Emotional Appeal In The Things They Carried

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In The Things They Carried, author Tim O’Brien is successful in addressing essential details about emotional life of soldiers during the Vietnam War instead of historically recorded facts. O’Brien tends to focus profusely more on the emotional impact on each aspect of the war. He certainly does not focus on the historical events or facts. The premise of the novel regards the soldiers, nothing in this novel is entirely factual, as it was comprised of mostly emotional anecdotes and personal stories of those soldiers. Because the focus of his work of literature is not the premise of historical fact, he has no obligation to convey the pure truth in contrast to adjusting the facts to appeal to his preferred focus, the emotional aspect of the war. O’Brien achieves this intense emotional appeal with the use of vivid details, as well as …show more content…

O’Brien sets a focus more on the emotional impact the war has overall. He practically voids the notion of addressing historical events or facts. Nothing in the novel was ever told in complete truth. It primarily consisted of sentimental stories and intriguing anecdotes of the soldiers. O’Brien attains this powerful emotional appeal through the usage of vivid details such as imagery, character development, and accentuates the impact that the war had on it’s soldiers. He never focused on the facts or what had actually happened during the war, typically emphasizing the experience of the war, the experience of the soldiers. The storytelling and the emotion felt in and out of the anecdotes were always the prioritized focus, not the historical facts. Throughout the entire novel, his audience is constantly engaged in the series of short stories that connect them to a core theme of the novel. The tangible and intangible objects that the Vietnam War soldiers carried are the fundamental focus of this