Narrative Elements In The Things They Carried

Narrative Elements
O'Brien tells the story from a third person point of view in the past tense and then transfers over twenty years to a first person point of view to reiterate the past in a present state of mind for the specific character. This allows for the story to have an omniscient effect using emotion in a third person across a spread of people then to one person to get the before view and present day setting Third person point of view allows you to see the in time effect of the situation while the situation is ongoing. Seeing it during the moment does a good job of illustrating the moment with the view of emotion across a spread of people during the event. Having the past be told in the third person point of view allows for the setting …show more content…
While looking through one set of eyes at a previous situation while in present day grant you the opportunity to get more of a tunnel vision on what happened. This allows gives you the opportunity to see the change in mindset the character has in the event past and present of the situation such as the person who was there when Kiowa's body was found and then went back to Vietnam to the same field and how he could free himself of the guilt of blaming Kiowa's death on himself but coming to the realization everything happens for a reason. such as the person who was there when Kiowa's body was found and then went back to Vietnam to the same field and how he could free himself of the guilt of blaming Kiowa's death on himself but coming to the realization everything happens for a reason. Having the Point of view change to first person also benefits the reader in the sense of getting a straight up illustration from one person of the setting and thoughts. Seeing the setting though one person's eyes also can allow you to interpret feelings though metaphors and similes. It gives a better view of how they have changed as a person being in Vietnam to how they have gained knowledge and experience on a personal level from a general synopsis. The reader can now compare and contrast a general idea of the state of the soldiers in the war to now how they are