The Things They Carried

“Ambush”/“Good Form,” This quote from Good Form is a good example of character because it shows how the character feels inside his head and his guilt even though he didn't do anything, “I watched a man die on a trail near the village of My Khe. I did not kill him. But I was present, you see, And my presence was guilt enough.” This helped me understand the story because it helped me understand what type of person the character was and how he felt about situations like these. The author's perspective on war in this section is that war affects every person differently, in this case, someone's death that wasn't their fault still affected them greatly. (O’Brien 179) The next quote from Ambush is an example of imagery because it has vivid descriptions of what the character is seeing. “He lay at the center of the trail, his right leg bent beneath him, his one eye shut, his other eye a huge star-shaped hole.” This helped me understand the rest of the story because it gave some input on what can happen to anyone in war no matter what side you are on. The author's perspective on war in this section is that, war can be unforgiving and it can be gruesome, the fact that this person was mangled without choice shows the fact that war is very dangerous. (O’Brien 133) The message I took away is that war can destroy people and that it is unforgiving and sometimes there are only bad choices but you still have to choose one. 

My first quote from “On The Rainy River” explains the author's perspective on war. “I was a coward. I went to the war.” (O'Brien 61)-Paradox. This is a paradox because most people think going to war means you are brave. Tim O'Brien, However, thinks just the opposite. This helps me better understand the author's perspective on war because he views going to war as being cowardly. This quote helps me understand the story better by explaining the author's feelings about it going in and can help me make an educated guess as to what will happen throughout the story. My second quote from “On The Rainy River” helps me understand why the author went to war in the first place. “All those eyes on me-The town, the whole universe- and I couldn’t risk the embarrassment.” (O’Brien 59)- metaphor. This quote helps me better understand the story because he is feeling overwhelmed by not going to war, feeling so embarrassed for not going, that he went. This also helped me better understand the author's perspective on war because he is fighting with himself on not going. He is trying to avoid it. He views war as something he should not be a part of. The message I took away from the story is that war is tempting for the wrong reasons, almost like peer pressure. 

The book “The man I killed” shows Tim has killed a man outside the village of my Khe who was just walking down a trail. Struggling with processing  his emotions(the killing). He creates a backstory  for the man and it's simular to his own life. His friend Kiowa trys to help him out of it and stop staring at the body. The first quote from "The man I Killed" explains how war is cruel “The body lay almost entirely in shade. There were gnats at the mouth”(O'Brien 129) this shows plot throughout the book and helps you paint a picture of what it was like. My second quote from “The man I killed” is “ He had no stomach for violence”( O’Brien)  this shows juxutapostion in the story and how some people cannot handle the violence while other people are just used to it.

“Ambush” and “Good Form” by Tim O’Brien 

“One eye was shut, the other eye a huge star-shaped hole.” (O’Brien 133) Imagery is shown by the description of the eye. How it was opened up in a star shape by a grenade, Which is hard on Tim because he killed him 

“Sometimes I forgive myself, and other times I don’t.” (O’Brien 133) He is in conflict with himself not knowing what the right thing to do was. Hating himself for killing a person, but forgiving because it saved his life. 

I think this text shows that war is cruel and unforgettable, by the fact he is forced to kill a man. Then having to live with the guilt of killing him. The internal conflict the character faces because of it is just cruel.

On the rainy river 

“ At night, when I couldn't sleep is sometimes carry fierce arguments with those people.”              - character          this helps me understand the author's opinion about war because it shows that he wanted to please everyone but he is afraid of war. He didn't want to ruin his life that he had so well planned out for himself.     He thinks this war is a waste of time and he'd be more happy to join any other just not his one.  War is confusion 

“ I was weird and jittery… I went through the whole day dizzy with sorrow.”  - imagery      this helps me understand the author's opinion about war because at this point he has run away and is trying to make up his mind about crossing the river and going into canada.  He thinks war is useless     war is confusion and doubt 

“Down inside I had important things to tell her…but couldn't make any words come out.” (O’Brien 218-230)-- character– “Lives of the dead” Tim O’Brien 

This helps explain character because he is trying to talk but no words are coming out. He is trying to say what he feels but he can't because he is damaged deep down.

“It didn't seem real. A mistake I thought. The girl lying in the white casket” ( O’Brien 241)--Imagery– “lives of the dead” Tim O’Brien 

This helps explain imagery because he is seeing his girlfriend in a white casket laying there lifeless. He was visualizing the love of his life right in front of him dead and he couldn't help her.

These terms helped me understand the war because of all the things that are going wrong because of him being speechless and not comprehending the fact that she is in the casket dead. This makes me understand that war is unforgivable and unforgettable. 

The author's perspective on war is how it is hard to forget and hard to not have these images and flashbacks about what happened and how he can't get back what he used to have in war.

The message about war that I took away was that it is unforgettable and you can't unsee the things that happened to you during war.

Lives of the Dead
“Timmy, stop crying. It doesn’t matter.” (O’Brien 238) This quote shows juxtaposition because it shows how people deal with death differently than each other.
“The dead had been dead for more than a day. They were all badly bloated. Their clothing was stretched tight like sausage skins . . .” (O’Brien 243) This quote shows imagery by describing how bodies start to look after they die and how Tim focuses on how the bodies look.

The message about war that I took from this story is that death can be scary and hard to deal with.

“The Man I Killed” by Tim O’Brien.“Stop staring” (O’brian 128) This shows character because he wants people to stop staring at him so it shows what he is feeling inside. This helped me to understand him because he doesn't like when people stare at him. This also relates to my book because he goes out onto the football field during halftime and everybody is looking at him. Another way that this book relates to my book is when he said “By telling stories, you objectify your own experience” (O’brian 128) In my book he is also telling stories about what happened during the war and after. The message I took away from this book was War can be scary even after it is over.

“The Man I KIlled” Tim O’Brien

“He imagined covering his head and lying in a deep hole and closing his eyes and not moving until the war was over.”(O’Brien 127) Character 

Character helps me better understand the story because it gives me a perspective of who Tim is and how he feels about things. Tims character made war seem very unforgiving and something people either get used to quickly or learn to forget, or something youll never forget. 

“At night, lying on his mat, he could not picture himself doing the brave things his father had done,” (O’Brien 125)Juxtaposition 

Juxtaposition helps me understand the story more because in quotes like this one you can tell that Tim compares himself to people and how they handle the war. Juxtaposition shows that they all do things differently in the war.

From this story, I felt that the big message was that people handle things differently in war and it takes a lot of emotional detachment to handle what really goes on in war.  

This book compares to my book because both main characters feel similar about war. Both books mention trauma in war. 

 “So you shot them. A rank nausea is spreading out from his armpits.”(Fountain 137)

In the short story “Lives of the Dead” by Tim O’Brien. This is similar to the novel “Sand Queen”. The Lives of the Dead is about Tim losing his best friend and crushing at a young age. Sand Queen is about two girls that promise to stick together during war since it’s a hard time. Kate left her parents at 19 to go serve in Iraq.  Naema is trying to free her father and her 13 year old brother from a camp. Both of these stories relate to losing a loved one or missing them. 

“Down inside I have important things to tell her…but I couldn’t make any words come out”(O’Brien 228-230). This is an example of character and pov because he is too scared and nervous to tell her how he feels and doesn’t want to mess things up. 

“The dead has been dead for more than a day. They were badly bloated. Their clothes were stretched tight like sausage skins”(O’Brien 243). This is shown as imagery because they are explaining how the bodies were badly beaten up and how they have been dead for some time now. 

The overall message is war brings the darkest of feelings.

“The Man I Killed” by Tim O’Brien. 

 “ stop staring”(O’brien 128) this quote showed lots of repetition. The repetition of this being said to Tim shows how he couldn't look away; he was so devastated and wishes that he wasn't put in that situation because the man he killed reminded him of himself.  ‘“ do you want to trade places with him?”’ 

(O’brien 126) this quote shows a different literary term Understatement. Tim used this literary term to make you as a reader understand how deeply he feels and it gets you thinking about how truly awful he feels not only of the situation but of himself. 

the overall message of war is that War is devastating

On the Rainy River

“At night, I wouldn’t sleep. I'd sometimes carry on fierce arguments with those people.” (O’Brien 45)-Character

This quote shows who he is as a character, which this part of him is because of war.

“I was wired and jittery…I went through whole days dizzy with sorrow.” (O’Brien 50)-Character

This quote also shows a part of him and the way he acts. Which is also because of war. 

The literary terms used helped me understand more about how the war affects people. 

I think the author's perspective on war is the effects it leaves on those people. Which is also what I got out of this chapter. 

" Lives of the Dead" By Tim O'Brian

“ Down inside I had important things to tell her…But I couldn't make any words come out.” (O’Brian 228-230) understatement

This explains understatement because this is telling us that he wanted to say and share his feelings to her but he was too nervous and words couldn’t come out. 

“ Timmy, stop crying. It doesn't matter.” (O”Brian 238) character 

This explains the character because he was missing his friend and the actions he was showing were making it worse. 

The message about war is can be hard to get through 

“The Man I Killed.” This short story shows a good example of imagery because of the things Tim has seen. One quote that helps support this is “The left cheek was peeled back… the blood was spreading across his shirt.” (O'Brien 128). It helps me understand the story a little better while understanding how Tim was traumatized by looking at the dead body. The story also shows much repetition. “He wore a gold ring on the third finger of his right hand.” (O'Brien 124-128). This helps me better understand the story also because it shows that Tim is very traumatized by his personal experience of killing a man. It also shows me that he will forever remember this moment as he gets older. The author's perspective on war in this story is that, War will forever be a traumatizing and memorable experience. The message I took away from this story was that War can be scary and make you do things that you may not want to do.

“The Lives of the Dead” by Tim O’Brien

“I felt funny excitement. Anticipation, in a way--that same awkward feeling when I walked up the sidewalk to ring her doorbell on our first date.” (241 O’brien)-- the literary term that helps me understand this better is imagery because you can imagine the anxious feelings that Tim is having in this situation. 

“Death sucks” (243 O’brien) The literary term that helped me with this quote is understatement because the quote has a broad overall statement but that statement can continue to go into depth it just doesn't in the case of this quote. 

These two literary terms helped me understand the author's perspective on war by helping me find a deeper meaning within the quotes once adding the literary terms to them. The message I got from this story about war is that death is a harsh reality of war and I believe the author's message would be the same

“Lives of the Dead”

I chose “Lives of the Dead” for this response. I chose this story because it relates to my novel in the same way because they are both not about the war itself.

Communication is a very important thing that war can take away. “Down inside I had important things to tell her… but I couldn't make the words come out.” (O’Brien 229). This quote is a good example of character. Tim wants to tell Linda how he really feels about her and their relationship, but there is just something that is stopping him from being able to do that. ““‘Timmy, stop crying. It doesn’t matter.’” (O’Brien 328). Understatement is shown in this quote. It shows understatement because she's saying it doesn't matter at all when it clearly does a lot to him.

These quotes and this story helped me understand how war can affect someone as a person when they are out of war or not in a place with war. I think the message the author was trying to convey was that war can affect or remind you of relationships you have.

“The Man I Killed” by Tim O’Brien. 

 “ stop staring”(O’brien 128) this quote showed lots of repetition. The repetition of this being said to Tim shows how he couldn't look away; he was so devastated and wishes that he wasn't put in that situation because the man he killed reminded him of himself. He was devastated and that helped me understand the theme of the short work, Devastation.  “Do you want to trade places with him?” (O’brien 126) This quote shows a different literary term Understatement. Tim used this literary term to make you as a reader understand how deeply he feels and it gets you thinking about how truly awful he feels not only of the situation but of himself. This quote connects to the theme of the short work as well but giving an understatement and making you realize how devastated Tim was of this happening that he even wanted to trade places with him.

War is devastating, and this short work shows that theme by Tim showing how truly guilty he feels for killing this man that is just like him.

The story I chose to write about was The Man I Killed, by Tim O’Brien. 

A quote that shows imagery is “His neck was open to the spinal cord and the blood there was thick and shiny” (O’Brien 124). This shows imagery because it is describing what Tim was seeing. This helps me understand the things Tim saw in Vietnam, and how it impacted his character and perspective on war.

A quote that shows simile is, “You laid him out like shredded fuckin’ wheat” (O’Brien 125). This shows simile because it is describing the kill to shredded wheat using the word like. This helps me understand the coping mechanisms of the men after killing someone, and how they viewed death and how that impacted their perspective. 

These terms help me understand the author’s perspective on war because they illustrate the horrible things he saw, and how he and his friends interpreted them. The author’s perspective on war is that it’s terrible. He hates the things it made him do and he hates himself for going along with it. You can see this in how he describes the man he killed in brutal detail, and how he hates how he and his friends reacted to the death at the time. A message about war that I got from this section was that war creates trauma that can change people’s lives.

On the Rainy River

“The brush would whirl and water would come shooting out. You'd hear a quick splattering sound as the clots dissolved into a fine red mist.” (O’ Brien 43) imagery. Using Imagery in this story helps give a better understanding of what's happening because we can actually see what's going on. We can imagine the blood clots dissolving into a red mist. Imagery is  used a lot in this story and it helps. “Contrasting the cleanliness of his home to his life falling apart. Upon leaving his parents home, Tim reflects on how clean his parents house is, contrasting how his life is falling apart around him.” (O’Brien 46) POV. Using POV in the story puts us into the perspective of him. Just like imagery, it is used many times throughout the story and it helps us better understand the message and experience of war. We can imagine what is actually going on and what he's going through. I think the author's perspective of war is that it's scary, I can imagine that it is.