Literary Elements In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

Tim O’Brien uses many literary elements in his writings to help clarify his points; the main elements this paper focuses on are symbolism, and perspective. One of the better-known books he wrote, of which this paper is about, is The Things They Carried. During the Vietnam War, O’Brien was drafted in to the United States Army as a part of the infantry division (PBS). O’Brien has used his experiences serving in the military as inspiration to write fiction stories about soldiers. The Things They Carried uses symbolism and point of view to give understanding to the reader of the physical, mental, and emotional stresses many soldiers experience. The human brain can be considered the most important thing for an individual to correctly function.

Soldiers can be on a deployment for weeks to months at a time, so they have to be prepared. They have big bags that are worn as backpacks, called rucksacks, to carry anything they may need. Which makes weight is also a literal term as well. Rucksacks can hold a large amount of items at a time. The soldiers often carry: can openers, dog tags, watches, pocket knives, drink powder, sewing kits, mosquito repellent, food rations, helmets, flak jackets, poncho, extra fatigues and multiple canteens of water, which could easily weigh around twenty pounds (O’Brien 389). All of the previously listed items do not even include personal items that could vary by person like photographs, hygiene supplies, Bibles, or letters (O’Brien 389). Items they needed to carry also depended in what the soldier was specialized in the field and the rank of the soldier (O’Brien 390). Medics would need to carry medical supplies and medicines, and each man had a certain weapon depending on rank and specialization (O’Brien 390). A soldier could easily be carrying forty to fifty pounds of personal items and required equipment by the time one stops to add it all

The story is told in a third person point of view as a narrative. The narrator allows the reader to read characters’ thoughts and hear conversations between multiple characters, which helps show some of the emotional weight that one character carries. Lieutenant Cross carries a great amount of emotional weight along with him. He often thinks about Martha, the girl back home, and craves to be near her, to be her love, even though deep down he does not believe she truly loves him, add that to the emotional rucksack. Another thing to add to the rucksack is that Cross feels like Lavender would not have died had he been focused on the field and his men, but he was more focused about Martha and what she was doing, who she was with, if she really loved him or if she just said she did, and if she was a virgin (O’Brien 399). From another soldier’s point of view, Cross was a role model and strong. A soldier named Kiowa, who witnessed Ted Lavender being shot in the head and falling straight down, looked up to Lieutenant Cross because of how well he handled grief and because he wanted to care for his brothers as much as Cross cared for his men (O’Brien 397). Kiowa carried his own emotional weight from witnessing the gruesome sight of a fellow soldier dying. While Kiowa wanted to be strong and to handle grief as Cross did, Kiowa could only think of Lavender’s lifeless body falling to the ground (O’Brien