Figurative Language In The Things They Carried

Tim O’Brien Research Essay Truth is something that Tim O’Brien wants his readers to comprehend about war throughout his writing. For example in The Things They Carried O’Brien mentions that he doesn’t support the Vietnam war, but he supports the fact that he is fighting for his country and for their safety. “They carried the sky. The whole atmosphere, they carried it, the humidity, the monsoons, the stink of fungus and decay, all of it, they carried gravity.” (The Things They Carried,39) O’Brien uses figurative language to emphasis his writing and uses symbolism to convey the importance of a message to the readers. O’Brien was “Drafted into the Army in 1968 when he was fresh out of college, Tim O'Brien was assigned to the infantry

They fought to try and stop communism from spreading further. “O'Brien was against the war but reported for service and was sent to Vietnam with what has been called the "unlucky" Americal division due to its involvement in the My Lai massacre in 1968, an event which figures prominently in In the Lake of the Woods.”(Goodreads) Though O’Brien did not support this war “he has used his war stories to join the past to the future as he weaves them into the fabric of his characters and tells the reader how war experiences affect the ability to love and find peace in a post-war environment.” (D.Verne Morland, Digital Stationery International) O’Brien was “assigned to 3rd Platoon, A Company, 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry, as an infantry foot soldier. O'Brien's tour of duty was 1969-70.”(Goodreads) He mentions that everyone handles the war differently. For example in The Things They Carried, O’Brien states that Ted Lavender carries marijuana and tranquilizers to calm himself down because he is always nervous, Kiowa who is religious carries an illustrated New Testament, which was a gift from his father and others just carry things in the most “physical sense”, for instance mosquito repellent and marijuana, pocket knives and chewing gum. O’Briens said that his true goal was to write a true war story, for people to know what to expect when going into the

While he was in the country he “wrote a few letters home; didn’t go into much detail; motive was "more superstitious" than protecting parents; wrote some short pieces for the Minneapolis newspaper and one for Playboy (published after he returned) that became the basis for his first book, If I Die in a Combat Zone; had always wanted to be a writer, but Vietnam made him need to be a writer; pieces were about events and other people, not about him; went to graduate school at Harvard after his return, kept writing short pieces, not intending them to be a book, but at some point, they accumulated into one.”[Interview, 04:19] H said that the books he read inspired him to be a writer even if he hadn't gone to Vietnam, though “his experience made him a certain kind of writer; all his books are about the individual’s struggle to do the right thing against outside forces” [Interview,06:15] O’Brien takes the “awful experience of war; tries to reflect the non-linear experience of Vietnam; of his books, The Things They Carried and In the Lake of the Woods best capture that.” [Interview, 06:15] “I was drafted in 1968 and spent the summer playing golf and worrying about Vietnam and dying and killing. But it’s abstract. Whereas if I make up a story, the "On the Rainy River" story, even though it’s invented, you hope the reader will feel the pressures that were on me. That