ipl-logo

Things They Carried Symbols

971 Words4 Pages

The Things They Carried

The story. “The Things They Carried” was about a group of soldiers in the Vietnam war.
The story explained what the soldiers carried both physically, and emotionally. However what truly made this story so great was how the writer used the literary terms of symbol, setting, and theme to convey the meaning of the story.

In the story, “The Things They Carried” symbolism had a big role in how the write gave life to the story. The literary definition of symbol is: An object, person, or action that conveys two meaning. for example one of the symbols is a picture of Martha. The picture of Martha was carried by Lt. Jimmy Cross, and the picture was a symbol of love, as well as how life used to be before Jimmy went to war. The picture also …show more content…

The third literary term that I chose for the story, “The Things They Carried”, is the theme. The literary definition of theme is: The theme of any literary work is the base that acts as a foundation for the entire literary piece. The theme links all aspects of the literary work with one another and is basically the main subject, or what the story is about. In this story I believe that there are several themes that can be taken away from the story. The first theme is the theme of courage. The theme of courage is shown throughout the story, and how all the soldiers or terrified of what could happen, or what is happing to them in the time of war, however none of the soldiers really show how scared they are, and even make jokes about it to deal with the situations. The next theme is burdens. The burdens both physical and emotional are stated throughout the story as well. The physical burden being the actual weight of all the gear that each solder had to

Show More
Related

Why Is Fahrenheit 451 Banned

343 Words | 2 Pages

In the futuristic novel, Fahrenheit 451, there are several examples of formal elements such as character, setting, plot, and theme. In this novel, owning and reading books is illegal. If books are found, they are burned and their owner is arrested. Like the case with the Old Woman, if the owner refuses, he or she often dies, burning along with them. While Fahrenheit 451 does not provide a single, straightforward explanation as to why books are banned; it suggests that several factors could combine to create this result in our own lives.

Read More

Summary Of The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

803 Words | 4 Pages

The Things They Carried is written by the author, Tim O’Brien, and follows the protagonist, Tim O’Brien and his fellow foot soldiers in the Vietnam War. This novel captures the nature of the Vietnam War through mainly fictional war stories. These war stories are told through the eyes of the main character, Tim O’Brien, who tells and writes these stories as a way to cope with what he’s been through in the war. The Things They Carried follows Tim O’Brien on his hero’s journey and coming of age adventure.

Read More

Courage In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

730 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien expresses to the reader why the men went to the war and continued to fight it. In the first chapter, “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien states “It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather they were too frightened to be cowards.” The soldiers went to war not because they were courageous and ready to fight, but because they felt the need to go. They were afraid and coped with their lack of courage by telling stories (to themselves or aloud) and applied humor to the situations they encountered.

Read More

Emotion In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

269 Words | 2 Pages

A theme The Things They Carried is the emotion and physical burden the men went through the war. The men carried so much weight on their back walking miles and miles on end through jungles and swamp like lands days on end with very little breaks or sleep. And then they have the emotional effects of war like knowing you have to kill someone to stay alive it`s killed or be killed or knowing if you die a military officer is going to knock on your day and give your mom a folded flag. But Back to the physical side of things they walk walk and walk till they can`t walk no more it feels like and they still keep on walking their bodies are drained and exhausted their bodies and dead.

Read More

Motifs In The Things They Carried And A Temporary Matter

692 Words | 3 Pages

Characterization and motifs are two important literature terms that help give the reader a deeper understanding of the story and the characters. In The Things They Carried” and “A Temporary Matter” these two literature terms are important factors for the story plot. The motifs in the two short stories are symbols that are important to the true meaning behind the author purpose of writing the stories. The characterization in the two short stories helps you understand the characters in the story and the reason behind the actions they do.

Read More

'The Things They Carried By Tim O' Brien

731 Words | 3 Pages

“The Things They Carried” Analysis In “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien structures his novel in a way that opens up into a deeper perspective than what is typically perceived at first hand. The structure of the novel reaches beyond storytelling, but rather a blend of fact and fiction in order to establish the relevance of telling stories and less about the actual, hard truth. The obscure structure of the book supports the epistemological feel, how the novel consists of short stories, essay, anecdotes, and other forms of writing. The novel is not so much written as a historical document, but more on the imaginative side of things with hints of autobiography. As O’Brien narrates these stories, there’s a greater meaning behind these stories

Read More

Things They Carried Guilt

1093 Words | 5 Pages

Imagine being drafted to move thousands of miles away from the life you love to fight a war you hated. This is the unfortunate reality for Tim O’Brien In The Things They Carried. O’Brien explains his experiences of war in Vietnam, what it took to get him there, and his relationships with the other men in his platoon. He portrays guilt and pride through storytelling and intertwines the two by showing how the men often feel guilty for the actions they pursue or decisions they make based on their pride.

Read More

Tikki Tavi Themes

533 Words | 3 Pages

What is theme? Theme is a motive or lesson of great importance that the creator wants us to learn. In the story “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” by Rudyard Kipling, good triumphs over evil is the theme of this amazing, exciting, and deep novella. I absolutely, without a doubt, know this is the theme because for every well behaved character something wonderful happens to them. For every awful character something despicable happens to them also.

Read More

The Things They Carried: An Analysis

688 Words | 3 Pages

“That’s what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future ... Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story” (36). The Things They Carried is a captivating novel that gives an inside look at the life of a soldier in the Vietnam War through the personal stories of the author, Tim O’Brien . Having been in the middle of war, O’Brien has personal experiences to back up his opinion about the war.

Read More

Examples Of Hope In The Great Gatsby

932 Words | 4 Pages

A theme is the subject of a discussion, piece of writing, etc. In nearly every short story or novel, there is an overall theme. Hope is a big theme not only in many stories and novels, but also in life in general. According to Merriam-Webster, hope is a desire with anticipation or the want for something to happen or be true. Often times, hope is what gets people through many hardships in their lives.

Read More

Fact And Fiction In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

498 Words | 2 Pages

The Things They Carried is a novel written by Tim O’Brien; in this novel, O’Brien explores a blurred line between reality and fiction. This subjection of truth to storytelling is a major theme throughout the novel, which means that telling war stories objectively makes the story less pertinent. This theme shows that O’Brien is not attempting to tell a war story, but to just talk about the experiences he had while at war. He shows that any facts throughout the novel are not as important as the stories and experiences he tells of, and how what the war meant to the soldiers and how it changed them. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is an autobiographical fiction novel which investigates the obscure line between fact and fiction with his characters

Read More

Things They Carried Theme Essay

878 Words | 4 Pages

One of those themes is shame, and the story very clearly shows how shame leads people to face their fears and do things they do not want to do. For instance, Curt Lemon feels embarrassed for being afraid of the dentist for so many years, so he relieves that by having a perfect tooth removed. Additionally, the author himself wanted to avoid going to war even after being drafted, but after feeling the shame of being viewed as a coward, he submits. The feeling of shame not only helps people overcome their fears, but also moves people to do what they believe is morally right. Oftentimes, even if someone is afraid of something, he/she knows that facing what he/

Read More

Things They Carried Plot Analysis

142 Words | 1 Pages

Plot of a story provides sequence of events in a story. Complication, rising action, climax, and resolution are all elements of plot. Theme provides an answer to the questions, “What is this story really about? What does the story really mean? A theme in the story “The Things They Carried” explore to the readers lives of the young soldiers in wartime.

Read More

Short Story Elements By Alma Astorga

440 Words | 2 Pages

Short Story Elements by Alma Astorga Introduction and Thesis: a short story is a brief work of fiction. It focuses on one or two main characters and on a singlr problem or conflict. To understand a short story, look for four elements: setting,character,theme,and plot. The setting refers to the place and time of a story.

Read More

The Things They Carried Reflective Essay

576 Words | 3 Pages

It even explained what was going through the minds of the soldiers, and put their emotions into great detail. The character development in “The Things They Carried,” is really descriptive. Not only is the character's’ development phenomenal, the scenes and experiences of each soldier was greatly described. It provided different types of figurative language, such as simile, metaphor, personification, symbolism, etc. Also, the way that the violent scenes were described was very descriptive, to the point where

Read More

More about Things They Carried Symbols

Related Topics

Open Document