1) The Things They Carried the novel by Tim O'brian is a fictional representation of his experiences during the Vietnam War. Although the stories he tells are a fabrication of what really occurred in Vietnam, each story digs a little deeper on the emotions Tim O’Brien felt as a result of the war. I don't just think that the book is fiction because that's what it says on the title page, but because of This quote "A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.
In the story Camp Harmony, by Monica Stone, irony is used by the author to convey a message. For example, the word itself means “agreement; accord; harmonious relations”, according to Dictionary.com. The author, however, describes how inharmonious the camp is, “What was I doing behind a fence, like a criminal?If there were accusations to be made, why hadn’t I been given a fair trial?” (Stone, 323). This quote shows how at the time, the author was so confused as to why she and her family was at the camp when they had done nothing to deserve imprisonment.
“The Khmer Rouge demanded,’Where’s the gun you bought last week?’ My uncle told him the truth, ‘I didn’t buy any gun.’ The Khmer Rouge raised his M-16 rifle and shot my uncle in the chest.
1. The effects of Eighner’s attention to language in the first five paragraphs emphasizes that he is knowledgeable and confident about dumpster diving. As he states, “I live from the refuse of others. I am a scavenger” (Eighner 108). Eighner create an appeal to ethos when he displays his own experiences on the lifestyle of dumpster diving and its different aspects.
Men went through so many tasks during the Vietnam War physically and mentally. The beginning chapters focus on training for war and being prepared for the worst. For example, when there is a sergeant in a room with the marines. The sergeant walks to the chalk board and writes “AMBUSHES ARE MURDER AND MURDER IS FUN” (36-37). The
“It’s never about war, it’s about sunlight.” This quote is one of the many reasons Tim O’Brien gives on how to tell a true war story. In The Things They Carried four of Tim O’Brien’s own rules demonstrate why his chapter “On a Rainy River” is true. The rules that a true war story has no moral, a true war story doesn’t generalize, a true war story is not just about war, and a true war story is embarrassing prove his chapter true.
"Who would guess what it cost to move two buttons one inch on the war map..."(12). Carl Sandburg writes "Buttons" in 1915, during the early stage of World War 1. Sandburg uses the poetic element irony in addition to symbolism, and imagery as a way of showing how World War 1 is a serious event; however people turn war into a laughing matter. Carl Sandburg's use of various poetic elements in his poem "Buttons" helps the reader understand the speaker's main idea of irony.
When Tim O’Brien writes “story-truth is sometime truer than the happening truth”, he is trying to claim that the nature of truth is that it never fully gets across or captures the whole entire experience from an individual’s perspectives of what happened in reality. Even the truth can seem to broad, posing as a lie because it does not give the full coverage of a certain situation that it should have. Hence, putting forth certain emotions which instantly pour out strengthens the overall mood of the story, making it seem more alive. In fact, Tim O’Brien lies about killing a man and admits that himself in the chapters of the novel. The passage which best substantiates my claims is “The Man I Killed.”
The Most Dangerous Game. The old charts call it ‘“Ship Trap Island”. The amazing story brought reading to a whole new level, though literary devices and exceptional imagination the author create the most dangerous game. An exciting, unpredictable, and amazing short story.
The notes also explain the reason why the gas was still killing despite the numerous techniques they had to counter it. “The section changed position every night or two, so that the men had no taste for keeping themselves ready for a gas attack at any moment. So the water went stale in its containers, the canisters rusted and became unusable, the powdered bisulfite disappeared, the gasoline was used by the poilus to light up their shelters, the wood and the straw got soaked in the rain and the dew” (Barthas 223). The notes allowed me to understand the socialist influence in France and understand that it was pretty extended.
How can one tell if something is true or not? How can one tell if what you hear or read is pure fiction or reality? These are questions I often asked myself when I read “The Things they Carried” by Tim O’Brien. You begin to ask these questions throughout the book but begin to realize that these type of questions don't matter. What matters is the deeper meaning that the author is trying to convey.
In “Lamb to the Slaughter,” Roald Dahl uses irony to highlight major points. Irony contradicts what is said and what actually happens. For example, dramatic irony is present when a detective in the story states, “‘It’s probably right under our noses. What do you think, Jack?’” (Dahl).
In The Things They Carried the author, Tim O’Brien, often shares his own war experiences, and in most, if not all of his stories, he mixes lies in with truths in order to compose them to be believable and comprehensible. Many times throughout the novel, O’Brien fails to acknowledge when he’s falsifying his stories, however, he notes that he actually adds lies in the reports on his wartime experiences, but doesn’t provide when he does so. He claims so many people don’t believe the reality of war that he truly experienced that he’s obliged to lie. Although he may be protecting the audience from the harsh reality of war, at times it’s burdensome to decipher myth from fact. He often leaves the reader wondering what actually happened, what did not
Things I Carry The things I carry to school are to ease my job everyday. I carry my backpack so it could hold all my other materials which I need to carry. I carry extra pencils in case of loss of my actual pencil. One day in January, my mechanical pencil ran out of lead during a math test, and I had to waste five minutes to get another pencil.
All individuals have their sense of right or wrong and it varies from person to person. Your morals are made from your own understanding of the world, which results in different perspectives which vary from person to person, so doing the right thing can only be justified from your outlook. In John Steinbeck’s collection of short stories, Cannery Row, Steinbeck writes a collection of short stories that show how people struggle and live through poverty which is shown through the lives of Doc, Lee Chong, and also Mack and the boys. The story takes place in Cannery Row which is filled with homeless and poor people. The story revolves around Mack and the boys and their experiences of how they try to give back to the others who helped them.
