Tim O’Brien is a critically acclaimed author that is known for his gut-wrenching stories of his time during the Vietnam War. In his award-winning novel The Things They Carried, he explains countless different instances of struggle and strife in the form of numerous short stories. O’Brien was born in Minnesota in 1946. He majored in political science, but was later drafted in 1968 and stayed in Vietnam about 8 months. After the war, he finished graduate school at Harvard and now, at 71, resides in Texas. Throughout his life, O’Brien has also faced little negative criticism and has had a great literary response, considering that the novel was published in 1990, shortly after the war had finished. O’Brien has expressed that one of his biggest
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The book is told in 22 different short stories, or chapters, each varying in length, tone, and style. The longest chapter is 30 pages, while the shortest is two. The entire novel is recounted as a flashback, with the narrator describing what has happened in the war. In chapters like “Field Trip” and “Love,” O’Brien talks about occurrences that happened long after the war. In chapters like “Enemies” and “On the Rainy River,” he sets the chapter in the past and walks the reader through as if he or she was there. The book moves in loose chronological order, with stories often being told at different times throughout his time at war. He uses foreshadowing often in the book to show what’s to come. In the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story,” the narrator talks about his good friend Rat Kiley, and how “a friend of his gets killed, so about a week later Rat sits down and writes a letter to the guy’s sister.” Later in the story, the reader learns that this friend is a character named Curt Lemon, a man who becomes relevant in later chapters. This creates a complex plot because of all the different storylines that are being thrown at the reader at once. The beginning and ending of the book are somewhat similar, for the author writes an anecdote to signify a greater meaning that has to do with the outcomes of …show more content…
His use of symbolism and imagery to convey his message about life during the Vietnam War. In general, he uses an informal and colloquial writing style. One of the most memorable chapters in the book is called “The Man I Killed.” He describes the small Vietnamese man as having “one eye shut, the other eye was a star-shaped hole.” The use of imagery provides a vivid scene that affects the reader in a way that wouldn’t be the same if the author would’ve said something like “his eye was swollen shut.” The language, especially in “The Man I Killed,” is concise and strong. Throughout the work, diction indicates that the author was educated, but he still uses words and sentences that flow nicely together. Dialogue is used very often throughout this story, and for good reason. One of the themes of this story has to do with the power of storytelling, an element that relies on dialogue. Each character speaks with a lower formality than the narration, but at the time, the men who were talking were young and probably uneducated. Overall, diction was extremely important to the
The book is told in 22 different short stories, or chapters, each varying in length, tone, and style. The longest chapter is 30 pages, while the shortest is two. The entire novel is recounted as a flashback, with the narrator describing what has happened in the war. In chapters like “Field Trip” and “Love,” O’Brien talks about occurrences that happened long after the war. In chapters like “Enemies” and “On the Rainy River,” he sets the chapter in the past and walks the reader through as if he or she was there. The book moves in loose chronological order, with stories often being told at different times throughout his time at war. He uses foreshadowing often in the book to show what’s to come. In the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story,” the narrator talks about his good friend Rat Kiley, and how “a friend of his gets killed, so about a week later Rat sits down and writes a letter to the guy’s sister.” Later in the story, the reader learns that this friend is a character named Curt Lemon, a man who becomes relevant in later chapters. This creates a complex plot because of all the different storylines that are being thrown at the reader at once. The beginning and ending of the book are somewhat similar, for the author writes an anecdote to signify a greater meaning that has to do with the outcomes of …show more content…
His use of symbolism and imagery to convey his message about life during the Vietnam War. In general, he uses an informal and colloquial writing style. One of the most memorable chapters in the book is called “The Man I Killed.” He describes the small Vietnamese man as having “one eye shut, the other eye was a star-shaped hole.” The use of imagery provides a vivid scene that affects the reader in a way that wouldn’t be the same if the author would’ve said something like “his eye was swollen shut.” The language, especially in “The Man I Killed,” is concise and strong. Throughout the work, diction indicates that the author was educated, but he still uses words and sentences that flow nicely together. Dialogue is used very often throughout this story, and for good reason. One of the themes of this story has to do with the power of storytelling, an element that relies on dialogue. Each character speaks with a lower formality than the narration, but at the time, the men who were talking were young and probably uneducated. Overall, diction was extremely important to the