Tim O’Brien and Chris Kyle both use literary devices to contrast two different ideas of war. “There’s no place to go. Not just in this lousy little town. In general. My life, I mean.
Literary Analysis on Short Stories In the short story of Tim O'brien's The Things They Carried uses symbolism to suggest that items that the soldiers Kiowa, Lavender and Cross carried represent their values and where they come from. O'brien successfully shows in depth what each character mentioned in the short story represents in relation to the narrator by mentioning the items and memories that each individual carried.
In the end of the book he was completely changed, he has lost his innocence, his sense of normalcy and morality, their hope, and his faith, and the
He has changed in the same way as the rest of his club. He started out as an innocent, intelligent, trustable kid and turned evil and wicked, not thinking for anyone other than himself, trying to beat his first best, with everyone else in the club doing the same. His relationship with Cheryl also changed. They started dating, but near the end of the book, weren’t really sure where their relationship was at that point. How the principal and his parents thought of him also changed.
“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a short story about a group of soldiers at war. Each soldier has either a physical or emotional “thing” that they carry with them to remember people or memories. One of the soldiers, Ted Lavender, is shot in the head while going to the bathroom and Lieutenant Cross takes the blame for his death. This burden of Lavender’s death is carried with Cross throughout the story. Lieutenant Cross continues to do his best throughout the rest of the war in memory of Ted Lavender.
,” another soldier yelled in return, “See what you can do until he can get here!!” The effects of war, as shown in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, are different for every person. Not a single person is made the same despite the similarities in backstories. One never knows what he/she will do in a situation until they are faced with that decision.
In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien mainly relies on round/dynamic characters. Most of the characters change in a significant way throughout the book which shows the dynamic characterization and a few characters are portrayed as complex people which shows the round characterization. This is because he wants the readers of The Things They Carried to be able to relate to the characters and he wants the audience to think deeper about each one of their characterizations. Mary Anne is great example of this in the chapter “SweetHeart of the Song Tra bong”. She goes to visit her boyfriend, Mark Fossie and she's so sweet and innocent.
In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien introduces Jimmy Cross, who is the Lieutenant of the platoon and who is also in love with virgin Martha,a friend from back home. She sent him letters signed ‘love’ which only played with his head, causing him to think lascivious thoughts about her, “slowly, a bit distracted, he would get up and move along with his men”(2). He was never fully in the war with Martha buzzing through his mind every waking second. When the men were on a mission, Jimmy Cross was examining a tunnel “and then suddenly, without willing, he was thinking about Martha... he tried to concentrate on the war but the love was to much for him” (11).
Choose one of the motifs from The Things They Carried and explain its significance In his 1990 novel, The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien uses various motifs,Some of the motifs used are the haze, the jungle, the muck, and the darkness of night. Throughout the stories, the narrator repeatedly describes the vapors and haze that settled over the landscape. For instance, the narrator describes the 'wet and swirly and tangled up' haze that obscures the jungle. The vapors spook the soldiers, making them feel tense, as if something or someone is haunting them.
If he does not conform, he will lose everything including his personal beliefs, on the contrary, if he does conform he risks his life. Conforming in any way, shape or form has consequences, usually ending with losing something. Tim realizes this when he has to chose between himself and others. This could also be a form of peer pressure. Tim has a desire to live a normal life; work and play, a family someday,
Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.
The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, illustrates the experiences of a man and his comrades throughout the war in Vietnam. Tim O’Brien actually served in the war, so he had a phenomenal background when it came to telling the true story about the war. In his novel, Tim O’Brien uses imagery to portray every necessary detail about the war and provide the reader with a true depiction of the war in Vietnam. O’Brien starts out the book by describing everything he and his comrades carry around with them during the war. Immediately once the book starts, so does his use of imagery.
Literary devices are used to convey the message of a writer to the reader. In the book The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, O'Brien uses many different devices to elaborate on the emotions that come with war. He uses some literary devices more than others to express the emotions in a superior way, such as flashbacks, repetition, and hyperbolas. In this book, Tim O’Brien is writing based on how his memories return to him.
As the novel goes on he begins getting in touch with their emotional and physical feelings. For example, Rat Kiley, he was a well known character in the book. He began having mental breakdowns throughout the book. He had seen his best friend get blown up, and then goes into shutdown mode. Rat keeps to himself not talking as much as he did, and walking away from the other guys.
Characters can change a great deal throughout the course of a story. Based off of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," we see just how much a character will change. There are many reasons for the character shift (undergoes an inner change) that are left up for our interpretation, which can be read about in The Theory Toolbox. In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," the grandma undergoes a great deal of shifting in her character.
