Symbolism In The Things They Carried

In the plot of the story the protagonist, Tim O 'Brien starts by describing circumstances that happened while he was in Vietnam. In the beginning of "The Things They Carried" we are introduced to each character by the things they carry. It lists a variety of things that the soldier brought on their mission. For example, some of the things were intangible, such as sickness, guilt, and the atmosphere. Other soldiers were carrying physical objects, including P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wrist-watches, dog tags and etc. as listed in (O 'Brien). Throughout the plot of the story O 'Brien seem to focus on the things that were not important versus the things that 's were, and at the end, he was faced with a big consequence. The text has artistic value based on the plot because it is giving us as readers, the sequences of events, the reasons for things that are happing throughout the story. The text 's artistic value of the plot attracts the reader into the character 's existence and help the reader to better understand the choices the characters choose to make. For

Though the literary device of repetition, O'Brien portrays the physical and psychological hardships of a soldier. For example, the narrator repeatedly describes the weight of weight during the soldiers arduous journey: “Among the necessities or near necessities were R-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellants, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets...2-3 canteens of water. Together these items weighted between 15-20 pounds” (O'Brien 470). Subsequently, the narrator and his companions embark on a perilous journey all while facing

“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. In The Things They Carried, O’Brien reveals his view on war through telling his readers how the Vietnam War had no point, was emotionally devastating, and displaying that there is no purpose in war unless the soldiers know what they are fighting for.

In William Faulkner’s short story, A Rose for Emily, Emily Grierson, a prominent member of her small town, dies alone in her home. Upon her death, curious townsfolk entered her home trying to learn her secrets. It was thought she was crazy. Emily Grierson was not crazy; she was isolated by her father, which led to her odd social tendencies and unique interactions with others. A Rose for Emily is a short story based in a small town. The narrator focuses a lot on Emily Grierson after her death. The narrator said multiple times they believed she wasn’t crazy. However, their actions proved to show the opposite.

In the short story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, and the drama “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, the authors created two female protagonists “Miss Emily Grierson” and “Mrs. Minnie Wright” their stories are both about woman and murder. In Trifles, Mrs. Wright has been arrested and investigated for suspected murder of her husband. Miss Emily in Faulkner 's story, kills a man who she was dating. Together each writer uses setting to reveal more and more about the female protagonist’s emotional state or their conflict. The main female protagonist in each of the story/play sees themselves in many of the same aspects. In both the story/play the female-male relationship had a major impact on how the female characters actions are justified by their own standards.

Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried, is not a casual story based on war, but divided stories that paint a picture of veterans and what they were developing during and after the war. O’Brien brings up hard hitting points in each book that affects a reader in so many ways. O’Brien uses his novel with symbolisms to deeply understand characters, types of grieving each character is affiliated with, and more so what these characters carry emotionally, mentally, and figuratively throughout the book, nevertheless, making these characters relatable with actual people.

Soldiers are looked up to all around the world. They are heroes. They are role models. The things they do and go through are widely appreciated by all. In the story, “The Thing They Carried” the reader gets to look a little bit deeper into what an everyday soldier does. The narrator describes the things each soldier carries and how a soldier can be identified by these things. Each soldier carries a unique load. Soldiers carry pounds upon pounds of physical burdens that also happen to be precautionary necessities. They carry ammunition, weapons, rations, medical supplies, heavy uniforms, and personal items; but they do not only carry physical burdens. The soldiers carry intangible burdens such as love, the fear of dying,

"They varied the sky. The whole atmosphere, they carried it, the humidity, the monsoons, the stink of fungus and decay, all of it, they carried gravity." -O 'Brien. The Things They Carried by Tim O 'Brien, is about how war can destroy you, with an horrible end always. O 'Brien use the symbolism to show that war can destroy your humanity and innocence. And use the allegory to show that the past can either hurt or help someone in war.

The author, Tim O’Brien, says, “the things they carried were largely determined by necessity”(O’ Brien 1), which can vary from soldier to soldier because, each person can deem what is necessary to them. Besides the regulation items each soldier had on their person; helmet, gun, food, etc., they also had whatever they believed would help them out on their mission. In the same fashion, the very same elements they carry, or hump, with them leads to a sense of dependence upon each other. “Each man depends on the other to share the load. But they are also defined as men, differentiated from the group because of the things they carry”(Piedmont-Marton 326) , Piedmont-Marton states showing that even though they have the same few items that are the same among them, it can also separate them. Many soldiers carry mementos from  both their home and past but, it can be inferred that none of the men are completely engulfed in the memories they bring, unlike their lieutenant. These examples of symbolism help accentuate the primary

The story “A Rose for Emily” was written before the American Civil War, a time when wealthy Southern whites owned large farms and exploited slave labor to keep on operating at the lowest cost possible. Change in the south was very difficult and many people would not accept the change.

In the short stories “A Rose for Emily” and “The Story of an Hour,” the authors use literary devices to create vibrant female characters. These literary devices include diction, imagery, language, and sentence structure. “The Story of an Hour,” written by Kate Chopin, opens with a woman, Louise Mallard, who has a heart disease, and her friends must gently break the news to her that her husband has passed away in a railroad accident. She mourns briefly, but then realizes that she can now live for herself, instead of just as someone’s wife. Shockingly, she walks downstairs after fleeing from her friends’ horrible news, and her husband walks in the door. As he walks in, Josephine screams and falls down dead; the happiness that she had felt was too much for her weak heart. Likewise, “A Rose for Emily,” written by William Faulkner, opens on a woman, Emily Grierson, except this time the woman is already dead. The story is told from the perspective of the townspeople, a collective “we.” They recount when she was exempted from her taxes, and then when she refused to pay them after the death of the person who remitted her. Then, the townspeople go back further to a time when Emily’s house had a stench so foul, a judge was consulted about what to do; it was decided that a few townspeople would stealthily sprinkle lime about her property in order to not confront her and seem discourteous. Miss Emily’s father dies, she finds a suitor, and buys poison, then shuts herself and her

In the story “A Rose for Emily,” written by William Faulkner, you take a journey through

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is written about the change from Old South to New South and Emily refuses to accept the changes by living in her own version of reality. An analysis of William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” will explain how Faulkner portrays the change in the social structure of the American South in the early twentieth century as a change from Old South to New South by showing the Griersons no longer hold power, the changes in the town, and Emily’s denial to change.

Miss Emily was an aging old lady that took creepy to a whole new level. In the story, "A Rose for Emily", a lonely old lady went to extreme and murdered a man because she was so desperate for company, even if the person was lifeless. Throughout the story, Faulkner used extreme sensory detail, elements of setting, and structure of plot to create suspense.

The titled short story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is set in the post-civil war era in a southern town named Jefferson. The story discusses the themes of race and social class through the characters, Tobe and Miss Emily. Miss Emily Grierson is a distinguished woman in southern society while Tobe is her black manservant. Tobe stays with Miss Emily until her death and suddenly disappears afterwards because their relationship is a remnant of the race relationship in the antebellum South: master and slave. He no longer has any obligations to stay in Jefferson because his duty to Miss Emily is no longer needed since she died.