Friendship is one of the only concepts that is both accepted and embraced worldwide as an aid to get through hardships of any kind. It is the bond In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the author utilizes a combination of expertly located tone shifts, carefully composed and shaped character foils, and implied symbolism in order to exemplify both the differences and the constant similarities between the vital friendships that Tim constructs and bonds to throughout the novel.
O’Brien uses the placement of his tone shifts to truly exemplify how serious he had become in relation to his friends not only on the battlefield, but during the mourning period of their deaths, and in the years following as well. He shifts the focus with “Where’s Kiowa? Where’s the shit?”(153). which is him humbly explaining their exchange of letters after the war to “Eight months later, he hanged himself” (154). in order to create a very sudden, yet well thought out tone shift from a tense moment of agreement between the 2 friends arguing about his short story, to a depressing and …show more content…
However, the most prominent example of friendship within the short stories is the riverside where he leaves Kiowa’s moccasins. “ For twenty years, this field had embodied all the waste that was Vietnam, all the vulgarity and horror” (176). After watching his friend die a gruesome death, Tim felt it only justified that the final memory of him be put in the most ceremonious resting place. This one in particular really embodied all that the war was about; unrested tension in a peaceful environment. This environment is further detailed with long bestowed bitter hate when Tim’s daughter questions the elderly farmer. “‘That old man,’ she said ‘ is he mad at you or something?’”
O’Brien uses the placement of his tone shifts to truly exemplify how serious he had become in relation to his friends not only on the battlefield, but during the mourning period of their deaths, and in the years following as well. He shifts the focus with “Where’s Kiowa? Where’s the shit?”(153). which is him humbly explaining their exchange of letters after the war to “Eight months later, he hanged himself” (154). in order to create a very sudden, yet well thought out tone shift from a tense moment of agreement between the 2 friends arguing about his short story, to a depressing and …show more content…
However, the most prominent example of friendship within the short stories is the riverside where he leaves Kiowa’s moccasins. “ For twenty years, this field had embodied all the waste that was Vietnam, all the vulgarity and horror” (176). After watching his friend die a gruesome death, Tim felt it only justified that the final memory of him be put in the most ceremonious resting place. This one in particular really embodied all that the war was about; unrested tension in a peaceful environment. This environment is further detailed with long bestowed bitter hate when Tim’s daughter questions the elderly farmer. “‘That old man,’ she said ‘ is he mad at you or something?’”