Required Analytical Reading of the Things They Carried
Greg Bennett
3/18/13
Required close Analytic Reading
Authors Stylistic Choices: Enhancing Analysis Using Rhetorical Grammar The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien
1. What is the narrator’s tone in the opening sentence? Describe how the use of the word butterfly affects the reader’s understanding of the description that follows.
The narrator’s tone in the opening sentence is of peace and or prosperity. The narrator tricks the reader by using the noun butterfly to show beauty, calmness, and serenity even though in the following paragraph talks about the exact opposite. For example; it goes into great detail over the enemy warrior in; “The Man I killed”. Or chapter twelve for instance His face and body are elegant, almost feminine, and his face is blown apart. Tim thinks he might have been a scholar--he doesn't look cut out for war. Tim imagines the man's life story: he would never have questioned his duty to fight, but he would have been afraid, unprepared for combat. Azar tells Tim, "Oh man, you fuckin' trashed the fucker. You scrambled his sorry self, look at that, you did, you laid him out like fuckin' Shredded Wheat." Chapter 12, pg. 125 Kiowa pushes Azar away. He tries to comfort Tim, telling him he only did what he had to, and begging him to stop staring at the dead man. Tim continues to imagine what the dead man's life was like: did he get made fun of at school for being weak? He won't speak to Kiowa, who tries to help him but gets more and more disturbed and frustrated. Kiowa leaves and returns, telling Tim he's looking better, but Tim still won't speak. He just sits staring at the man he killed.
2. Notice the shift in syntax in sentence four. What is different about this verb and sentence pattern? What is the rhetorical purpose of this shift? Is there a shift in tone?
In syntax between sentences one through four are different for a reason. I notice that sentence four is speculation where the rest are facts. The differences in
3/18/13
Required close Analytic Reading
Authors Stylistic Choices: Enhancing Analysis Using Rhetorical Grammar The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien
1. What is the narrator’s tone in the opening sentence? Describe how the use of the word butterfly affects the reader’s understanding of the description that follows.
The narrator’s tone in the opening sentence is of peace and or prosperity. The narrator tricks the reader by using the noun butterfly to show beauty, calmness, and serenity even though in the following paragraph talks about the exact opposite. For example; it goes into great detail over the enemy warrior in; “The Man I killed”. Or chapter twelve for instance His face and body are elegant, almost feminine, and his face is blown apart. Tim thinks he might have been a scholar--he doesn't look cut out for war. Tim imagines the man's life story: he would never have questioned his duty to fight, but he would have been afraid, unprepared for combat. Azar tells Tim, "Oh man, you fuckin' trashed the fucker. You scrambled his sorry self, look at that, you did, you laid him out like fuckin' Shredded Wheat." Chapter 12, pg. 125 Kiowa pushes Azar away. He tries to comfort Tim, telling him he only did what he had to, and begging him to stop staring at the dead man. Tim continues to imagine what the dead man's life was like: did he get made fun of at school for being weak? He won't speak to Kiowa, who tries to help him but gets more and more disturbed and frustrated. Kiowa leaves and returns, telling Tim he's looking better, but Tim still won't speak. He just sits staring at the man he killed.
2. Notice the shift in syntax in sentence four. What is different about this verb and sentence pattern? What is the rhetorical purpose of this shift? Is there a shift in tone?
In syntax between sentences one through four are different for a reason. I notice that sentence four is speculation where the rest are facts. The differences in