This section contains 867 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
The Things They Carried: Coping With Death
Summary: Discusses the Tim O'Brien book, The Things They Carried. Examines how O'Brien conveys his approach to death, coping skills, and the loss of his childhood friend, Linda. Reveals how O'Brien used his coping skills in the Vietnam War.
Death is one of life's most challenging obstacles. Tim O'Brien was exposed to more than his fair share of death. To manage the emotional stress, he developed methods of coping with the death in his life. O'Brien's novel, The Things They Carried, demonstrates his attempts to make death less real through psychotherapeutic tactics like telling stories about the dead as if they were living and conceiving the dead as items instead of people.
O'Brien explains how the stories told about those who have passed are meant to keep the deceased's life alive. The "weight of memory" was one thing all the solders carried (14). When added to the physical weight of their gear and the emotional burdens of war, it was all too much. In response, the men altered their perceptions of the truth in order to lighten the haunting weight of memory. O'Brien suggests "in a true war...
This section contains 867 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |