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Figurative Language In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

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The Vietnam War spanning over two decades was a complex conflict that was fought through America’s outlook of containing communism in Europe. The multifaceted perspectives of the Vietnam War and unclear military objectives caused confusion for soldiers. As a result, a majority of soldiers felt pushed into a war that they didn’t fully understand, leading to lifelong psychological consequences. Although many believe soldiers are fearless and can tolerate the trauma of war, in The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien illuminates the underlying effects of war on soldiers that aren't immediately apparent to the naked eye, highlighting the physical and emotional struggles within soldiers' daily lives. O’Brien’s use of figurative language immerses readers …show more content…

The grueling Vietnam War, disrupting the lives of soldiers and their families, un-packs its complexities through the journey of the soldiers. After the death of Curt Lemon, a fellow soldier, O’Brien exclaims, “War is hell, but that’s not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love” (80). O’Brien’s metaphor conveys his perception of the Vietnam War while setting a strong precedent of what the war really was like. Furthermore, it is evident that the complexities of war are hard to navigate as soldiers, tearing away at their mental health, revealing soldier’s experiences at war that corrode their overall well-being. Furthermore, this toll on overall-well being can be self-inflicted when soldiers assign blame to themselves as guilt culminates into lifelong burdens. This is made clearer when Jimmy Cross blames himself for Ted Lavender's death, as O’Brien explains, “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war” (16). Jimmy’s decision to place the tragedy upon himself shows how quick soldiers try to resolve traumatic experiences, subconsciously setting themselves up to rot with the emotional burdens they create. Moreover, O’Briens simile instantiates the emotional vulnerability of soldiers which distinctly outweighs the horrors of war by creating endless stress and

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These stories show the harsh realities of the Vietnam War communicated by Tim O’Brien’s memory. O’Brien does not shy away from the importance of friendship during the war. Soldiers are

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22 million American men were drafted for the Vietnam War, 30,000 men leaving the country to avoid the inevitable draft. In Tim O’Brien’s 1990 historical fiction novel The Things They Carried, 22 short stories of the war are told by a first hand soldier who had experienced the guilt and grief associated with war. These stories follow O’Brien’s fellow soldiers and friends as they go along the war and the audience sees the development of these soldiers whose life had just been turned upside down. The readers see the guilt and grief associated with the war and the variety of how these soldiers cope with this loss. Rat Kiley, Mary Anne, and Linda are all characters the readers see whose innocence is ripped away from them at such a young age and

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As O’Brien tells what he would consider to be a ture war story of two young Vietnam soldiers he writes, “ They were kids; they just didn’t know. A nature hike, they thought, not even a war … they were giggling and calling each other yellow mother and playing a silly game they invented” (O’Brien 270). With O’briens words he reminices with his readers about childhood. The soldiers he writes about, under different circumstances, could have easily been kids in a school yard or a summer camp. True war stories show the gruesomeness of war, childrens lives lost faster than the blink of an eye.

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The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: Literary Analysis

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Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.

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In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the author retells the chilling, and oftentimes gruesome, experiences of the Vietnam war. He utilizes many anecdotes and other rhetorical devices in his stories to paint the image of what war is really like to people who have never experienced it. In the short stories “Spin,” “The Man I Killed,” and “ ,” O’Brien gives reader the perfect understanding of the Vietnam by placing them directly into the war itself. In “Spin,” O’Brien expresses the general theme of war being boring and unpredictable, as well as the soldiers being young and unpredictable.

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The soldiers in the Vietnam War are portrayed as losing themselves in the chaos and trauma of combat. Through the stories of the soldiers and their experiences, O’Brien explores the ways in which war strips away one's sense of identity and humanity. The author himself is depicted as losing himself in the war. O'Brien served in the Vietnam War, and his experiences inspired much of the book. Through the character of Tim O'Brien, the author explores the ways in which war can strip away one's sense of self and purpose.

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How Is The Figurative Language Used In The Things They Carried

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In the fictional story, The Things They Carried, author and Vietnam veteran, Tim O’Brien, walks readers through the experience of characters in the Vietnam War. Through the experience of multiple soldiers, Tim O’Brien highlights the way that they tell stories and why they’re meaningful to the young soldiers. It relates to the trauma that the young soldiers underwent. Following the soldiers, the author uses strong diction, literary elements, and figurative language to show how soldiers used stories to cope with the trauma surrounding the Vietnam War.

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Ted Lavender was a soldier who smoked and used tranquilizers because of his fear of dying. Lieutenant Cross was crying not because of the death of Ted Lavender, but for himself. Cross noticed that when a soldier is distracted by intangible things such as emotions it would

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Hidden somewhere within the blurred lines of fiction and reality, lies a great war story trapped in the mind of a veteran. On a day to day basis, most are not willing to murder someone, but in the Vietnam War, America’s youth population was forced to after being pulled in by the draft. Author Tim O’Brien expertly blends the lines between fiction, reality, and their effects on psychological viewpoints in the series of short stories embedded within his novel, The Things They Carried. He forces the reader to rethink the purpose of storytelling and breaks down not only what it means to be human, but how mortality and experience influence the way we see our world. In general, he attempts to question why we choose to tell the stories in the way

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Through the use of connected vignettes, O'Brien is able to explore the mental and emotional tolls that troops endure both on and off the battlefield. As he navigates the complexity of war and its enormous influence on the lives of those engaged, O'Brien uses the historical literary critical technique to present a mosaic of experiences that blurs the boundary between reality and fiction. O'Brien investigates the multidimensional nature of memory and its impact on how different people view conflict through their perspectives and their goods. As O'Brien reveals the human cost of combat and the difficulties soldiers encounter in coming to terms with the realities of war, the historical setting of the Vietnam War further improves the story. The Vietnam War's historical events are linked in "The Things They Carried" by O'Brien to timeless and enduring themes of human adversity and resilience.

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