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Spin O Brien Rhetorical Analysis

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Moreover, O’Brien’s miscellaneous word choice, and fragmented sentence structure play a huge role in reflecting his thoughts on the war. It helps readers understand the significance of the chapter, and connect us to the author on a deeper level. O’Brien’s short, and repetitive sentences mirror his personal struggles, and allow the audience to learn more about him. For example, the last sentence of “Spin” is, “..nothing to remember except the story.” (39) He repeats the word “story” four times to emphasize his reasoning for remembering these memories from Vietnam. Recalling the good memories, instead of the bad, can’t take away the pain and distress he continues to go through. O’Brien successfully uses diction as a strategy to get the readers to understand the overlying message that grief is apart of life, that can not be ignored. …show more content…

Some of them are depressing and melancholic, while others are sweet and amusing. One of the stories he mentions is about Mitchell Sanders picking lice off his body and “slowly, carefully depositing the lice”(30) in an envelope to the draft board. This does a nice job of lightening the gloomy feel that the beginning of the book presented. In another memory, O’Brien describes going to watch Norman Baker and Henry Dobbins play checkers each evening. “There was something restful about it.” O’Brien says. (31). “There were red checkers and black checkers.”(31). He analyzes the game of checkers, and contrasts it with the war. In a game of chess, there are strategies, rules, and a clear view of what is ahead. Readers learn that O’Brien is fearful of the unknown, which may be a result of Vietnam. Throughout the chapter, the unassociated anecdotes compare to the thoughts occurring in his mind, and help readers get to know him better as a

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One of the important truths of a war story is that it doesn’t leave out the dirty gritty details that really tell the experience. A reader may see this quote and feel strange that O’Brien chooses to point out that war stories aren’t for feeling uplifted, they probably chose this book to get a good story about some soldiers in Vietnam. Rather, O’Brien wants the reader to see that any war story worth telling is going to leave in the terrible parts that cause disgust and retching. War is not something to be used to feel that there is a greater

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844 Words | 4 Pages

This chapter “The Ghost Soldiers”, showed us how Tim O’Brien and the other soldiers were dealing with the war both physically and psychologically. It also shows us how the Tim O'Brien behaved and felt when he was shot, wounded and had a bacteria infection on his butt and how the war changed the way he thought, and viewed the other soldiers around him. This chapter also contain a lot of psychological lens. From the way Tim O’Brien felt when he was shot and separated from his unit to a new unit to when he wanted revenge on Bobby Jorgenson for almost “killing” him.

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By telling stories about others, he is not only saving the lives and memories of the deceased, but also his own. In the chapter “Notes”, O’Brien shares the story of Norman Bowker and explains that “It occurred to [him] that the act of writing had led [him] through a swirl of memories that might otherwise have ended in paralysis or worse. (152) Writing about the soldiers that Tim O’Brien fought alongside in the Vietnam is a therapeutic act that helps him cope with what happened, in a sense saving his own life and preventing the “worse” from happening. In more universal terms, O’Brien conveys that telling stories of his deceased childhood friend, Linda allowed him to ease his pain and confusion surrounding death by letting her live on through imagination. “ [He’s] skimming across the surface of [his] own history, moving fast, riding the melt between the blades, doing loops and spins, and when [he] take a high leap into the dark and come down thirty years later, [he] realizes it is as Tim trying to save Timmy’s life with a story.”

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280 Words | 2 Pages

I find Ho Chi Minh’s letter far more persuasive than Lyndon B. Johnson’s. Using ethos, pathos, and logos, he forms a solid argument that supports Vietnam’s stance on the war. He appeals to one’s emotions by expressing the injustices faced by his people, writing, “In South Viet-Nam a half-million American soldiers and soldiers from the satellite countries have resorted to the most barbarous methods of warfare, such as napalm, chemicals, and poison gases in order to massacre our fellow countrymen, destroy the crops, and wipe out villages.” Words such as “massacre” and “barbarous” highlight the severity of these crimes, and invoke feelings of guilt and remorse in the reader. Chi Minh uses ethos to support his logos, or logical, views on the

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423 Words | 2 Pages

(page 68). This is why Tim O’Brien writes the way he does. He wants the reader to believe his story and get a sense of what war is truly

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543 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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You separate it from yourself. You pin down certain truths" (158). O’Brien makes numerous conflicting comments on storytelling during certain chapters of the novel, such as "How to Tell a True War Story. " By making these comments, the narrator not only justifies the objective of The Things They Carried, but also provides clues regarding the content, composition, and interpretation of the novel. O’Brien states that: "In any war story, but especially a true one, it's difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen.

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813 Words | 4 Pages

O’Brien tells the readers about him reflecting back twenty years ago, he wonders if running away from the war were just events that happened in another dimension, he pictures himself writing a letter to his parents: “I’m finishing up a letter to my Parents that tells what I'm about to do and why I'm doing it and how sorry I am that I’d never found the courage to talk to them about it”(O’Brien 80). Even twenty years after his running from the war, O’Brien still feels sorry for not finding the courage to tell his parents about his decision of escaping to Canada to start a new life. O’Brien presented his outlook that even if someone was not directly involved in the war, this event had impacted them indirectly, for instance, how a person’s reaction to the war can create regret for important friends and

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1505 Words | 7 Pages

The Disconnected Soldiers In “The Things They Carried,” written by Tim O’Brien, he creates images in the audience 's mind about what veterans truly experience before, during, and after the Vietnam war. Soldiers always have the strange feeling of disconnection but O’Brien brings this to the attention of people throughout his book. On the surface, the book appears to be a simple war novel, but beneath the surface it opens up into all of the struggles that war veterans face such as the disconnection from society. Disconnection occurs as a main theme in the novel and he presents this through multiple stories from different characters.

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1496 Words | 6 Pages

O’Brien creates an idea of the future exquisitely in “Ambush,” opening with “When she was nine, my daughter Kathleen asked if I had ever killed anyone” (1082). This scene of the future, followed by the intense story of him killing a man, already forces the reader to think about the future effects of the event. The narrator shares at the end of the chapter, “Even now I haven’t finished sorting it out” (1083), showing just how intensely the memory sticks in his brain. The beginning and the end of the chapter both relay images of the future, forcing the reader to think about how war affects individuals long-term. Tim O’Brien’s use of imagery of the future and his stress on current effects of the trauma show how much war negatively affects

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728 Words | 3 Pages

In a true war story, one may find contradictory details or embellishments for the mental wounds inflicted by war. Memories can become foggy, fused with pain, and grief, which makes it harder to unravel what is fact and fiction through the lens of personal perception. O’Brien mentions how one who has not experienced the war can not fully understand and empathize with the war stories. Yet, with this inexplicable fabrication of the truth, the essence of a true war story lies in not its factual accuracy, but its ability to evoke empathy, and a deeper understanding within the

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688 Words | 3 Pages

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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891 Words | 4 Pages

There are numerous examples of metafiction in The Things They Carried; many are clear, and some are harder to notice at first glance. In the text, author Tim O’Brien uses a metafictional writing style to vividly illustrate what emotions and thoughts went through the minds of the soldiers fighting in Vietnam, including himself. It is unclear whether or not some of the stories he tells in the text actually happened, but there is no doubt that they are paramount to the underlying objective of O’Brien’s writing style: to use realistic scenarios that may not have actually happened, to make whatever changes necessary to the story to get his point across. Tim O’Brien uses metafiction to obscure the line between truth and fiction by manipulating details that trigger certain emotions to influence the reader. Metafiction allows writers like Tim O’Brien to manipulate what is held to be truth, and fabricate certain details in an attempt to enhance or reinforce the meaning of a story.

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1535 Words | 7 Pages

It can be argued that war is grotesque but in the truth war is a beauty. One can’t help but gape at the awful majesty in combat. Rather than attempt to portray a false truth in war, he depicts a composite truth. It is only by embracing the intricacies of truth within the philosophy, language, and content of his writings, which he was able to create more authentic telling of war. Few individuals can claim that O’Brien’s novel details the wartime experiences of a fictional young soldier.

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Tim O’Brien’s uncommon ending sentence that have caught many people by surprise in the story, “Where have you gone, Charming Billy?” which was wrote as a historical fiction that revolves around the Vietnamese war. It leads you to O’Brien’s perspective on why war is bad. The story also shows how things are not okay, even after the war. O’Brien shows the realities of war through repetition of thoughts about fear, how soldiers deal with it, and the effect it has on their actions.

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