. Juxtaposition of subtle kindness with descriptions of gore. Ethos of basic human emotions being relayed to the audience. Red herring of random points being thrown in to dilute plot severity or arguments. Anesthesia in describing the "metallic" taste of blood. Imagery of both horror and love to explain the innate dichotomy. Paraphrasing employed to ignore bluntly saying individuals dying. paradox of a nonviolent war. Allusion to the life outside of war and to biblical thingamabobs.


1. He was jumpy, he hardly could sit still, and he looked too young to be in the army as direct characterization. Maybe I could look forward to a family when I return, and I imagined they wouldn't make it too far on their own both indicate habits and tendencies of the speaker. The discretion between using one type of characterization or another determines which character Tim O'Brien wanted to show as superior or thoughtful. Usually he gave those with Socratic thought higher status  in the platoon.

2. The protagonist definitely changes his point of view depending on some characters. when he is tired with a fellow soldier, he tends to be harsher or abrupt with his statements, but when left to his thoughts and sadness, he becomes more florid and wordy.

3. The protagonist is a parabola. predictable and formulated with the intent of glorifying his exploits while explaining the symbolism and chronic sadness involved with war, the harsh mistress. You could blatantly see what was going to come next in his responses, but it wasn't erratic, it had set rhythms a sort of emotional cadence.

4. The protagonist was way to planned out to be seemingly human, as an autobiography I expected the character to be representative of a human instead of a Shakespearean character. The extended soliloquy-esque thoughts reminded me of someone who had far too much time in their hands, instead of someone who was in a war zone.