Who breaks Lee Strunks nose?

Dave Jensen

Why is The Things They Carried banned?

The language used by the soldiers and O’Brien’s determination to depict the war and its events with accuracy led to the banning of the book. School officials did not want students exposed to what they believed was inappropriate language and they requested that other books be chosen to teach students about the war.

What are the themes in The Things They Carried?

The Things They Carried Themes

  • Courage. Courage and the cult of manhood are familiar themes from earlier war novels and stories, but O’Brien turns the concept completely on its head.
  • Sexual Longing. The Vietnam War was mostly a man’s war, and this book is populated mostly by men.
  • Burdens.
  • Religion/Superstition.
  • Escapism.
  • Innocence.
  • Revenge.

How does O’Brien define courage?

Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a war story that reflects on the importance of courage. For O’Brien, courage is a complex emotion that is not always easy to understand. Also, courage is a commodity in short supply. Soldiers often lack courage, having cowardice instead.

Is The Things They Carried a true story?

The Things They Carried is famously a “true” war story drawn from O’Brien’s service in the Vietnam War, featuring events and people that the reader believes or wants to believe are true.

Why is Elroy berdahl a hero to Tim O Brien?

O’Brien uses Elroy to show that many Americans were dubious of the war’s necessity and benefit. He also serves as a reminder of what a hero can look like to Tim, a quiet but strong man who allows others to make important choices for themselves.

What is the meaning of The Things They Carried?

Physical and Emotional Burdens The “[t]hings” of the title that O’Brien’s characters carry are both literal and figurative. While they all carry heavy physical loads, they also all carry heavy emotional loads, composed of grief, terror, love, and longing. Each man’s physical burden underscores his emotional burden.

What is O Brien’s definition of truth?

For O’Brien, something isn’t true unless it feels true. Whether or not it actually happened is beside the point; something can even have happened and not be true.

What is the main point of the things they carried?

O’Brien stresses that Lt. Cross carries all these things, but in addition carries the lives of his men. Even as O’Brien opens The Things They Carried, he sets forth the novel’s primary themes of memory and imagination and the opportunity for mental escape that these powers offer.

What did Ted Lavender carry emotionally?

Ted Lavender (“who was scared”) carries tranquilizers. Mitchell Sanders carries condoms. Norman Bowker carries a diary. Rat Kiley carries comic books. The emphasis is on Ted Lavender, the scared one, who carried tranquilizers.

What they carried Chapter 1 summary?

The Things They Carried Chapter 1, The Things They Carried. The men carry some amazingly heavy physical and emotional burdens. They all carry as much as they can, for entertainment and protection, including awe and fear of the things they carry. Jimmy Cross receives a pebble from Martha the week before Lavender dies.

Who was Kiowas best friend?

Lesson Summary In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, we are introduced to Kiowa, a Native American Baptist who brought his gentle, kind, compassionate nature to the jungles of the Vietnam War. He is there for his best friend Tim O’Brien when he needs him, as he is for the other men in his company.

What is the function of stories for O Brien?

“Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can’t remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story.”