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Literary Techniques In The Things They Carried

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In his The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien reflects on his experiences in Vietnam in the form of a fictional story. In order to portray his experiences in a manner that accurately reflects his thoughts and emotions of the time, O’Brien implements various structural techniques throughout his work. By distorting the story with inaccurate chronology and repeatedly connecting the fictional stories to his own, O’Brien emphasizes the harsh impact of the war on others. The repetitious nature of O’Brien’s stories emphasize the importance of specific events and how they affect the underlying themes of the book. The story regarding Kiowa’s death is mentioned upwards of five times throughout the novel at different points. Readers get to experience …show more content…

For example, the first chapter of the book starts off as a narrative of the people the the literal things they carried, O’Brien never mentioned himself. Later on he says, “I remember, we paused over a snapshot of Ted Lavender, and after a while Jimmy rubbed his eyes and said he’d never forgiven himself for Lavender’s death” (28). O’Brien is able to point out experiences and explain them, while adding in an aspect of storytelling, as he can recall them. As he continues to write, more memories are brought to the surface. Doing this, readers re-live the horrors faced by O’Brien in Vietnam in the same structure and timeline as he does, which aids in creating and defending a theme surrounding the downfalls and struggles of soldiers, both during combat and their life following. The lack of chronology also allows readers to understand the chaos and confusion associated with war indirectly. By jumping around in the timeline, O’Brien parallels the strong feelings of confusion, displacement, and chaos that him as well as all other soldiers feel while in combat. Readers experience confusion as the soldiers do, though it is on a significantly smaller

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Dodging the Draft Tim O’Brien’s famous novel The Things They Carried really starts when Tim, a recent college graduate with a full scholarship to Harvard, gets a draft notice for the Vietnam War. Throughout chapter four “The Rainy River” Tim ingeniously uses language to describe his pain, flashbacks of his younger self and vivid detail of the setting around him to dramatize his dilemma of either to flee to Canada or stay and fight in the war.

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Then in the chapter called “On the Rainy River” O’Brien writes about how he at first runs away from the war draft. These two chapters are completely different and they make the reader question O’Brien’s stories. The audience does this because they do not understand how O’Brien could write about the emotional baggage and what happened in the war to the character’s looking back and reflecting on it. Then in another chapter O’Brien writes about when he first received his draft, where he runs away and goes to an old man’s cabin for awhile. These two chapters are completely different, the first chapter has a negative and sad tone to it.

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“No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now” ( Richard M. Nixon). The Things They Carried is a nonlinear novel written by Tim O’Brien about the Vietnam war. The novel is nonlinear because he wrote it 20 years after the war ended. This allows him to go back to specific memories without having to be in chronological order.

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A lot happens in Tim O 'Brien short story "The Things They Carried", at first, the reader speculates what the short story is about and why it is called "The Things They Carried". The narrator Tim O 'Brien tells and describes all the things that the men have to carry while "in-country" during the Vietnam War in the1960 's. The text 's artistic value comes from its plot, characters, conflict, and style. In the plot of the story the protagonist, Tim O 'Brien starts by describing circumstances that happened while he was in Vietnam. In the beginning of "The Things They Carried" we are introduced to each character by the things they carry.

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The Things They Carried A War Story Analysis

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The things they carried is a novel by Tim O’Brien. About the Vietnam war. About the lives of people going there. It’s a collection of war stories. Some of them true, some of the untrue and that’s the main topic that’ll be discussed in this paper.

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He fought a war in Vietnam that he knew nothing about, all he knew was that, “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (38). He realized that he put his life on the line for a war that is surrounded in controversy and questions. Through reading The Things They Carried, it was easy to feel connected to the characters; to feel their sorrow, confusion, and pain. O’Briens ability to make his readers feel as though they are actually there in the war zones with him is a unique ability that not every author possess.

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This technique is supported when he includes Rat Kileys narration in his story, while all at once, allowing the reader to understand that Kiley is known for embellishing. “The question is not of deceit. Just the opposite: he wanted to heat up the truth, to make it burn so hot that you would feel exactly what he felt” (Kaplan 5/8). By O’Brien allowing Kiley to express his view of the war, he further sustains the writing technique used to reinforce the belief that with numerous narrations, he provides the audience the opportunity to depict and imagine their own reality of the war. The war stories told through each individual soldier’s perspective, but more significantly, with their own emotions towards the war and the events which occurred during the war.

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