“Facing It” Poetry Analysis After serving his country in the Vietnam War, Yusef Komunyakaa pens the poem “Facing It”. In the poem, “Facing It”, Komunyakaa uses personal emotion, word association and symbolism to convey his message of grief and sadness when visiting the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial for the first time. Although Komunyakaa returned from war years before, the memories still haunt him. Like many war veterans, he is obviously facing life with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. He is overcome with grief as he vividly recalls the flashbacks that he faces when visiting the Memorial for the first time.
Tim O’Brien is considered one of the only authors who portrays the Vietnam War exactly how it was. Through the use of tone and characterization, Tim O’Brien demonstrates a soldier’s constant fear of impending death, and the emotional toll of war. Tim O’Brien uses tone throughout is stories to show what the Vietnam War was like, and how it affected people. The tone in O’Brien’s short story, “Field Trip”, emphasizes the meaning of the trip and why the field is important. The whole purpose of the narrator’s trip to Vietnam is to get closure about Kiowa’s death.
The Things They Carried, a novel written by Tim O’Brien, raises the question of the extent of truthfulness of stories that are told from experience in which the novel is solely based on the accounts of war-veterans and their lives in Vietnam. The soldiers fighting in the war describe certain stories that have affected them the most and from that reader’s can interpret that the armed forces are able to capture the attention of their listeners through providing immense detail of the conditions, adding false information in order to increase suspense, and to evoke emotions with listeners to create parallel feelings with the story at hand. Through O’Brien’s techniques of writing these war accounts he blurs between actual truth and fiction. As a
Battling the war of love in his head, asnd battling the Vietnam War as well, is a great means of PTSD in the making. “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, is a short story about a group of men serving in the Vietnam War. These men are all carrying different items aside from the usual necessities needed while in combat. The items they are carrying are personal effects, and gives insight on how their lives could lead if they are back home. Lieutenant Cross’s personal items however, may be the reason members of his platoon are dying.
Hosseini's perspective of abandoning his country and his people has given him his own view of atonement. Tim O'Brien was a soldier in the Vietnam war, it showed him how cruel this world really is. His novel, The Things They Carried shows the struggles soldiers went through on a day-to-day basis. He also expresses the importance of loyalty in war. It has given him a different perspective of life whereas a family living at home will take things for granted.
I enjoyed reading “Born on the Fourth of July”. My sister recommended it and it turned out to be quite alright, but what I found most influential was how Kovic’s book rationalizes the war problem. He raises concerns about veterans left voiceless following service and about the government’s failure to adequately provide for them. The title of Kovic’s book shows the connection between himself and America, because his birthday is on July fourth, the nations’ day of independence. Kovic emphasizes throughout the book the damage done to his body, which ultimately parallels his belief in the structure of America.
Thematic Response to “The Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien has honed his story-telling into an exact science. He has written a number of books on the Vietnam War, most of which he has based upon his own experience “half a life time ago.” This traumatic event in his life pointed him towards writing as an outlet for the burdens he carried from the war. Tim O’Brien embraces the suffering that he endured during the Vietnam War in order to tell stories of the reality without the boundaries of truth. The theme of the story is that Tim O’Brien uses storytelling to create a meaning in his life. Rather than dwell in the regrets of his past, he welcomes the memories into his imagination and the outcome of his life’s work.
Where William Broyles brags that war has allowed him to explore regions of his soul that other men most likely will never explore, the movie shows the devastative effects that war can have on loved ones and the soldiers themselves. For example, at the end of the movie, a mother reads a letter that her son’s comrade wrote about him after his death. This wrenching example is shown at the end of the movie in order to solidify the sense of loss associated with war. In fact, the other texts and songs we analyzed in class, such as “John Brown” by Bob Dylan, share the same perspective on war with the movie: the loss of the futures of so many brave young men is not worth the thrill that Broyles speaks of with sadistic nostalgia. In addition, this same thrill that Broyles speaks of can also have long lasting effects on the soldiers, in the form of PTSD.
Suffering drags you to look deeper into yourself. To prove his point he provides example by using credibility (ethos) of theologian Paul Tillich and he wrote, “people who endure suffering are taken beneath the routine of life and find they’re no who they believed themselves to be.” Suffering has different impact on people. From the article present us the information of Fanklin Roosevelt how he came back deeper and more empathetic after getting affected by Polio. As to the audience it’ll motivate them to overcome when they face adversity in their life. Many people through various social media share their appreciation to this article.
“The Things they Carried” “The Things they Carried” Steven A. Bauman English Literature David Heikes November 5, 2011 Abstract The things they Carried is a short story pertaining to the Vietnam War, unraveling the emotional and physical ordeals that the soldiers had to go through in their day to day existence. The author successfully brings to fore the burden of intangible things that the soldiers carried in their mind, while superficially alluding to the regular accouterments they had to carry, when on march. The story is imbued with much symbolism and irony. “The Things they Carried” The Things they Carried is a gripping short story by Tim O’Brien that delves on the experiences of a platoon of the American soldiers deployed in the Vietnam War. In addition to deliberating on the emotional and temporal experiences of these soldiers in the war zone, this short story also focuses on the reminiscences of the soldiers, related to their life beyond the war zone.