The Things They Carried Eating Them Away

A detailed Summary of The Things They Carried Eating Them Away

For young people, the Vietnam War is a thing of the past and they can only learn about it from second hand sources. In Tim O'brien's The Things They Carried, it becomes very apparent that the Vietnam conflict has proved to be one that many of the participants have not been able move away from, while getting on with their lives.O²brien shows that the conflict takes on a parasitic form that eats away on its victims for the rest of their lives.

A parasite is defined as an organism that grows, feeds, andis sheltered on or in a different organism while harming its host. The

war in this case takes the place of the organism, and the host becomes the soldiers. There are several examples of the parasitic nature of war through out the book. In one particular section, Tim

attempts to show what the war has done to the population of soldiers

There is another section in the book where a man named Jimmy Cross comes to visit O'Brien after the war. They talk of experiences and hardships, then it becomes apparent Cross has also been unable to

finds out that Bowker commits suicide because the parasitic affect of his memories became to much for him to handle.

totally move on with his life. There are still secrets, and theystill

weigh heavy on his mind even during his his every day civilian life.

There are countless themes in this book, but one of the major ones is the after effects the war had and still has on the men that were there. It is clear from O'Brien's writing on Cross, Bowker, and

O'Brien returns to Vietnam with his daughter. Twenty years had gone by, but

Some common words found in the essay are:
Tim O'Brien, O'brien's Carried, Norman Bowker, Jimmy Cross, Cross Bowker, Vietnam War, Courage² O'Brien, Carried Eating, bowker story, parasitic form,

Approximate Word count = 547
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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The Things They Carried Eating Them Away

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