Analysis of Important Quotes in The Things They Carried

1. â€Å"In any war story, especially a true one, it’s difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen. What seems to happen becomes its own happening and has to be told the way. â€Å" (71) Significance: This quote describes the entire style in which the book is written. Tim O’ Brien writes the novel as though it is a memoir, but this isn’t the case. In the copyright information, readers learn that most of the events, with a few small exceptions, were fabricated. Once the reader knows this fact, there is bound to be a curiosity of which portions of the book are actually based on O’ Brien’s life. This quote looks at the â€Å"fictional† Tim O’Brien’s view of war stories. He says that memory doesn’t always serve a person well when†¦show more content†¦It was a Vietnam soldier, but that didn’t change O’Brien’s feelings about the situation. He still sees himself as guilty for the death of the young men. Not only that, but he begins to imagine the back story of the young man, which makes dealing with his killing even harder. 4. â€Å"Generalizing about war is like generalizing about peace. Almost everything is true. Almost nothing is true.† (81) Significance: While O’Brien is saying that his personal belief is that generalizations cannot be made about war, this idea is major throughout the entire novel. No generalizations can be made about any situation in a war. Everyone will have a story from the war all their own. The book begins with a great example of this, by listing all the things the men have brought with them and the reasons behind this. Various chapters throughout the book document the way the soldiers are coping with the horrors they’re seeing. O’Brien used his writing. Kiowa had his bible and his religion. Bowker found no way to cope that he could find on this planet. There is no one way to generalize the effects a war will have on a person. 5. â€Å"I survived, but it’s not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to war.† (61) Significance: This quote is important for a number of reasons. First of all, at a very basic level, this is what sets the whole story in motion. O’Brien was considering fleeing the country and not participating in his supposed civic duty. However,Show MoreRelatedDogs, By Alexandra Horowitz And Leslie Irvine s Books1271 Words   |  6 Pageseach other, howling in the occasion, and even biting each other. Is this behavior aggressive? Functional? Or is it just something dogs do for fun. In Alexandra Horowitz and Leslie Irvine’s books, they note that play of dogs is an important activity that will even be carried into their adulthood, and they both recognize that play is a complex social activity beyond simple fun. 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