He graduated summa cum laude from Macalester College in 1968.
From February 1969 to March 1970 he served as infantryman with the U.S. Army in Vietnam
, after which he pursued graduate studies in government at Harvard University.
Is on the Rainy River a true story?
Tim O’brien’s “On the Rainy River” is
a true story
told by a 41 year old of his life at the age of 21. The fact that O’brien is writing this 20 years later adds a new aspect to the story. He describes himself as a young man with the world in his back pocket.
Is The Things They Carried based on 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.
Does Tim Obrien have a daughter?
I don’t have a daughter
. I don’t have children. To my knowledge, at least, I never killed anyone. Jimmy Cross never visited me at my house in Massachusetts, because of course Jimmy Cross does not exist in the world of objects, and never did.
| Tim O’Brien | Genre Memoirs, war stories, short stories | Notable works Going After Cacciato The Things They Carried If I Die in a Combat Zone | Years active 1973–present |
|---|
What did Tim Obrien leave in Vietnam?
But before he leaves the river, he takes
Kiowa’s moccasins
and leaves them in the spot where he imagines his friend settled into the river.
Is Jimmy Cross Real?
Jimmy Cross never visited me at my house in Massachusetts, because of course
Jimmy Cross does not exist in the world of objects
, and never did. He’s purely invented, like Martha, and like Kiowa or Mitchell Sanders and all the others.
What does the border symbolize in on the Rainy River?
On the Rainy River
So, O’Brien didn’t really work in a meatpacking plant the summer before he went to Vietnam, and he didn’t go up to the Canadian border to try to get away from the war and then chicken out and return home. It’s
a symbol for his mental state at the time
.
Was Norman Bowker real?
MINNESOTA —
Norman Bowker sadly passed away in 1978
. Bowker was found hanging from a jump rope by a couple of his friends in the late evening. He was an esteemed soldier in the Alpha Company troop who fought in the Vietnam War. Bowker was known for always carrying his diary.
Why is The Things They Carried banned?
Unfortunately, the book was listed in the “Banned Books” for its
vulgar language, sexual content, and violence that was considered “unacceptable for an educational setting”
(according to school board members of George County in Mississippi,) despite the protests of teachers and parents.
What is the meaning of the book The Things They Carried?
The Things They Carried is
a powerful meditation on the experiences of foot soldiers in Vietnam and after the war
. The work is simultaneously a war autobiography, writer’s memoir, and group of fictional short stories.
What question does Tim’s daughter ask?
A Story for His Daughter
‘Ambush’ opens with Tim’s nine-year old daughter, Kathleen, asking him
if he ever killed anyone in the war
. Needless to say, Tim is jarred by the question – it’s not one you expect to hear from your young daughter.
How old was Tim O’Brien when he was drafted?
21 years old
. Hates it. Blood shed for reasons uncertain, no unity of purpose. America divided on many issues and not sure why fighting or who started the war “you don’t make war without knowing why a nation that goes to war should have reasonable confidence in the justice and imperative of its cause” …
How does Tim O’Brien feel about war?
Tim O’Brien was a foot soldier during the Vietnam War. “The problem for me really is that
I questioned the rectitude of the war
,” he says. “I thought I was doing the wrong thing by being there.”
How did Tim feel about the Vietnam War?
How did Tim feel about the Vietnam War while he was at college? Do his actions and language support the idea that he “hated” the Vietnam war?
He disagreed with it, he beilived he was too good for the war
. just like other people beilived so.
What things did Tim O’Brien carry?
Tim O’Brien: I carried all the standard military stuff:
grenades, ammo, an M16, sometimes an M60. Letters from mom, dad. Letters from a girl back home
. More than the physical, I carried incredible terror with every single step I took.
Why did Tim Obrien go to Vietnam?
| Interview (Video) | » Interview Highlights (10 clips) | » Veterans and the Arts |
|---|
What did Tim O’Brien carry emotionally?
Amongst the emotional baggage they are bound with, they also carry
grief, fear, terror, love
; they carried their own indiscretions. O’Brien himself confesses that the sole reason he went to the war in the first place is the fear of judgment he would receive from his relatives and loved ones.
Where did Tim O’Brien grow?
Born on October 1, 1946 in
Austin, Minnesota
, O’Brien grew up in Worthington. Worthington played an instrumental role in shaping his imagination and developing his artistic sensibility. Moreover, the location also modeled for a number of stories in The Things They Carried.
Why did Tim O’Brien search out the spot where Kiowa died?
A few months after Tim O’Brien finished writing “In the Field” he brings his daughter, Kathleen, with him to Vietnam to visit the field where Kiowa died. He’s looking for “
forgiveness or personal grace or whatever else the land might offer.”
Where does Tim O’Brien get shot the second time?
When O’Brien is shot the second time—this time
in the butt
—Jorgenson is too scared to crawl over to him. O’Brien nearly dies of shock, and the wound is so poorly treated that his butt then gets gangrene.
Was Ted Lavender a real person?
VIETNAM — Ted Lavender,
a member of the Alpha Company fighting in Vietnam
, sadly passed away in mid-April in 1970 in a small village in Vietnam. He was shot in the head outside one of the villages. Lavender was known by his troop mates for carrying tranquilizers and a couple ounces of premium dope, which he used often.
Why are chapters called spin?
This chapter is titled ‘Spin’
because O’Brien writes that ‘the war was like a Ping-Pong ball
. You could put a fancy spin on it, you could make it dance.
Who is Ted Lavender?
Ted Lavender is
a young, scared soldier in the Alpha company in Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried
. He is the most afraid to die, and dies first. Before he is shot, he carries and takes tranquilizers to dull his fear.
What does Elroy symbolize in on the Rainy River?
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.
Who killed the buffalo in The Things They Carried?
He explains that the platoon crossed a muddy river and on the third day Lemon was killed and Kiley lost his best friend. Later that day, higher in the mountains,
Kiley shot a Viet Cong water buffalo repeatedly
—though the animal was destroyed and bleeding, it remained alive.
Is Linda Real in The Things They Carried?
Like Kiowa, Ted Lavender, and Curt Lemon,
Linda is dead
, and the only thing left is her memory. As such, she is still real to Tim, as are all his friends who died in the war.
What happened to Norman Bowker in The Things They Carried?
When the story was anthologized a year later, O’Brien sent a copy to Bowker, who was upset about the absence of Kiowa. Eight months later Bowker
hanged himself
.
Why is the glass castle banned?
2016. Suspended at the Ambridge (PA) High School because
the book is “racist and sexually explicit
.” The challenged memoir is about growing up in poverty with a father who spent his money on alcohol and a mother who becomes homeless.
What does Jimmy cross symbolize?
Jimmy Cross’s character represents
the profound effects responsibility has on those who are too immature to handle it
. As a sophomore in college, he signs up for the Reserve Officers Training Corps because it is worth a few credits and because his friends are doing it.
Is Kiowa a real person The Things They Carried?
However, O’Brien admits eventually that
Norman did not fail to save Kiowa, that was fictional
, and it is implied that O’Brien himself was the one who could not save him.
Why did Tim not carry much reading material in Vietnam?
Although Tim O’Brien’s book, ‘The Things They Carried’, received acclaim, including several important book prizes, it nonetheless became a controversial, and even banned, book.
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.
What does Martha symbolize in The Things They Carried?
The pictures of Martha also symbolize
his unattainable dreams
and this girl is part of that future. He carries around these pictures so he can dream about an alternate life for himself.
How did the war change Tim O Brien?
While in Vietnam, Tim O’Brien
lost numerous friends and witnessed incidents too excruciatingly ugly to endure
. In order to survive, regain his shredded sanity, then thrive, he wrote this book. In it, he becomes both narrator and active character, a constant observer to the things he cannot change or undo.
What work was O’Brien doing that summer?
O’Brien tells his father that his plan for the summer is to wait and work. He spends his summer
working at a pig slaughterhouse and meatpacking plant
. The work is messy and unpleasant, and O’Brien feels his life going out of control.
Why didn’t Tim O’Brien go to Canada?
Why didn’t Tim O’Brien try to evade the draft by going to Canada? Tim O’Brien decides to go to Vietnam because
he couldn’t find the resolve not to or, in his own words, because he “was embarrassed not to.”
In “On the Rainy River,” O’Brien contemplates running away to Canada after he is drafted.
What does Dave Jensen symbolize?
Dave Jensen
A minor character whose guilt over his injury of Lee Strunk causes him to break his own nose. Jensen’s relief after Strunk’s death is an illustration of
the perspective soldiers are forced to assume
.
What does Dave Jensen figuratively carry?
Dave Jensen carries
a toothbrush, dental floss, and soap
. Ted Lavender (“who was scared”) carries tranquilizers.
Why does Mitchell Sanders carry condoms?
By carrying around condoms,
he believes that he will have plenty of time for women in Vietnam
.
What is one reason why Tim O’Brien returned to Vietnam with his daughter 20 years later?
What is the point of O’Brien’s trip to Vietnam 20 years after the war?
To show his daughter what he went through
. To make peace with Vietnam and cleanse himself of the war. “I wanted to take her upstairs, tie her to the bed, and touch her knee all night long.”
Where was Tim shot the first time?
Tim was shot twice. The first time was
in the side
, and Rat Kiley took care of him, telling him not to worry and checking on him several times, even though they were in the middle of a fight.
Why did Obrien set off the grenade?
O’Brien was scared. He wasn’t thinking about killing; he was using the grenade
to make the man leave
, “evaporate.” He remembers he had thrown the grenade before telling himself to.
Did Tim O’Brien fight in the Vietnam War?
From February 1969 to March 1970 he served as infantryman with the U.S. Army in Vietnam
, after which he pursued graduate studies in government at Harvard University.
Does O’Brien have a daughter?
I don’t have a daughter
. I don’t have children. To my knowledge, at least, I never killed anyone. Jimmy Cross never visited me at my house in Massachusetts, because of course Jimmy Cross does not exist in the world of objects, and never did.
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.
How long did Tim O’Brien serve in Vietnam?
| Tim O’Brien | Years of service 1968–1970 | Rank Sergeant | Unit 3rd Platoon, Company A, 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment 198th Infantry Brigade | Battles/wars Vietnam War |
|---|
Who experiences PTSD in The Things They Carried?
In O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, we do not know if
the soldiers
ever received the group therapy treatment offered by the Veterans Administration in the 1980s. We know that Lavender did self-medicate because he probably had PTSD.
What does the Rainy River symbolize?
In The Things They Carried, the Rainy River symbolizes
the division between two potential futures
, one where Tim is safe but separated from everyone… See full answer below.
Why is cross responsible for Lavender’s death?
Why did Lieutenant Jimmy Cross feel guilty about Ted Lavender’s death? He felt guilty because
he was distracted and thought about Martha
. He thought he could have prevented it.
Why does O’Brien insist that war stories are not moral?
Why does O’Brien insist that war stories are not moral? As in most of the other chapters, O’Brien has explored the fact that,
in war, old notions of morality and immorality do not hold
. If someone tries to attach a moral to a war story, he or she is probably altering the truth of the story.
What was it about rat’s care of Tim that took courage?
What was it about Rat’s care of Tim that took courage?
He ran off in the middle of fighting and gunfire four times to care for him.
How did Tim feel about the Vietnam War while at college?
How did Tim feel about the Vietnam War while he was at college? Do his actions and language support the idea that he “hated” the Vietnam war?
He disagreed with it, he beilived he was too good for the war
. just like other people beilived so.
What did Tim Obrien leave in Vietnam?
But before he leaves the river, he takes
Kiowa’s moccasins
and leaves them in the spot where he imagines his friend settled into the river.
What is Tim O Brien’s nationality?
American
