Literary Techniques in “The Things They Carried” Essay

A literary technique is a construction employed in literature to add depth to a generators work. These techniques can be obvious, such as the technique of hoarfrost in a poem, or subtle, such as juxtaposition, which can go unnoticed by the contri plainlyor. In The Things They Carried, Tim OBrien uses many such techniques to stand more than depth to his book. Four literary techniques employ by Tim OBrien are symbolism, pathetic f onlyacy, irony, and juxtaposition. One literary technique prominent in The Things They Carried, particularly in the falsehood by the same name, is symbolism.Through come to the fore this story, OBrien mentions all(prenominal) the things that the soldiers carry with them, both physical and emotional. However, the physical items that the men carried is more than just equipment- they are symbols that represent various facets of each soldiers personality. For example, Rat Kiley carried morphine and plasma and malaria tablets and surgical tape and all t he things a medic must carry, including M&Ms for particularly bad wounds (OBrien 5).The fact that Kiley carried medical necessities shows that he is a goodly paramedic devoted to doing his job well, plainly the M&Ms represent something different- Kileys optimistic and kind outlook on the war and spirit in general. Conversely, the tranquilizers carried by Ted Lavender represent his panic of the fighting in the war and his inability to face reality, rather choosing to relief valve from it by taking drugs. This is an effective technique because, by using these symbols, OBrien can let the reader figure out for him/herself deeper aspects of certain characters personalities without really stating them outright. some other literary device Tim OBrien employs is pathetic fallacy, or character mirroring humans emotions. In the story oral presentation of Courage, Norman Bowker attempts to save Kiowas life tho fails. He hold outs depressed and remorseful about what he should have been able to accomplish. For a long time afterward, Bowker struggles with the fact that he was valiantr than he ever thought possible, exclusively not so brave as he wanted to be (153) he is overcome with unhappiness and guilt. This is reflected in the weather at the time of Kiowas death.The soldiers were camping out in a field along the Song Tra Bong, and the rain unplowed getting worse. And by midnight the field turned into soup (145). The rain emulates the emotions of the dash and despondent soldiers. Pathetic fallacy is a really useful technique because it helps to provide the t peerless for the story. If the story was a sad one but the weather was bright and sunny, the tone of the story would be wrong, and vice versa. In speech of Courage, the fact that it was raining during the main event of the story helps the reader gain and understanding of just how bleak and dismal the events that occurred were.Irony, or a discrepancy between expectation and reality, is another literary t echnique used by Tim OBrien in The Things They Carried. Many of the titles of the stories contain irony themselves. For example, Speaking of Courage is more centred on the themes of failure and the inability to be game than it is about courage. The story Love is not, as it would see, about mutual love, but rather unrequited love. Field Trip, an expression with a usually actually positive connotation, is a story about a visit to a battleground where many lives had been lost.The Story How to allege a True warfare Story also contains much irony within it. The main full stop of this story is that a dependable war story cannot be told because the truthful act of say it makes it untrue. The title of this story is ironic- OBrien makes the reader weigh that he wants to instruct them how to tell a true war story, but the reader soon finds out OBriens real intention- that notice a true war story is impossible. Another ironic judgement within this story is the idea that war can be b eautiful.You nauseate it, yes, but your eyes do not. Like a forest fire, standardised cancer under a microscope, any battle has a powerful, implacable beauty (81). This catches the reader off-guard because of how greatly it contrasts with the view of war we have been antecedently given. He continues to say that, a true war story go away tell the truth about this, though the truth is ugly (81). This is very ironic because although the actual event may be beautiful, if a true story is told about it, the story is ugly.This adds to OBriens point that telling a story, even a true one, can only burgeon forth away from the truth of the event. Using irony, OBrien can present his pith in a creative an interesting way, and this helps the readers understand his point better. Another technique used by Tim OBrien is juxtaposition. The story The Lives of the drained seems to be a minute of arc of a non-sequitur to the rest of the book, however, OBrien has put it where it is for a reason. T he point of The Things They Carried is not simply to tell stories about the Vietnam state of war- the lesson goes deeper than that.It comes to teach that war is about more than just fighting- it is about the connection between life and death. It is about learning to detach oneself from death. It is about the sacredness and fragility of life. It is about so many things that many people never have to experience. But the Vietnam War is not OBriens first time coming into signature with these kinds of issues. As a child, he had a beloved friend named Linda who died of cancer. Lindas death was a major part of his growing up process.As a child, he already had to learn to distance himself from her death, saying, It didnt seem real the girl lying in the white casket wasnt Linda (241). And although he did not realize it at the time, her death helped him to deal with all the deaths he encountered in the war. For example, when Curt Lemon dies, OBrien refuses to see his personate as a friend who died. Instead he says, his body was not really a body, but rather one small bit of waste in the midst of a much wider wastage (238).The lessons that OBrien versed as a child are very relevant and cerebrate to his experiences in the Vietnam War, which is why he chooses to include The Lives of the Dead. But this is not the only message that OBrien wants us to take out of the inclusion The Lives of the Dead in The Things They Carried- he wants to convey that even though something that happens in ones life may seem horrible and meaningless, it may become of use to him or her later in life, and it may help him or her to get through an otherwise unmanageable time.OBrien wants his reader to sock that everything in life comes for a purpose. Throughout The Things They Carried, Tim OBrien makes use of many different literary techniques. In the story The Things They Carried, OBrien uses symbolism. In Speaking of Courage, the literary technique is pathetic fallacy. Irony is used in How t o Tell a True War Story, among others, and juxtaposition is used in the story The Lives of the Dead. It can be seen that literary techniques have a simple but powerful effect in The Things They Carried.