Literary Techniques in “The Things They Carried” Essay

A literary technique is a device utilized in literature to incorporate depth into a writer’s work.

These tactics can be clear, such as the approach of rhyme in a poem, or delicate, such as accommodement, which can move unnoticed by reader. Inside the Things That they Carried, Harry O’Brien uses many this sort of techniques to offer more interesting depth to his book. Four literary tactics used by Harry O’Brien are symbolism, pathetic fallacy, paradox, and rapport. One literary technique prominent in The Items They Taken, particularly in the story by same identity, is symbolism. Throughout this kind of story, O’Brien mentions everything that the military carry with them, both equally physical and emotional.

Nevertheless , the physical items that the men carried is more than just equipment- they are icons that symbolize various facets of each soldier’s personality. For instance , “Rat Kiley carried… morphine and plasma and wechselfieber tablets and surgical tape… and all the points a team must carry, including M&M’s for especially bad wounds” (O’Brien 5). The fact that Kiley carried medical needs shows that he can a good paramedic devoted to performing his work well, however the M&M’s represent something different- Kiley’s positive and kind view on the war and your life in general.

More over, the tranquilizers carried by Ted Lavender represent his terror in the fighting in the war wonderful inability to face reality, somewhat choosing to flee from that by taking prescription drugs. This is a highly effective technique since, by using these types of symbols, O’Brien can let the reader figure out intended for him/herself deeper aspects of selected characters’ individuality without actually stating these people outright. One more literary gadget Tim O’Brien employs is definitely pathetic fallacy, or characteristics mirroring humans’ emotions. Inside the story Talking about Courage, Grettle Bowker attempts to save Kiowa’s life nevertheless fails.

This individual becomes despondent and remorseful about what this individual should have been able to accomplish. For years afterward, Bowker struggles with the fact that he was “braver than he ever thought feasible, but… not too brave when he wanted to be” (153); he’s overcome with sadness and guilt. This is reflected in the weather at the time of Kiowa’s fatality.

The soldiers were outdoor camping in a field along the Track Tra Bong, and “the rain held getting more serious. And by night time the field turned into soup” (145). The rain imitates the features of the feelings of the tired and despondent soldiers.

Horrible fallacy is an extremely useful strategy because it really helps to provide the develop for the story. If the account was a miserable one but the weather was bright and sunny, the tone of the story can be wrong, and vice versa. In Speaking of Valor, the fact that it was raining during the main event with the story assists the reader gain and understanding of just how hopeless and dismal the events that occurred had been. Irony, or maybe a discrepancy among expectation and reality, is yet another literary technique applied by Tim O’Brien in The Things They Carried. Many of the titles from the stories include irony themselves.

For example , Speaking of Courage is more centred for the themes of failure as well as the inability being courageous than it is about courage. The storyline Love is usually not, mainly because it would seem, regarding mutual like, but rather unrequited love. Discipline Trip, an expression with a generally very great connotation, is a story about a visit to a battleground exactly where many lives had been shed. The Story Tips on how to Tell a genuine War History also consists of much paradox within it. The main point on this story is the fact a true battle story may not be told as the simple action of telling it can make it untrue.

It of this tale is ironic- O’Brien the actual reader think that he wants to instruct these people how to inform a true conflict story, nevertheless the reader soon finds out O’Brien’s real intention- that informing a true warfare story is usually impossible. An additional ironic thought within this story is the concept that war could be beautiful. “You hate it, yes, but your eyes will not. Like a forest fire, just like cancer within microscope, virtually any battle… has… a powerful, atroz beauty” (81). This draws the reader off-guard because of just how greatly this contrasts with all the view of war we have been previously provided.

He continues to say that, “a true battle story will tell the truth about this, although truth is ugly” (81). This is very ironic since although the genuine event may be beautiful, when a true history is informed about it, the storyplot is ugly. This increases O’Brien’s level that informing a story, a true one, can only eliminate from the real truth of the celebration.

Using irony, O’Brien can display his communication in a creative an interesting way, and this allows the readers figure out his level better. Another technique used by Harry O’Brien is usually juxtaposition. The storyplot The Lives of the Lifeless seems to be a non-sequitur for the rest of the book, however , O’Brien has put it where it can be for a purpose. The point of The Things They Carried is usually not simply to see stories about the Vietnam War- the lesson goes deeper than that. It comes to teach that war is about more than just fighting- it is about the connection among life and death.

It can be about finding out how to detach yourself from loss of life. It is regarding the sacredness and fragility of your life. It is about so many things that numerous people do not have to experience. But the Vietnam Battle is not really O’Brien’s first time coming into exposure to these kinds of problems.

As a child, he previously a dearest friend known as Linda who also died of cancer. Linda’s death was a major part of his growing up process. As a child, he previously had to figure out how to distance him self from her death, declaring, “It didn’t seem real… the girl lying in the white colored casket wasn’t Linda” (241).

And even though he did not realize this at the time, her death helped him to handle all the deaths he experienced in the war. For example , when ever Curt ” lemon ” dies, O’Brien refuses to see his body system as a friend who perished. Instead he says, “his body system was not good body, but rather one small bit of squander in the midst of a much wider wastage” (238). The lessons that O’Brien learned as a child are very relevant and associated with his experience in the Vietnam War, that is why he selects to include The Lives with the Dead.

Although this is not the sole message that O’Brien wishes us to take out of the inclusion The Lives of the Lifeless in The Points They Carried- he would like to convey that even though something that happens in one’s life may seem awful and useless, it may turn into of use to him or her later in life, and it might help her / him to get through normally unmanageable time. O’Brien wishes his visitor to know that everything anytime comes for any purpose. Through the entire Things They Carried, Bernard O’Brien utilizes many different literary techniques. Inside the story The Things They Carried, O’Brien uses symbolism.

In Speaking of Bravery, the fictional technique is horrible fallacy. Paradox is used in the way to Tell a genuine War Story, among others, and juxtaposition is utilized in the history The Lives of the Useless. It can be seen that literary techniques possess a simple but powerful effect inside the Things That they Carried.