Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried Essay

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As we conclude the novel “The Things They Carried”, Tim is trying to write these stories as a way in which he remember these people during the Vietnam War and that these stories that the author was speaking were fictional. When the author, Tim O Brien defines “courage”, he was using it as a paradox in which he was a coward for leaving in which he didn’t want to go into the war in the first place. He was being a scaredy-cat by how he was running away. However, in “Speaking with Courage”, he was mentioning the character of Norman Bowker in which he was carrying the burden of his memory. Norman's situation is not having an audience to which he can talk about the stories of Vietnam that weigh heavily on him emotionally. O'Brien emphasizes Bowker's reluctance to tell others about his experiences in Vietnam, as he believes that they don't want to hear them. Norman …show more content…
O Brien apparently wasn’t suggested to the fact that a soldier stayed alive because of skill, but is rather more of his luck. This does not make Kiowa's death less tragic but it is more universal because it could happen to any of them. There is no way to measure luck because it is an element in war in which it is all depended upon on which none of them could regulate. I believe this is true in some way because sometimes if we are in a huge battle, we can’t always win the battle based on skills that we have, there’s always a saying “Survival of the Fittest” and that we must be in luck to survive for ourselves. “Field Trip” talks about how the author which happens to be the character of Tim and his daughter, Kathleen who was 10 years old, was traveling to Vietnam where they visit the site of Kiowa's death. It was really interesting to see how “In the Field” shows Norman trying to save Kiowa and was dead and the transition to “Field Trip” where they see the funeral for
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