Beginning of Essay
cessity in “The Things They Carried” The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, a medley of short stories tied together by a common theme, examines the many facets of necessity and poses a question of just how valuable the things we hold to be neces ....

Middle of Essay
.... as well as its disadvantageous ones. It examines the burdens of each individual and the effects that the burdens have on the person in given situations. O’Brien deliberately makes the reader consider what constitutes a necessity by packing his story with heavy irony; a weight that sends conflicting images to the reader and causes him/her to examine the realms of necessity. The reader can go further and apply this distinction between real necessity and something that just provides emotional sustenance to his/her own life. “The thing they carried were largely determined by necessity," (2). The most important necessities can be easily ar ....