Tim O Brien Character Analysis

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Pages: 3

There is no doubt people grow with each new experience. In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the character Tim O’Brien faces many trials after running away from the draft, deciding to go, and then experiencing many different dilemmas he has never experienced before. Throughout the novel, Tim grows morally and developmentally. Tim O’Brien was alienated from the draft and leads to the enrichment of his mind, which proves understanding comes with experience.
Tim O’Brien is thrown into a group of strangers to go to a place he does not know to do things he has not done before. He is cast out from his family, friends, normal life, for something he did not sign up for. He tried to run away from his problems. “I drove north...I was there riding on adrenaline...like running a dead-end maze- no way out- it couldn’t come to a happy conclusion and yet I was doing it anyway because it was all I could think of to do” (44). However, if he chose not to go, O’Brien would be ostracized from his town and be forced to go out of the country. He is living in a completely new world;
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Throughout the novel, this theme comes repeatedly emphasizing its point. From Rat Kiley’s exaggerations that still ring truth to the impatience of the 10 year-old daughter when they visit, one can only understand the whole truth unless one has lived it. Otherwise, one is unable to fully catch the story teller in a lie or exaggeration. This theme can be applied to all things, because the event gives you a certain perspective which probably can not be replicated unless repeated. Now, “I realize it is as Tim trying to save Timmy’s life with a story” (233). O’Brien is writing stories to try and save his innocence he once had stolen from him by the war. Consequently, Tim O’Brien survived through this however only a limited number of people will understand the aftermath psychologically succeeding the