The Themes In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

516 Words3 Pages
When reading a novel it’s pretty clear that it will have a single theme, right? But, what if the novel had more than one? Would the novel still be able to juggle all of those themes and still make a point? Well, in Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried, several themes are evident. The first theme that O’Brien had interpreted into his story is that “’ war isn’t always terror and violence, sometimes it could be sweet.’” (O’Brien 30). O’Brien gives several examples of soldiers being in Vietnam and not always being worried about the war. This theme is one of most relatable of the soldiers to the civilians at home. Soldiers would all gather around and hang out like they would any other place and maybe play a game of checkers. So, what O’Brien meant with this one was that the soldiers liked to hang out and have a good time just like everyone else and even though there was a war going on they still were able to find a way to relax a little bit.…show more content…
This theme can be found in the novel but is very distinct in one single part where O’Brien is getting his point across by showing the transformation of a young lady in Vietnam saying, “There was no emotion in her stare, no sense of the person behind it.” (O’Brien 105). Here O’Brien is trying to show the theme by the final phase of this young girl’s transformation that might not have been achievable with a male character. So, by using this young lady it is easy to spot the changes throughout he adventures in Vietnam because the changes about her are so
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