The myth of courage exposed in the things they carried lies there dead. . .but whatever death reveals, all wounds are marks of glory. (Homer 22.83-87)As students, we are brainwashed by ancient myths such as The Iliad, where war is extolled and the brave warrior praised. Yet modern novels such as Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried (THINGS) challenge these very notions. Like The Iliad, THINGS is about war. It's about battles and soldiers, victory and survival, but the message O'Brien gives us in THINGS is almost contradictory to the traditional war story. While traditional war stories take place on battlefields where soldiers fight soldiers and man's courage is tested, O'Brien's battle takes place in the dark, private place from the spirit of a soldier. Like the Vietnam War itself, THINGS forces Americans to question the foundations of their beliefs and values as it calls attention to their inner conscience. More than a war story, O'Brien's The Things They Carried is an expose of personal courage. Gone are the brave and glorious warriors such as those found at the Battle of Troy. In THINGS, they are replaced by young men who experience neither glory nor courage, but fear, horror and a personal sense of shame. As mythical courage collides with the modern experience of it, a battle is fought in THINGS that are not limited to the rice cakes, jungles and shitfields of Vietnam. Carrying more than just the cargo of a typical soldier, O'Brien's narrator is armed with an arsenal of feelings and words that take on an invisible enemy that is the myth of courage, on a field of invisible battle that is the spirit of the Vietnam veteran. in ...... middle of paper ......ings They Carryed." Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 35.1 (1993): 43. Expanded academic ASAP. Lopez, Ken. "Tim O'Brien: A introduction to His writings." Ken Lopez - Bookseller. 1997. October 8, 1999. http://www.lopezbooks.com/articles/obrien.html>. Works consulted Chen, Tina. "'Unraveling the deeper meaning': the exile and the embodied poetics of displacement in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. " Contemporary Literature. 39.1 (1998): 77. Expanded Academic ASAP. King, Rosemary. O'Brien's "How to Tell a Real War Story." The Explicator. 57.3 (1999): 182. Expanded academic as soon as possible. Passaro, Vince. “The Things They Carried (Review). » Harper's Magazine 299.1791 (1999): 80. Expanded academic as soon as possible. Robinson, Daniel. “Getting It Right: The Short Fiction of Tim O'Brien.” Studies in contemporary fiction. 40.3 (1999): 257. Academic expanded as soon as possible.

Essay / The myth of courage exposed in the things they carried lies there dead. . .but whatever death reveals, all wounds are marks of glory. (Homer 22.83-87)As students, we are brainwashed by ancient myths such as The Iliad, where war is extolled and the brave warrior praised. Yet modern novels such as Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried (THINGS) challenge these very notions. Like The Iliad, THINGS is about war. It's about battles and soldiers, victory and survival, but the message O'Brien gives us in THINGS is almost contradictory to the traditional war story. While traditional war stories take place on battlefields where soldiers fight soldiers and man's courage is tested, O'Brien's battle takes place in the dark, private place from the spirit of a soldier. Like the Vietnam War itself, THINGS forces Americans to question the foundations of their beliefs and values as it calls attention to their inner conscience. More than a war story, O'Brien's The Things They Carried is an expose of personal courage. Gone are the brave and glorious warriors such as those found at the Battle of Troy. In THINGS, they are replaced by young men who experience neither glory nor courage, but fear, horror and a personal sense of shame. As mythical courage collides with the modern experience of it, a battle is fought in THINGS that are not limited to the rice cakes, jungles and shitfields of Vietnam. Carrying more than just the cargo of a typical soldier, O'Brien's narrator is armed with an arsenal of feelings and words that take on an invisible enemy that is the myth of courage, on a field of invisible battle that is the spirit of the Vietnam veteran. in ...... middle of paper ......ings They Carryed." Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 35.1 (1993): 43. Expanded academic ASAP. Lopez, Ken. "Tim O'Brien: A introduction to His writings." Ken Lopez - Bookseller. 1997. October 8, 1999. http://www.lopezbooks.com/articles/obrien.html>. Works consulted Chen, Tina. "'Unraveling the deeper meaning': the exile and the embodied poetics of displacement in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. " Contemporary Literature. 39.1 (1998): 77. Expanded Academic ASAP. King, Rosemary. O'Brien's "How to Tell a Real War Story." The Explicator. 57.3 (1999): 182. Expanded academic as soon as possible. Passaro, Vince. “The Things They Carried (Review). » Harper's Magazine 299.1791 (1999): 80. Expanded academic as soon as possible. Robinson, Daniel. “Getting It Right: The Short Fiction of Tim O'Brien.” Studies in contemporary fiction. 40.3 (1999): 257. Academic expanded as soon as possible.

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