Both Tim O'Brien short stories are about Vietnam.
At your tables,please discuss:
How are " On the Rainy River" and "The Things They Carried" similar?
How are they different?
After your group discussion today, comment below about the most outstanding similarities and differences.
In addition to observations about plot and character, make note of O'Brien's choices as a writer.
What, if any, over-arching theme unites these two stories?
The two stories by Tim O'Brien are related in the fact that they are both about Vietnam, but also that all the soldiers in the story hold on to the fear of death at all times. They are also different, "On The Rainy River" is about a single soldier and his journey leading up to his time in service. "The Things They Carried" is about many different soldiers and th physical things they carried as well as the burden of mental things, such as the loss of their fellow soldier early in the story.
ReplyDeleteOne of the differences between "On the Rainy River" and "The Things They Carried" is the format they are written in. "On the Rainy River" tells the story sequetially and "The Things They Carried" was written out of order, for example, we found out that Ted Lavender die before we knew how. But the two stories are similar in the way that both of the main characters had to make a major mental decision. In "On the Rainy River" he had to decide whether or not to join the military, and in "The Things They Carried" he had to make himself stop thinking about Martha and to accept the fact that it was sort of his fault that Ted Lavender died.
ReplyDeleteThere are several ways in which the two stories are related, like the fact that the stories revolves around Vietnam, and those who are talking are young men and part of the conflicts that each face are internal conflicts. Some ways that they are different are that one is in Vietnam and one is in the states. Also "On the Rainy River" focuses on death as a general thing, and "The Things They Carried" focused more on death as a specific instance.
ReplyDeleteBoth stories by Tim O'Brien are similar in the way that both main characters face internal struggles and are afraid to die. However the main character in "On the Rainy River" had to decide if he wanted to go to Vietnam while the characters in "The Things They Carried" were already in the war. "On the Rainy River" is more in a sequential form than "The Things They Carried" which jumps all over the place during the course of the story.
ReplyDelete"On the Rainy River" and "The Things They Carried" both written by Tim O'Brien are related in the fact that they are both involving the Vietnam War and the characters are young men. Also the fear of death is a common accurence in both stories. In "On the Rainy River", the main character had to make the choice whether to go to war, or flee the country. This took place before the war. In "The Things They Carried", the characters were already in war. Also, the soldiers in "The Things They Carried" had to live with the burden of many things, both literal and figurative. As previous comments, I think the writing styles between the two stories varied as well. "On the Rainy River" is more sequential but "The Things They Carried" went from one time to another with no real order of events.
ReplyDeleteThe two stories may seem to have many differences and few similarities, however if you look closely you can find many connections. Besides the fact that both stories take place during the Vietnam War and that both revolve around young character faced with the struggles an decesions war makes them face, it is clear to see that the main fear of both characters is the fear of dying. Nobody in either story wants to die and are clearly afraid of dying. Both characters also carry guilt, in the "On the Rainy River" this is for almost going to Canada, while in the other story the main character feels guilty/respondsible for the deat of a soldier. Those are probably the similarities that stand out the most. The differences are much more clear as you can see that one story is from the eyes of a soldier in combat while the other is from the eyes of a man who recieved a draft letter. So all of these things show how the two stories, seemingly not all that related truly are more deeply connected.
ReplyDeleteThe ways that the two stories are related is because they are both about wars taking place in Vietnam and the veiws on the wars. The men in both the stories both face problems with the war that they agree and disagree with. "On the Rainy River" focuses more on general thoughts of the war and "The Things They Carried" had more specific thoughts of death and the war.
ReplyDeleteThe main difference between "On the Rainy River" and "The Things They Carried" is that the speaker of "On the Rainy RIver" is more talking about himself and in "The Things They Carried" is more about soldiers in general and their feelings as a whole. The two stories both explain the choices people had to make while going into war, and how tough of a decision it was for them.
ReplyDeleteI think that an over-arching theme is to do what you believe in. Although "On the Rainy River" portrays a character who doesn't do what he feels is right, it still shows the regret he has afterwards and proves that people really need to go with their gut, and do what will make them happy.
ReplyDeleteAn over-arching theme for these two stories are to do what you believe in and do what you think is right. In "On the Rainy River" he didn't do what he believed in because he was against the war but joined anyway. But he only did that because he felt embarassed if he fled to another country, so he wasn't very happy with his final decision. In "The Things They Carried" Jimmy Cross had to do what was right and to clean up his act. He knew he was distracting himself with thinking about Martha, and he felt that it was his fault that Ted Lavender died. He knew he had to change and do what was right and accept it.
ReplyDeleteI think the over-arching theme in both the Tim O'Brien stories is that the fear of death determines the soldiers actions in the war.
ReplyDeleteThese two stories by Tim O'Brien are both similiar and different in many ways. These two stories are about war, and all about men but that is the obvious, what else is the same is both of these stories have to do with the emotions that one will feel about war wether its either during war and fighting in the war, or emotions about thinking about going into the war. these two stories are different becuase in On The Rainy River the emotions have to do with the emtions before or going INTO war, while in The Things They Carried is more about the emotions that you feel during or while being in war. Also in The Things They Carried its more of an outer conflict considering that he is trying to return to war, while in On The Rainy River its more of an inner emotional problem that he has to go through and him trying to run or avoid the war. I think that the over theme for these two stories would be dont let your emotions get the best of you, you cant go into war thinking every minute of everyday saying im going to die i might die, but to not let the emotions get the best of you.
ReplyDeleteThere are some comparisons between "The Things They Carried" and "On the Rainy River" by Tim O'Brien. They are both about the Vietnam War, and both are about men. They both have to do with internal hardships and emotional issues.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Things They Carried", it is not only about internal hardships but literal things that they carried. It is about his emotions while he is AT war, not just thinking about it. The main character wants to return home, and there are a lot of external conflicts.
In "On the Rainy River", it was about what the main character was thinking before he actaully in the war.It was about his emotions when he thought about what was going to happen to him. The main character isn't at war, therefore he doesn't want to go home; he wants to run away from it. There are more internal conflicts.
I think the theme is war isn't kind, and internal conflicts can be harder to deal with and bring to the surface to get rid of than external conflicts.
A similarity between "On the Rainy River" and "The Things They Carried" would be their topic. Both were about the Vietnam War. I "On the Rainy River" he had to decide whether or not he was going to go to war. In "The Things They Caried" they had to decide what they were going to bring around with them while they're away.
ReplyDeleteA difference would be that in both stories the characters were scared of the war. In one the character was afraid to go to war while in the other the group of soldiers were scared they might die in it.
An over-arching theme might be that war will cause people to make decisions about the safety of their lives if they're in war or going to it.
I think that the over arching theme is to do what is told of you whether you belive in it or not, becasue it is your duty and you are no better than anyone else. Other things that are the same in these two short stories is the author, the themes, what topic they cover, and that they are guilty about killing people in both. The differences is that On The Rainy River, he is the oly character and it takes place mostly before the war, where as in The Things They Carried, its a bunch of characters/ soldiers and it takes place in and during the war.
ReplyDeleteThe two pieces of writing by Tim O'Brien are similar in a way that the two characters face internal conflicts and the setting topic revolves around the Vietnam War. "On The Rainy River" and "The Things They Carried" are different however as O'Brien portrays the main character in "On The Rainy River" who faces a decision whether or not to serve and the main character in "The Things They Carried" faces in-war conflicts. I think the over-arching theme that unites these two stories is that when a soldier participates in a war, the fear of death is always present in the back of their minds.
ReplyDeleteWell, some of the more obvious ways that "On the Rainy River" and "The Things They Carried" are similar are that they are about the Vietnam War and told from viewpoints of men in the war or who are going into the war. Also, they both seem to show to war as a whole in a bad light, in "On the Rainy River" he doesn't want to go at first, and when he does he doesn't really talk about it and pushes it aside like something that is unnescessary and just had to do. In the other it shows death and the burdens the war brings on the characters. I think an overarching theme is that war brings unnescessary burdens and death, and many would have liked it to have never happened.
ReplyDelete"On the Rainy River" and "The Things They Carried" have many similarities as well as differences. The fear of death is present in both stories, but the way that this idea is presented varies between the two. In "On the Rainy River", he is more afraid of dieing for an unnecessary reason (because he does not believe in the Vietnam War). In "The Things They Carried", he is purely afraid of death.
ReplyDeleteThe two stories by Tim O'Brien are related by the war of Vietnam but they are also about the fear of war and dieing. Also they both talk about how they feel guilty being responsible for someone elses death and carry the saddness of losing friends and fellow soilders. They differ because "On the Rainy River" is about the feelings of one getting drafted adn having to make the descion to go and "The Things Rememberd" is the feelings while fighting in the war. I think one of the over all themes is, war is hell.
ReplyDeleteBoth of Tim O'Brien's stories, "On the Rainy River," and "The Things They Carried" share similarities, but also are quite different. O'Brien's style of writing isn't much different between his stories. Also, both of the main characters want to be home. For the main character in "On the Rainy River," who battles with internal conflict, he doesn't want to go to war, and attempts to run away to Canada to avoid that fate. The main character from "The Things They Carried" wishes he was home, but has to worry instead about the outer conflict of war, as well as the inner conflict of his obsession with the girl who was sending him letters from back home. Both stories take place in a similar time period. They both deal with having to go to war in Vietnam. The theme that unites these stories is that no body likes war. "War is hell," is one way to put it. The character from "On the Rainy River" tried to avoid the war entirely, while those at war in "The Things they Carried," wanted to be home with those they loved. Nobody likes war, and everyone would prefer to deal with things peacefully. Those from "The Things They Carried" recognize its necessity, and go to war for their country. In "On the Rainy River," the character doesn't see why his nation was invovled in the war, and tries to run away.
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ReplyDeleteBetween the two stories there are many differences and similarities. One of these similarities is obvious, the story revolves around the Vietnam era. Around that time there was a draft going on, and a big decision for the men who got their draft cards to make was whether or not to go. In both stories the young men who narrate the stories decide to go to war. It just takes the narrator of "On the Rainy River" longer to make this decision. Another similarity is the internal conflict that each man faces is about death. Clearly neither wants to die but the narrator from " The Things They Carried" had a personal experience with death and after his friend died he had to think about what if that was him. That was a difference and a similarity, one had dealt with death, and one had not, but they both equelly feared it. Some obvious differences were setting, one was set in the states, and one was set in Vietnam. Another thing that was different between the two stories is the view on death. "On the Rainy River" describes death as more of a general thing, because there was no actual death in the story just the fear of it. In "The Things They Carried" death was more of an upclose and personal thing because it actually happened in the story, therefore the stories view on death was more of a specific thing. I think an overarching theme in these stories is that when there is war there will always be people who fear death. Or that making decisions in life can be influenced by more than just what is right and wrong.
ReplyDeleteI believe the over-arching theme of the two stories is that although nobody wants to die, and everybody is afraid of it, one must still do what they believe is right and in the end go off of their thoughts and instincts.
ReplyDeleteThe significant similarities that these two stories share are that they are both set on the Vietnam War, the characters are both young men, both characters encounter personal conflicts due to deciding on war and obviously the final similarity is that they have both been written by the same author...Tim O'Brien. The differences in these two stories are small but have big effect on the storyline and plot. Foe example, "On The Rainy River" the character has to face pre-war decisions and in "The Things They Carried" the character was making in-war decisions. Tim O'Brien contrasted the two characters of being indecisive and very straight forward. During the explaination of war in both, one talks about death in warfare in geeneral and the other focuses on one man's specific death during the war. The them i think is suppose to be interpreted is that "making decisions is hard and takes thinking but, the final decision should be sincere not forced."
ReplyDeleteThe two stories "On the Rainy River" and "The Things They Carried" both written by Tim O'Brien are similar because the main characters from each story have the constant fear of death. Internal conflicts within the characters show their weaknesses even though they may seem strong on the outside. The stories are different because the setting of "On the Rainy River" focuses mainly on the decisons made before the war while "The Things They Carried" discusses the choices Lieutenant Jimmy Cross had to make during the war. An over lapping theme of both stories is the literal and figuative weight on the shoulders of young men cause pressure that helps dictate life changing decisons.
ReplyDelete"On the Rainy River" and The Things they Carried are both similar but also different. In "The Things They Carried" it is more about the physical burdens. In "On the Rainy River" it's more about the emotional burdens. The main character doesnt want to go to war because he doesn't want to die, but if he doesn't go his family and friends will see him as a disgrace. In "On the Rainy River" Tim O'Brien lists what each soldier carries and the meaning of each object. Both are about the Vietnam war and soldiers' burdens.
ReplyDeleteThe two stories written by Tim O'Brien are very similar and also have many differences. Both of the stories are written about the Vietnam War and young men who are afraid to fight. The characters fear death. "On the Rainy River" is more of a personal story and is about a young man who is running away from war. The character struggles with the thought of entering war. "They Things They Carried" is a story that takes place in the war and is about the decisions that are made to stay alive and fight for our country.
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