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Literary Elements In The Things They Carried Essay

975 Words4 Pages

Have you ever pack to make a long trip to fight for the beliefs of your country? If you have not, the short story The Things They Carried will take you into an adventurous journey. Tim O’ Brian describes the story of a platoon led by Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. The items soldiers carried were described as tangible and intangible. There are physical and emotional loads in which every ounce is weighted. They walked with the burden to stay alive. Ultimately, the main objective of this text is to revive and embody the experiences encountered while fighting during the Vietnam War. Therefore, in the story, the author employed a variety of literary devices to accomplish his objective in an effective and efficient manner; these attractive features include …show more content…

O’Brien provides clear ideas with use of concrete words such as “grief, terror, and love” (21) to express what each character in experiencing. The word he chooses describe tangible and intangible items. For example, tangible things consists of those with a mass and intangible things are grief, terror and hope of everyone in this journey. In order to follow the story, the writer maintains the use of simple sentences. For instance, sentences such as “The made themselves laugh” (21) and “They carried their reputations” (21) are examples simple sentence structures that facilitate understanding of the text. Besides, the time and repetitions of the within the context demonstrate the routine and high stress levels. This is also denoted by the constant fear and danger they experience since the sudden death of Lavender. In the contrary, there are many terms that are unfamiliar such all the military jargon and acronyms such as RTO and PFCs. This provides a more vivid imagine of the items they carried and authenticity of the text. O’Brien denotes polysyndeton in his writing as well. When Rat Kiley’ items were described, the author placed a direct emphasis to each thing as he “carried a canvas satchel filled with morphine and plasma and malaria tablets and surgical tape and comic books…” (5). Hence, the use of conjunctions are noted throughout the

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