Even though The Things They Carried is set during the Vietnam War, in what ways is it relevant today, with regard to war and politics as well as our personal struggles?
As you read the novel, which parts did you connect/relate to best in terms of the struggles, character relationships, or in other ways?
What did you gain from reading this novel? What would you say is the "Big Idea" (or universal lesson) of this novel that will stick with you after reading it?
In the novel, 'The Things They Carried', I learned that the major themes woven into the plot can be viewed in the lives of those still today. The characters in the novel that O'Brien illustrates not only carried emotional burdens during the war, but even after the lasting effects can be viewed. An example would be that Bowker eventually commits suicide, which displays the idea that that the effects of war are eternal. The novel can connect with all readers effortlessly, because of the personal battles and things that we all tend to carry throughout our lives. Personally, the novel truly opened my eyes to the effects war has on those who must endure it. I've learned that the mind is a fragile place, and traumas such as war can destroy even the most stable of souls.
ReplyDeleteAlthough The Things They carried was set during the Vietnam war, many people today are still having to deal with the pain of leaving their families. The military will always need strong individuals to protect our country, even when we are not in war. People today are in the same situation as Lieutenant Cross and are bringing their family members pictures along with them to give them courage. I have never read a novel that is from many points of view from people who are actively living mentally and physically inside the war. Tim O’ Brien captivates the big ideas of war and how the things they carry can get even more real than they seem to be. I believe the main idea from this novel was that the truth hurts. The war corrupted so many men that nothing even feels real anymore. O’ Brien does this storytelling to try and save himself because of all the guilt and horror he faced during the war. For example, he kills a man on a trail and feels like he did the wrong thing. He will have to live with this horrifying truth for the rest of his life.
ReplyDeleteThe Things They Carried might have been set during the Vietnam War, but the main ideas and lessons are universal in regards to time. These men carried much more than their basic necessities. For Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, it was the memories of his dear Martha. Unfortunately, these memories costed him a great deal of guilt. As stated in the novel, "He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war." The last place these men wanted to be was Vietnam, so many were distracted by various things. This whole idea is still relevant today. There will be obstacles in life filled with guilt and sorrow caused by our own personal mistakes, but we have to learn to persevere and work through them. It is all a part of life and full control is not always something we will have. War is a cruel thing and nobody seems to like it, yet it still remains inevitable.
ReplyDeleteThough it is based on the Vietnam War era, The Things They Carried is still relevant today. This is because the struggles those soldiers carried from home are the same struggles people carry everyday. Of course the book also relates to more things that are reoccurring; The problem of war and politics always repeat itself throughout history because of conflicts regarding religion and the rise of communist like governments. I feel the most relatable thing to me was when Tim O'Brien had to be brave through his young love's death(Linda). Everyone has those hard moments in your life that you remember but it makes you braver. I might be wrong, but I believe the message is along the lines of this: The things you experience and the symbols, or things, you carry is what defines you and makes you different from the guy standing next to you.
ReplyDeleteThe "Big Idea" of the novel, by Tim O' Brien, is the title itself, The Things They Carried. Throughout the story, the author explains the emotional burdens that each individual soldier must carry before, during, and after the Vietnam War. For example, when O'Brien first enters the War as a soldier he has to learn how to deal with death in his own way. Other soldiers such as Rat Kiley deal with the death using a sense of humor to make the reality of the situation less real. Kiley would go to the corpses and high five them and talk to them acting like they were still alive. O'Brien learns to deal with death by keeping them alive with stories. Each soldier had to carry immense guilt, trauma, and grief because of the Vietnam War. From reading this novel I gained insight on how emotionally brutal the war is for each and every soldier.
ReplyDeleteTim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried presents a unique story to the reader as it is told through the eyes of a Vietnam War veteran. From my personal point of view, O’Brien does an excellent job of conveying to the reader his two main ideas: the importance of the truth and the physical and emotional burdens placed on human beings. Following O’Brien’s experience and delving into his life alongside his fellow soldiers fighting for their lives in a seemingly unending war, I was able to see that the truth is ugly sometimes, especially in cases like this. Most every war before the Vietnam War were depicted as honorable and heroic, but through O’Brien’s storytelling and his take on the lives of those around him, the reader is able to see the truth isn’t always what we imagine it to be. In the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story”, the reader learns that in reality, the soldiers alongside O’Brien were fictional. However, O’Brien provides the reader with the statement that the story has no moral, which to me emphasizes the fact that although the characters and the stories he wrote are not real, there is truth behind each and every one of them, and that the Vietnam War meant something and changed something within them.
ReplyDeleteAlthough "The Things They Carried" is based on the Vietnam war, it is relevant to war today as it shares many similarities. Regardless of advancements in technology and tactics, war is still war. There is still death and gore that the living has to deal with. Soldiers fighting today's wars still have to deal with death. Soldiers also may lose a friend or a loved one. This can cause trauma and dramatically change someone's life. Another common element that is still present today is revenge. O'Brien wants revenge after he almost dies at the hands of a young medic. Today's war for America is largely based on revenge. One more aspect of the book that is still relevant is the struggle to move on. For example, Norman Bowker is unable to adapt to life after the war. It is very common in the present time period to have trouble moving on.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the novel "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien is portrayed in the Vietnam War era, the book is increasingly relevant to many aspects of today's society. In each and every war throughout American history, our soldiers have remained the same in one particular way: they have all carried things that are true to themselves. Whether it be their equipment, personal belongings, or events they have encountered, these soldiers have endured the unimaginable and though every war, they have carried these experiences inside of them. As I continued to read the novel, I felt a connection to Tim O'Brien's extensive concept of life that can be identified throughout the book. O'Brien is essentially stating that through the hardships and setbacks in life, the soldiers had the ability to use these difficulties to exhibit bravery. This concept can be applied to me, personally, because I believe that personal struggle results in personal strength and having to experience difficult situations makes you increasingly knowledgeable and aware. The author did a remarkable job presenting the reader with insight into the personal lives, thoughts, and experiences of the soldiers in an unforeseen way. I felt as though I was present in the stories that were told throughout the novel and I now see the pain, trauma, and suffering these courageous soldiers have been forced to comply with in the midst of each war. I would say the universal lesson of this story is that no matter that situation, we all carry physical and emotionally things with us wherever we go, and part of continuing on is learning how to use these "things" to our advantage to become stronger.
ReplyDeleteThe book "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien is set in the time of the Vietnam War. This happens to be the case, but the book is relevant in many ways to the aspects of today's day and age. Tim O'Brien does a great job by portraying the emotional burdens of each soldier throughout the entirety of the book. Many personal struggles in life make this book easy to relate to. The soldiers experience way more than any of us would, but we experience something similar just in smaller scale. I believe this means that the big idea of this book is such: Everyone has their own struggles in life and some carry it visually and some mentally, but we are all struggling together and that is what war is.
ReplyDeleteAlthough "The Things They Carried" is set during the Vietnam war, many of the themes and ideas throughout the novel are carried to today's world. The world still sees war, it is not just a thing of the past. People still have to face horrors, fears, and anxiety. Many of the men carried fear in regards to something that could happen to them (such as O'Brien's terror of getting shot) but ending up feeling more anxiety during the thought process, rather than the event. I relate very heavily to that. As for the "Big idea" I believe that it is all about the baggage we as people carry - objects, emotions, you name it. This idea really stuck with me and truly made me reflect on how the things that I carry have deeper meaning attached to them, and I truly believe that this will follow me for a long time.
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ReplyDeleteEven though "The Things They Carried" is set during the time of the Vietnam War, I feel its message is still relevant to our society today. Everybody is bearing a burden on their shoulders. Every single human in this world is walking around with baggage. Fears, weaknesses, struggles, loss, the list goes on. There is not a single person living on this planet that is living without something weighing on them. For Jimmy, it was Martha and the guilt he carries because of Lavender getting killed. The personal items the soldiers carried with them told a story about the emotions and the thoughts they had inside. Jimmy carried a rock from the beach and a picture of Martha around to represent his thoughts about her. The idea that everybody is carrying varying kinds of baggage around with them is something that I've thought about throughout reading this novel, and something that has given me a whole new perspective on the people around me.
ReplyDeleteTim O’Brien tried running away from what he was being called to do in “The Things They Carried” and I see people running away from what they are called to do all too much today, including myself. I understand why he tried running away from the draft at the beginning of the book; since we are so held up with the good stuff in our lives, we can’t accept the bad things or “curve balls” thrown at us even if we should participate in them. From reading this novel I have learned that I shouldn’t run from the suffering matter in my life. Sometimes these struggles are set in our way to assist us in getting over a more substantial obstacle with a greater reward.
ReplyDeleteEven though "The Things They Carried" is set in the Vietnam War, many of the struggles they face are still relevant in time today. Jimmy Cross felt guilty for the death of his friend Ted Lavender, and this can show an important lesson for people today. In life people can often blame themselves for things that they had nothing to do with. I think that the book taught me not to feel completely guilty and worried about something, that I may have nothing to do with. Jimmy Cross was not responsible for Lavender's death, and this can show us to put ourselves first sometimes.
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ReplyDeleteAlthough "The Things They Carried" is set in the Vietnam War, the struggles seen in the book are seen today. One early theme are O'Brien's thoughts on the draft. At first, O'Brien puts his personal fear in front of his country and refuses to go to war, but later ends up in Vietnam. This is relevant to society today as it shows that it is important to put others before yourself, in this case the country. O'Brien put his personal feelings for his health in front of his country, and even contemplates heading to Canada to flee the war. O'Brien realizes that his feelings got ahead of him, so he heads back to Minnesota after being 20 yards away from Canadian territory. The message shown here that translates to society today is to put others before yourself.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the novel The Things They Carried was set in the Vietnam War era, the message and struggles from the novel are still relevant today. Just like the soldiers in the book, many people today walk around with baggage. People walk around with fears and anxieties, and they can't just disappear. People deal with this baggage in different ways, which I was what I gained from reading this novel. Jimmy felt guilty for Lavender's death, and he had to live with that. The thing I related to the most in this novel was the bravery shown through the hard times. The soldiers in the novel had to show great bravery, even when they didn't, and I think everyone can relate to this, even myself. I think the "Big Idea" is the struggles the men went through in the war. These men had to live with these struggles but also try and deal with the struggles while fighting.
ReplyDeleteThe novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is still relevant today even though it is set during the Vietnam War. O'Brien wasn't really sure of his stand point on war when he first received his letter telling him to join. Many people now even probably are unsure of their stand point with politics constantly changing and evolving. However, today people get a choice of whether or not they want to join a branch of the army. I can relate to some of the character relationships in this story. I think we all know someone like Rat Kiley who always likes to goof off and just have fun. I related to the relationship O'Brien had to him because he describes him as thinking he is childish but has good intentions. From this novel I gained the idea that it is okay to take a risk sometimes and do something for the benefit of everyone. I think the overall message of the book that will stick with me is it is okay to feel lost and not sure of what to do because in the end you will make the right choice even if it doesn't feel like it at the time.
ReplyDeleteThe Things They Carried is still relevant today because people will always carry pain. No matter what time period, social class, gender or race one person is apart of, everyone carries emotional baggage. It is still relevant in war and politics because our government still sends young men and now women to fight wars we shouldn’t be involved in. I relate to the struggles of O’Brien because he is conflicted. If we went to war right now I would also be conflicted. How do you fight for a war you don’t believe in? However, its not easy to turn your back on your country. His struggle is not something I have faced, but I would feel the same if I were him. This novel helps me better understand the power of emotions. It demonstrates how heavy grief, loss and guilt can weigh.
ReplyDeleteThe novel The Things They Carried is a book set in the time period of the Vietnam war. The themes presented in the book are still relevant to this day. I think a major theme in the book is the burdens that people carry with them through life. In war, the physical and emotional burdens are forced onto each and every soldier and they have to live the rest of their lives with that burden on their shoulders. Today soldiers and many others carry burdens that some people don't even know about. Tim O'Brien has to carry the burden of killing a Vietnamese soldier and he struggled to even tell his daughter about it. There are things in people lives that they are forced to carry with them to the grave and this is still relevant today. I could relate and I feel a lot of people can relate to the message that Tim O'Brien gave in the novel. Everybody has hard times in there lives and setbacks, but we all have to live with them in the end. When I finished the novel I think that it opened my eyes to what the soldiers really had to go through and it helps you to be more compassionate to everyone because you truly don't know what they have to go through in their lives.
ReplyDeleteThe Things They Carried is still relevant today because as sad as it is it seems war stays around. This novel shows what the "average" soldier would have to go through and I think it shows that it is almost impossible to go through a war completely unchanged. I think it relates to today because far too often when you're going through a city you see homeless veterans, some from the Vietnam War or any of the others. This shows that the transition coming back from war may be harder than the transition into war. If you're leaving loved ones then you are hoping to come back to them, but sometimes you come back a different person and that may drive a loved on away. Also, O'Brien comments on how you feel the most alive when you're close to death, this may also make the transition into daily life difficult for a returning soldier because they may feel that something is missing, this may be why so many veterans become depressed or turn to alcohol or other drugs. After reading this novel, I think the "big idea" is very similar to the title, the things people carry go far beyond the things we can see.
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ReplyDeleteThe Things They Carried has many aspects that are important to today's society. For example, Tim had talked about talking to Linda who he loved before her death in his dreams. People today are still faced with death and still dream about dead loved ones to help cope. Also, people today are still faced with the hardships the soldiers go through such as, leaving their families, death, and being scared to fight in the war. At the beginning of the novel, Tim talks about not knowing what to do. He began to run off to Canada, but decided to come back to his life he's supposed to live and fight. This is important today as well because we all face internal conflict with ourselves during our lifetime. He does this because he believes it is the right thing to do, even though he does not want to. I connected to Tim seeing Linda in his dreams. After I lost my grandmother, I had dreams about her frequently. I also connect to the soldiers carrying important objects with them regardless of the physical weight because my father would take my drawings and key chains when he traveled for business. I believe the "Big Idea" of this novel is that what you go through, shapes you and that everything happens for a reason.
ReplyDeleteThe big idea of the novel is to give an insight on how people fare when they are involved in a war, how it affects them during the war and after it in many forms. I did not relate to many of the events in the book as I have not experienced a war nor anything similar to it, but i did find many of the events insightful. The fear that the narrator feels when he receives the draft was perhaps the most insightful part of the book, putting yourself in his shoes and feel the terror that is caused by the prospect of possibly being killed/maimed for a war you don't agree with. I gained a useful perspective from the book learning about the affect that witnessing the horrors of war can have on people. I found the book very interesting and am happy that I read it.
ReplyDeleteIn the book, The Things They Carried, the big idea is how the things people carry matter. The book starts by explaining what everyone has to carry with them. Each person has their baggage, mental and physical things to carry. First of all, they have the equipment that they have to carry. Then they have their personal items, Lieutenant Cross carried the picture of the woman he loves. While Kiowa carried the bible that his father had sent him. I gained a lot of insight from reading this novel. The way Tim describes everything that has happened makes you think about how tough all of these people had to be. We face challenges every day that have no match to what all the soldiers had to go through. I didn't relate to much during the book, in some moments the fear that they were feeling, I have felt. But, some of their experiences no one can ever relate to unless you have experienced it.
ReplyDeleteThe main message in The Things They Carried was how people had to go through war and change as a person. No one wants to go to war and no one wants to change because of the war. Most soldiers have to leave their family and the people they love and if they come back with trauma, the people they love could soon become people who don't love them back anymore. This relates to war today because people can be based in the heart of a battle and see really gruesome things and when they come back from war it can make waking up in the morning and going to work extremely hard. As you go down streets you always see Homeless Vet. and you can never know what they went through. I learned that there is much more to people than what they carry. There weren't many parts I could relate to because I haven't been in a situation of a war, but I learned that going through a war it's impossible to be the same person all the way through it. People are going to change and the world today is like that.
ReplyDeleteAlthough "The Things They Carried" was set in the Vietnam War Era, It is filled with many hardships and similarities still present today. War is a process that will unfortunately always be around, so that means that young men and women will always be called to serve and protect our country. Jimmy Cross was constantly found dreaming about a young women named Martha back in the states. He desperately wanted to see her again. Still today the separation of friends and family is one of the hardest things about war. I was able to connect to this novel pretty well because of stories i have heard from my Grandfather. He served overseas in Vietnam for 4 years before returning to the states. He would tell me about the conditions he faced over there and the brand new problems he had to face and overcome. He said it was extremely difficult to be away from your family and friends for that long, but you tend to form a bond with your platoon that mimicked a family type relationship. One thing I learned in this novel is that everyone faces hardships, but you have to learn to overcome them. Having the courage and strength to fight your own battles everyday, whatever they may be, is one of the most important character traits you can have.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that will stick with me from the novel is how the war can crumble even the strongest men. War may be physically hard, but It can ruin people mentally. Many soldiers experience PTSD and other mental illnesses. It may seem like the war is the greatest struggle but many men struggle more after the war. The stories take over their mind just like they did to O'Brien. The war is not over when they get home. They live with the war for the rest of their life.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what lifestyle a person has, they are bound to face struggles. In the novel, The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien made it very clear that the soldiers that had fought during the Vietnam War lived in a way that is still very relevant to today's society. Wars are still going on and innocent people are still dying. But even despite the fighting aspect, the soldiers back then had loved ones and did everything they could to cherish past memories. People today carry around pictures of family members and friends everywhere they go and the same went for the characters in the story. They do this as a reminder that they are loved and have something to fight for. However, I believe that the big idea in the story is that with love comes conflict. As the days went on and Lieutenant Cross began thinking more and more about Martha, his focus on the war became weakened. This is displayed when Lavender dies under his watch. I feel a lot of people can relate to the concept of love and how it brings both feelings of happiness and loss. We say love is blind but never realize it until it’s too late. This is something that I can take away from reading the novel.
ReplyDeleteAlthough in a different genre and time period, Tim O'Brien's novel, The Things They Carried, can still be related to day-to-day life today. Everyone carries things with them; ghosts of their pasts or wonders of their futures. His novel relates to peoples' struggles with life and how they carry themselves--who gives up and who keeps going. The struggles that people go through, whether that they be a citizen or solder or from a different time, can effect their lives permanently. Love, hatred, loathing, respect, fear, loss, are some emotions that weigh many people down. With each emotion, everyone must look to see what they are fighting for, for if they lose sight of that, then what are they fighting for? Each emotional impact on your life effects your future depending on how you act on it. You may never understand the weight you or others carry. You never know one's story until you feel the weight that they carry. All you can do is remember what are you fighting for?
ReplyDeleteThe things the soldiers carried went beyond their backpacks. They carried guilt from past mistakes, yearning for something or someone back home, and fear of death at any turn. They carried those feelings with them throughout the war and kept carrying them when it was over, even picking up new fears and regrets to hump for the rest of their lives. I can seriously relate to the feeling of not being able to let go of guilt. Some of the ways I've done others wrong can come back to me suddenly many years after they've passed. I know there's nothing to be done about them now, but the knowledge that it's on my hands is enough to sometimes keep me up at night. I'd say one of the most important things to take away from this book is that everyone has baggage and different ways of carrying it. A seemingly universal thing everyone dealt with throughout the book was death. Death of strangers, of allies, of friends, of family, of lovers. Everyone handled their losses in different ways. This is very true of reality and it's vital that you be conscious of other people's baggage as well as their mechanisms for coping.
ReplyDeleteThe Things They Carried still maintains its relevancy today by connecting the reader with the soldiers burdens and troubles. The soldiers carry their guilt and remorse with them, and those same feelings still affect people today. I however, did not relate very well to the events in the novel as I have never had to experience such traumatic events like those soldiers in Vietnam. However, I still felt empathy for the characters when I read about how desensitized the platoon was to the death of others. What I got from reading the book was a perspective of Vietnam that went beyond the standard, non empathetic point of view of textbooks. This insight on the Vietnam war will remain as the piece of information i have taken from The Things They Carried.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to relevancy, there are many tragedies throughout the novel that will remain timeless. One of the most common tragedies, unfortunately, is death. Wheater the subject we are referring to was shot in the back of the head or defeated after struggling a hard battle against cancer, death is unavoidable. In most cases, death takes the biggest toll on those who are left to cope with it and mourn it. Often times, after the loss of someone close to us, we have a hard time adjusting to life without them. Many of us may carry guilt, like Jimmy Cross for example. It was stated that Jimmy loved Martha more than his men, which cost him the death of the Tev Lavender. For the remainder of the war, the guilt of Tev Lavender's death hangs over Jimmy's head. Today, often times when family members pass away, we find ourselves asking the question, “what could I have done to prevent this?” or feeling guilty about the lack of time that we spent with that person. Although it is hard to let things go, and forgive ourselves for our mistakes, being upset with yourself as an individual for the way that things played out will never bring a loved one back to life. We can only learn from the past, we can not change it. After Ted's death, Jimmy swallowed his pebble from Martha and begun to pay better attention to his men in order to prevent repetition.
ReplyDeleteThough the book The Things They Carried is set during the Vietnam War, many things still remain relevant. One thing for example is how the experience of war can affect people both during the war and after the war. Many soldiers could relate to this story because many know the struggles. Most soldiers in war have seen a friend or someone die during combat and the image will always be there. This image will follow you even after the war is finished and many times it leaves the person thinking it was their fought or they didn't do everything they could do to save them. I was not able to relate to the story very well since I have never been to war or seen anyone die in front of me. What I was able to obtain from this story however is that everyone faces some kind of hardship. I learned that no matter how challenging the hardship is you must learn to overcome it because it will only hold you back.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this novel is set during the Vietnam War it is still very relevant to things in today's world. Death is one example no matter how much time has gone by the deaths then and the deaths now bring just as much pain. Family of soldiers today go through the same struggles of those during the Vietnam War. I think that the main message is how there is always gonna be struggles. There will be different struggles for different people. An example for many of the soldiers is how war physically and mentally affected them. After the war the PTSD they receive is a very big deal that they have to learn to recover from to still live their life. I gained perspective from this novel. I don't think about what a soldier really has to go through that much and it really showed me the hardships that occurs to them.
ReplyDeleteDespite 'The Things They Carried' being written about a war that happened decades ago, its politics are still relevant today in that rich men make decisions, which will have no effect on their own selves or families, for common civilians. An example would be Flint's water crisis. While there is no arms war there, innocent citizens are receiving the disastrous effects of big companies and rich men that control things from a safe distance, never seeing the consequences of their actions. Meanwhile, the middle and poor classes are left to suffer for a fate they did not choose. This novel was an important read for me because it showed me just how up and personal war can get. While I never did really fall for the "gleaming, courageous American soldier" act that the media puts up, I never truly realized just how much war can change one's character.
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