Research Paper on:
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien and a Symbolic Motif Analysis

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
carried the land itself... the place, the soil... They carried the sky" (OBrien 14-15). While this may resemble a church sermon, it is the description of an American platoon  stationed in Vietnam during the late 1960s, as vividly described in Tim OBriens 1990 postmodern novel, The Things They Carried. This realistic collection of short story narratives is tightly  interwoven into a cohesive tapestry of soldier experiences that emphasize the conflicting emotions associated with war. By evoking the images of these young men carrying the weight of the  world on their shoulders, OBrien introduces a savior or Christ-like motif, which continues throughout the novel. The savior imagery, occasionally obvious and sometimes subtle, does not overwhelm the text  in any way. Instead, it elevates the novel into something more than yet another fictional retelling of the Vietnam War. It probes more deeply, through the ambiguity often  referred to by the narrator (who, like the author, is also named Tim), as the soldiers, each in their own way, seek to find a reason for human suffering, which  will give them spiritual solace and enable the survivors to carry on with their lives after the war ended. The imagery of Jesus Christ is especially compelling in the character  of Jimmy Cross. His initials of J.C. and his surname are calculated references so that the readers will instinctively associate the protagonist with the Christian savior. Jimmys girlfriend  is named Martha, which was also the name of a woman with whom Christ reportedly had a close relationship. According to the Bible, a worried Martha is often distracted  during Christs visits, which meant that she was only with him in body and not spirit. Jesus would chastise her and remind her that nothing was more important than