Literary Techniques in “The Things They Carried”

A literary proficiency is a device utilize in literature to add depth to a writers work. These techniques ignore be obvious, such as the technique of rhyme in a poem, or subtle, such as juxtaposition, which bay window go disregarded by the reviewer. In The Things They Carried, Tim OBrien drug abuses many such techniques to admit much depth to his book. Four literary techniques used by Tim OBrien atomic number 18 symbolism, pathetic f onlyacy, irony, and juxtaposition. One literary technique prominent in The Things They Carried, in particular in the stage by the same name, is symbolism.Throughout this account statement, OBrien mentions all the things that the soldiers carry with them, both physical and emotional. However, the physical items that the men carried is more than on the exactlyton equipment- they are symbols that pay off various facets of each soldiers personality. For example, informer Kiley carried morphine and plasma and malaria tablets and surgical tape a nd all the things a medic must carry, including M&Ms for especially gravely wounds (OBrien 5).The f transaction that Kiley carried medical necessities shows that he is a good paramedic devoted to doing his job well, but the M&Ms represent something various- Kileys optimistic and kind outlook on the war and purport in general. Conversely, the tranquilizers carried by Ted Lavender represent his terror of the flake in the war and his inability to face trueity, sort of choosing to escape 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 actually stating them outright.another(prenominal) literary device Tim OBrien employs is pathetic fallacy, or nature mirroring man emotions. In the story communicate of courage, Norman Bowker attempts to save Kiowas life but fails. He becomes depressed and remorseful round what he should suck u p 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 hold at the time of Kiowas dying.The soldiers were camping out in a field along the Song Tra Bong, and the rain kept acquiring worse. And by midnight the field turned into soup (145). The rain emulates the emotions of the weary and hopeless soldiers. Pathetic fallacy is a very useful technique because it helps to provide the tone 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 Speaking of Courage, the fact that it was raining during the main event of the story helps the reader lucre and understanding of just how bleak and dismal the events that occurred were.Irony, or a dissension between expectation and reality, is another literary technique 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 courageous than it is approximately courage. The story Love is not, as it would seem, just about mutual love, but rather unrequited love. Field Trip, an expression with a usually very affirmative connotation, is a story about a visit to a plain where many lives had been lost.The falsehood How to Tell a True War Story also contains much irony at heart it. The main orchestrate of this story is that a true war story cannot be told because the simple act of testifying it makes it untrue. The title of this story is dry- OBrien makes the reader think 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 ironic idea within this story is the idea that war can be beautiful. You ha te it, yes, but your eyes do not. Like a forest fire, like crabby person under a microscope, any battle has a flop, implacable truelove (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 will 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 take remote from the truth of the event. Using irony, OBrien can present his meaning 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 Dead seems to be a bit 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 sim ply 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 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 contact 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 body as a friend who died. Instead he says, his body was not actually a body, but rather one small bit of desolate 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 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 do through an otherwise unmanageable 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, OBrien uses symbolism. In Speaking of Courage, the literary technique is pathetic fallacy. Irony is used in How to Tell a True War Story, among others, and juxtaposition is use d 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.