Literary Techniques in “The Things They Carried” Essay

A literary technique is a guile employed in literature to conduct depth to a writers work. These techniques throw out be obvious, such as the technique of rhyme in a poem, or subtle, such as juxtaposition, which bathroom go un noniced by the referee. In The Things They Carried, Tim OBrien uses many such techniques to generate more(prenominal) depth to his book. Four literary techniques use by Tim OBrien are symbolism, despicable fallacy, irony, and juxtaposition. One literary technique prominent in The Things They Carried, particularly in the account statement by the same name, is symbolism. end-to-end this story, OBrien mentions all the things that the soldiers carry with them, both(prenominal) physical and emotional. However, the physical items that the men carried is more than just equipment- they are symbols that represent confused facets of each soldiers personality. For example, grunter Kiley carried morphine and plasma and malaria tablets and operative tape an d all the things a clover must carry, including M&Ms for especially bad wounds (OBrien 5).The range that Kiley carried medical necessities shows that he is a good paramedic devoted to doing his employment well, that the M&Ms represent something different- Kileys optimistic and kind outlook on the war and life in general. Conversely, the tranquilizers carried by Ted Lavender represent his terror of the engagement in the war and his inability to face reality, sooner choosing to escape from it by fetching drugs. This is an tackive technique because, by development these symbols, OBrien can let the contributor figure out for him/herself deeper aspects of certain characters personalities without genuinely stating them outright.Another literary device Tim OBrien employs is pathetic fallacy, or nature mirroring serviceman emotions. In the story verbalize of Courage, Norman Bowker attempts to save Kiowas life barely fails. He becomes depressed and remorseful near what he should attain been able to accomplish. For a long time afterward, Bowker struggles with the fact that he was braver than he ever thought possible, but not so brave as he wanted to be (153) he is overcome with sadness and guilt. This is reflected in the suffer at the time of Kiowas devastation.The soldiers were campsite out in a empyrean along the Song Tra Bong, and the rain unbroken getting worse. And by midnight the field sullen into soup (145). The rain emulates the emotions of the weary and brokenhearted soldiers. Pathetic fallacy is a very(prenominal) useful technique because it helps to provide the cantillate for the story. If the story was a sad maven but the weather was bright and sunny, the intonate of the story would be wrong, and vice versa. In Speaking of Courage, the fact that it was raining during the of import event of the story helps the lector procure and translateing of just how bleak and opaque the events that occurred were.Irony, or a discrepanc y betwixt expectation and reality, is another literary technique used by Tim OBrien in The Things They Carried. Many of the backups of the stories contain irony themselves. For example, Speaking of Courage is more centred on the themes of failure and the inability to be courageous than it is active courage. The story Love is not, as it would depend, well-nigh mutual love, but rather unrequited love. Field Trip, an expression with a ordinarily very positive connotation, is a story near a visit to a strifeground where many lives had been lost.The invention How to recount a True warfare Story also contains such(prenominal) irony deep down it. The main point of this story is that a aline war story cannot be told because the simple act of ordaining it makes it untrue. The title of this story is wry- OBrien makes the reader entail that he wants to instruct them how to tell a true war story, but the reader soon finds out OBriens real intention- that telling a true war story is impossible. Another teetotal intellect within this story is the idea that war can be beautiful.You dislike it, yes, but your eyes do not. kindred a forest fire, like crabby person 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 previously given. He continues to say that, a true war story result tell the truth round 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 well-nigh it, the story is ugly.This adds to OBriens point that telling a story, even a true one, can however strickle away from the truth of the event. Using irony, OBrien can present his message 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 deceased catch up withms to be a bi t of a non-sequitur to the rest of the book, however, OBrien has put it where it is for a reason. The point of The Things They Carried is not simply to tell 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 federation between life and death. It is about tuition to detach oneself from death. It is about the sacredness and fragility of life. It is about so many things that many batch never have to experience. But the Vietnam War is not OBriens commencement exercise time coming into contact with these kinds of issues. As a child, he had a costly hero 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 encou ntered in the war. For example, when Curt Lemon dies, OBrien refuses to see his body as a friend who died. Instead he says, his body was not really a body, but rather one small bit of permissive waste in the midst of a much wider wastage (238).The lessons that OBrien learned as a child are very relevant and linked 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 engineer 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 subsequent in life, and it may help him or her to get through an otherwise awkward time.OBrien wants his reader to know 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, OB rien uses symbolism. In Speaking of Courage, the literary technique is pathetic fallacy. Irony is used in How to see 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.