“The Things They Carried” Introducing questions

==Illusions of love vs reality==

  • In what sense does Jimmy love Martha? Why does he construct this elaborate, mostly fictional, relationship with her? What does he get out of it? Why might O’Brien include this aspect in the story?: Jimmy doesn’t love Martha in a pure way, he loves the idea of being able to fantasize and idealize someone that satisfies his desires.
  • He elaborates on this fictional idea of “love” to have something to hold on to while he’s at war, Martha represents his hopes and dreams, usinghertokeephimselfaliveduringthistraumaticexperienceandgivehimareasontogetback.using her to keep himself alive during this traumatic experience and give him a reason to get back.
  • O’Brien includes this in the story to build the inner conflict of the main character: hecan’tloveMarthaandthewar,hehastogiveuponMarthatobeabletodohisdutieshe can’t love Martha and the war, he has to give up on Martha to be able to do his duties and take care of the people around him. The idea of self-surviving vs surviving with his people.

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==PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL BURDEN OF WAR==

  • Why do the soldiers tell jokes about the war, about killing?: The soldiers tell jokes about killing to help them cope with their experiences in the war.   * They are going through traumatic experiences and find that telling jokes to each other about what’s happening around them will help them ease up and calm down for a bit.   * The soldiers want to act more grown up by sounding tough and not showing their emotional fear.   * The fear that soldiers had when they died was brought with them when they died because they would’ve never wanted to discuss those things as a soldier.
  • How does O’Brien use and develop the idea of weight in the story? How do you, as a reader, feel reading those lists of weights? What effect does it have on you?: O’Brien uses weight to symbolize how each soldier has gone through different experiences and how much they are able to handle mentally and physically from this war.   * The soldiers must physically carry all of the weight of their gear while out on the field and depending on their rank they must carry a lot of heavy equipment at times.   * They must also carry all of the weightofthetraumathey’veexperiencedweight of the trauma they’ve experienced while on deployment and the separation they face for their loved ones.   * As a reader, it makes me appreciate everything they’ve put on the line for the greater cause of this war because it takes brave people to do what they did.
  • How has Jimmy changed by the end of the story? How will he be a different person from this point on? What has he learned about himself? Or to put it another way, what has he lost and what has he gained? Jimmy has changed his perception of love, finally, he realizes that he doesn’t love Martha the way he thought and that keeping his men alive is more important than her.   * After the death of Ted Lavender, he feels guilty because thefantasyhewaslivingwiththegirldistractedhimfromdoinghisdutiesandtakingcareofhispeople.the fantasy he was living with the girl distracted him from doing his duties and taking care of his people.   * He’s changed because he doesn’t have any distractions and can keep his mind focused on what is going on.   * Letting Martha go finally allows him to understandthathehaslostmenunderstand that he has lost men and he’s in charge of the ones alive, he’s going to be stronger for them.

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==POSSIBLE THESIS BASED ON THE ANALYSIS==

Thesis: In this case, Jimmy would be the best candidate for the prompt. Use the thesis formula for an entire work to discuss how the surroundings of Vietnam shape psychological or moral traits in Jimmy. Remember, complexity is found in how Jimmy changes as a result of his environment:

  • In the short story the Things they Carried, Timothy O’Brien characterizes the objects that represent the personal traits of Jimmy as physical burdens that he’s forced to bear, in order to convey that the traumaticexperiencesencounteredindifficulttimes,shapeandstrengthenthepersonalcharacter,traumatic experiences encountered in difficult times, shape and strengthen the personal character, forcing him to use the emotional consequences that affect his perception of the environment around him as a catharsistobecomeabetterleaderandtolearntoseparatehisfearfuldesiresfromtherealityheisliving.catharsis to become a better leader and to learn to separate his fearful desires from the reality he is living.

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==Assertions:==

  • O’Brien craftstheemotionalandpsychologicalconsequencescausedbythewarandcarriedbyJimmyCrossthroughphysicalobjectsthatalludetohiddenfeelingscrafts the emotional and psychological consequences caused by the war and carried by Jimmy Cross through physical objects that allude to hidden feelings, using physical burdens to emphasize his emotional compromise with the situation that continues to define him even after everything is done.
  • In the short story the Things they Carried, Timothy O’Brien identifies the physical weight that Jimmy must endure through the use of physical objects that highlights the emotional toll that he must go through that challenges him to find his own solutions to cope with his experiences.
  • In the story of “The Things they Carried”, O’Brien goes into great detail describing the number of physical things these soldiers carry but akin to the physical weight these soldiers also burden an immense amount of mental trauma.

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