Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis

Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried consists of a structure that includes varying lengths of chapters. The chapters range from as short as one page to as long as 35-40 pages. For instance, the back to back chapters “Enemies” and “Friends” consist of a short description of occurrences in which Dave Jenson and Lee Strunk get into a fist fight and after learn to trust each other. Contrary to these chapters are chapters such as “On the Rainy River” which contains detailed descriptions of O’Brien’s days preceding his departure to Vietnam. A major rhetorical device that O’Brien uses throughout the entirety of The Things They Carried is irony (in both the longer and shorter chapters). This novel is a flashback of the war in O’Brien’s point of view.

In order to present his ideas, O’Brien directly references physical and emotional burdens brought upon the soldiers.

Ironic devices are used often in The Things They Carried to express the paradox brought about by war. For example, O’Brien says “I was too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, too everything” (41). This statement is in fact ironic because O’Brien thought he was too worthy to be in a war. However after the war, O’Brien’s attitude changed to a former soldier who realized the effects that the war had on oneself, and the importance of emotional feelings during his time served in Vietnam. “The war over and there was no place in particular to go” (O’Brian 137). This statement is too ironic because throughout the war, the soldiers criticized and wished they had freedom, however, when the soldiers finally acquired the ever so coveted freedom, they had nowhere to go mentally. In other words, the soldiers did not know how to “feel” in society because the war provided an emotionless lifestyle (killing men, smoking drugs, etc.). Irony is

Physical articles such as guns, ammunition, food, and water, are carried to survive and keep the soldiers healthy, whereas intangible ideas are brought along with the soldiers to maintain a healthy mentality. For example, “they carried unrelenting images of a nightmarish war that history is only beginning to absorb” (Back Cover). This quote explains an elusive idea of what the soldiers carried with them. Soldiers being forced to fight in the war do not go home unharmed emotionally, even if they were not physically injured. Each soldier goes home carrying feelings of guilt, confusion, and “unrelenting images,” while each soldier still fighting in the war carries their love, passion, and perseverance. Before reading the novel, one might merely think of tangible objects being carried during the war, but after finishing the novel, it is the intangible feelings of affection, passion, and heart-warming images that are the most important in the readers mind. In The Things They Carried, it is evident to the reader that the emotional feelings being carried have a much bigger effect on soldiers than simple materials used for