Preview

The Things They Carried Literary Analysis Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
782 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Things They Carried Literary Analysis Essay Example
Literary Analysis of The Things They Carried: Metafiction Tim O’Brien brings the characters and stories to life in The Things They Carried. He uses a writing style that brings stories to life by posing questions between the relationship of reality and fiction (Calloway 249). This is called metafiction and it exposes the truth through the literary experience. Tim O’Brien uses metafiction to make the characters and stories in The Things They Carried realistically evocative of the Vietnam War. Metafiction is found early in the novel, The Things They Carried. Tim O’Brien, the protagonist of the novel, has many similarities to the author of The Things They Carried. The author and the protagonist both share the same name, Tim O’Brien; they are both writers and veterans of the Vietnam War. These similarities pose questions on whether the character “Tim O’Brien”1 is based off of the author Tim O’Brien. However, differences between the real and fictitious Tim O’Brien, such as the character has a daughter named Kathleen while Tim O’Brien does not, leads to second guesses on if Tim O’Brien bases “Tim O’Brien”, off of himself (Calloway 249). By mixing fact and fiction, Tim O’Brien creates a realistic and believable character. “Tim O’Brien’s” experiences that he goes through could be experiences Tim O’Brien went through. Since the stories and characters in the novel could be authentic, the stories and “Tim O’Brien” are more conceivable. Confusing fact and fiction makes “Tim O’Brien” more realistic, and brings feelings of the Vietnam War to life. In each chapter characters in The Things They Carried tell their own stories about the Vietnam War. Some of the stories seem to be the truth and other stories are so outlandish they seem to be lies. Yet each story creates sensations about the Vietnam War, characters achieve this by using metafiction in their own stories. Characters create sensations by telling these exaggerated stories (Calloway 249). One
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Summary Of Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Summary Of Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    One chapter in the book, “How to Tell a True War Story,” forces the reader to start paying thorough attention. In this chapter, Tim opens up with a story of Rat Kiley and the letter he wrote to Curt Lemon’s sister after Lemon died. After that, O’Brien proceeds to tell the story of exactly how Curt died. O’Brien writes, “When he died it was almost beautiful, the way the sunlight came around him and lifted him up and sucked him high into a tree full of moss and vines and white blossoms (70).” Throughout the chapter Tim repeats the story while adding and removing details of what happened. Also, in between each story Tim tries to explain the difference between a true story and a fake one. This part of the book is where “metaficion” takes part. Tim forces the reader to decide which parts of the stories are true, and which parts are just fictions. Tim wants the reader to know that in most true war stories, the story is not completely true. Instead, false details are added in order to try and get the true point of the story across. This is also emphasized in the chapter “Good Form.” Tim writes, “I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth (179).” In this chapter, O’Brien explains to the reader why it is necessary to have a difference between “story-truth” and “happening-truth.” These chapters in the book have the greatest impact on the reader. Not only is the story told well, but the placement of these chapters has a great effect on the reader. The reader is now left questioning not only everything that will be read in the rest of the book, but also everything that has been read up to that…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Tim O Brien Rhetorical Analysis
    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Tim O Brien Rhetorical Analysis

    Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried, applies multiple techniques in his memoir in order to produce the theme of horror in war. He utilizes word connotation, literary/rhetorical techniques, sentence structure, and overall structure in the memoir. In an excerpt on page 199, O’Brien employs the combination of anaphora, metaphor, and negative word connotation to illustrate the horror of the Vietnam War.…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    Tim O’Brien is a very gifted author, but he is also a veteran of the Vietnam War and fought with the United States in that controversial war. Tim O’Brien was drafted into the Vietnam War in 1968. He served as an infantryman, and obtained the rank of sergeant and won a Purple Heart after being wounded by shrapnel. He was discharged from the Vietnam War in 1970. I believe that O’Brien’s own images and past experiences he encountered in the Vietnam War gave him inspiration to write the story “The Things They Carried.” O’Brien tells the story in third person narrative form about Lt. Jimmy Cross and his platoon of young American men in the Vietnam War. In “The Things They Carried” we can see differences and similarities between the characters…

    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Tim O'Brien
    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Tim O'Brien

    A platoon of seventeen soldiers from America travel in booby-trap swamps and through the hills of Vietnam. “They been ordered to set ambushes, execute night patrols, and search out and destroy the massive tunnel complexes south of Chu Lai constructed by Viet Cong guerrillas” (McCarthy). On their voyage the men carry something with them; the things they carry have a meaning to each soldier which distinguishes them. The men are not completely prepared to deal with the stresses of war emotionally. The story circles around Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and the burden he feels for the death of Lavender, one of his soldiers. “The Things They Carried” reflects on each soldier and their way of trying to escape from the war. American writer Tim O’Brien had many outstanding works including “The Things They Carried”. This work illustrates O’Brien’s use of style,…

    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Vietnam Soldier In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Vietnam Soldier In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    Many traits of man¡¦s inner nature are revealed through war. In the novel The Things They Carried, the characters of this series of stories embody traits of soldiers in the Vietnam War. Through writing, the author, Tim O¡¦Brien, portrays his feelings as a Vietnam soldier through this novel. He describes the loss of three fellow soldiers, Ted Lavender, Curt Lemon, and Kiowa and depicts the guilt and blame these deaths evoke.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carry
    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carry

    Tim O’Brien wrote The Things They Carry, an emotional story about soldiers leaving home to fight in the Vietnam War and the items they carried with them. O’Brien begins his story, when soldiers go into combat and overseas to serve our country include military issue equipment as well as personal items, which hold memories of fear or emotional value. O’Brien shows readers the weight soldiers carry while serving in the military. The love for family and country are important and how memories can be carried to aid in relieving stress of the battle.…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
    • 1886 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    “Story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth." This concept may be confusing to those who read Tim O'Brien's book, The Things They Carried, for the first time. By using a number of different literary devices, such as juxtaposition, paradox, metaphors, and metafiction, O'Brien separates truth and fact from one and the other in his novel about his time in the Vietnam War. He shows the truth of what he was feeling through the war and after without being factual. O'Brien's explanation for not being totally factual in the book was that “I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth.” “It wasn't a question of deceit. Just the opposite; he wanted to heat up the truth, to make…

    • 1886 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Things They Carried Literary Analysis Essay
    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Things They Carried Literary Analysis Essay

    Tim O’Brien’s, The Things They Carried, contained different memoirs that truly bring the actions of war to life for the reader. Obrien’s book expresses the real feelings a solider faces while getting ready to go into war, in war, and post war. Through his vivid descriptions the reader is able to emphasize with the emotional burdens and stresses solders must go through while on duty. We are able to observe the different coping mechanisms solders must endure, including, cutting them selves off from reality and preoccupying their mind with other, sometimes meaningless, thoughts .The chapter that had the largest impact on myself was “Night Life.” For me this passage truly depicted not just the physical, but mental battle soldiers must go through; and the extreme measures taken to relive themselves from the intensity of battle.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis
    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis

    The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, recounts the horrible experiences of soldiers at war in Vietnam. Throughout the novel, the author not only tells war stories, but tales about his own life, often referencing and dwelling on those who have made an impact on his life. He stresses the importance of these people and stories, often referring to them as “war stories” although many of these are not true. They serve as an outlet for O’Brien, allowing him to let go of these horrible memories but also letting him keep the importance that they had on his life. These stories and messages are emphasized through the symbols displayed in the novel, the imagery used throughout, and the anecdotes that recount his memories.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Tim O Brien's Wartime Stories
    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Tim O Brien's Wartime Stories

    Wartime stories are often hard to tell in a narrative non-fiction piece due to the difficulties faced in said wartime conditions. Author Tim O’Brien attempts to address these issues in his novel The Things They Carried, which is a recollection of his war stories which are set in Vietnam. O’Brien’s method of circumventing the problems posed by relying on using imagination and invention to accurately display the truth, as he sees it. The concept of such can be seen in three chapters of the novel, “Good Form”, “How to Tell a True War Story”, and “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”. By critically assessing these three chapters, and the outlook of storytelling that they portray, O’Brien’s view on storytelling can be fully understood and comprehended.…

    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    On The Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis
    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages

    On The Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis

    In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien shares some of his chilling experiences in the Vietnam War using a rather unconventional form. He writes war stories and most of the ones in this…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Things They Carried Passage Analysis
    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Things They Carried Passage Analysis

    In novel The Things They Carried, a central theme is reality vs fiction, believe bs disbelief, O’brien creates an unsteady relationship with the reader that makes one question even the most minute details and descriptions. At it’s core The Things They carried is a work of fiction, however this passage is more, it's a piece that teaches a class what makes fiction, rather than simply telling them a moralistic war story. While O'brien's use of fictional techniques such as, jargon, second person voice, verisimilitude, metafiction, and repetition within the passage are what create the sense believability, being able to recognize the use of such techniques is ironically also what allows the reader to critically analyze and question the reliability of O’Brien. In the end fragments and segments held together by a single narrative voice with the intention of “getting it right” progress the overall war story, as well as the commentary on truth.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Things They Carried Formalist Analysis/ Readers Responce
    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Things They Carried Formalist Analysis/ Readers Responce

    The story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is an enormously detailed fictional account of a wartime scenario in which jimmy Cross (the story’s main character) grows as a person, and the emotional and physical baggage of wartime are brought to light. The most obvious and prominent feature of O’Brien’s writing is a repetition of detail. O’brien also passively analyzes the effects of wartime on the underdeveloped psyche by giving the reader close up insight into common tribulations of war, but not in a necessarily expositorial sense.. He takes us into the minds of mere kids as they cope with the unbelievable and under-talked-about effects or rationalizing death, discomfort and loneliness as well as the themes of heroism, physical and mental pain, and a loss of innocence. Obrien achieves this through extended description, imagery and tone coupled with an intimate relationship with the stories main characters.…

    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Things They Carried - Dialogue and Materials
    • 1394 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Things They Carried - Dialogue and Materials

    War has done many horrible things to many people throughout time all over the world. War experience filled with death, suspense, and constant fear has swept through millions and millions of people who are still scared by the horrific experience. To some so horrific that a normal life, post war, was almost unbearable. But some were able to take the experience and share it to the world. Tim O’Brien is a perfect example of this. O’Brien was born in 1946 in the Midwest, but once of age was drafted into the Vietnam War. O’Brien only served for one year from 1969 to 1970, but nevertheless, the memories gathered in that year lasted him a lifetime. (Herzog) These memories, though some held them in, O’Brien used them to transform his writings to some of the most accurate and touching pieces about war in our generation. “They established O’Brien as on of the most important soldier-authors of the Vietnam generation; furthermore, they establish his reputation as one of America’s most notable postmodernist writers – not only for his themes but also for the structure of his books and his exploration from multiple perspectives of problematic nature of truth and reality” (Herzog, 78). O’Brien was a man who had an objective to be original and construct all of his memories to others the best way he could. And the only way to do that was his way. In an interview of O’Brien, Herzog quotes from him “In this new book [The Things They Carried] I forced myself to try and invent a form. I had never invented form before.” His writings are unique and compared to the normal dialogue of introducing characters; O’Brien takes a different approach and makes his own style. In the book The Things They Carried, O’Brien uses materialistic belongings to show his experiences from a different perspective on war and the people in it without the immediate use of dialogue.…

    • 1394 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    True War Story
    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages

    True War Story

    There are many characteristics that help define a true war story. In The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, O’Brien explores these different characteristics to put together a strong collection of stories. In this collection of stories, the author shares stories from the points of view of many different soldiers in the Vietnam War. He shares different stories of life before, during, and after the war that change who these characters are as people. O’brien uses short stories with common themes of what makes a true war story to describe what a true war story is.…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More