Literary Techniques in “The Things They Carried”

A literary technique is a blind employed in literature to add depth to a writers work. These techniques laywell-nigh be obvious, such as the technique of rhyme in a poem, or subtle, such as juxtaposition, which can go un noniced by the reader. In The Things They Carried, Tim OBrien uses some such techniques to provide more depth to his book. Four literary techniques use by Tim OBrien are symbolism, pathetic fallacy, irony, and juxtaposition. One literary technique prominent in The Things They Carried, particularly in the stratum by the same name, is symbolism.Throughout this story, OBrien mentions all the things that the soldiers carry with them, both visible and emotional. However, the physical items that the men carried is more than just equipment- they are symbols that re posture various facets of each soldiers personality. For example, Rat Kiley carried morphine and plasma and malaria tablets and surgical attach and all the things a medic must carry, including M&Ms for espe cially bad wounds (OBrien 5).The fact that Kiley carried medical necessities shows that he is a advanced paramedic devoted to doing his job well, but the M&Ms represent something different- Kileys optimistic and kind outlook on the warfare and action in general. Conversely, the tranquilizers carried by Ted Lavender represent his terror of the fighting in the war and his inability to face reality, rather choosing to escape from it by winning drugs. This is an effective technique because, by using these symbols, OBrien can let the reader figure out for him/herself deeper aspects of certain characters personalities without actually stating them outright.Another literary device Tim OBrien employs is pathetic fallacy, or nature mirroring humans emotions. In the story Speaking of Courage, Norman Bowker attempts to save Kiowas life but fails. He becomes down in the mouth and remorseful about what he should have been able to accomplish. For a long time afterward, Bowker struggles with t he fact that he was braver than he ever thought possible, but not so brave as he wanted to be (153) he is overcome with sadness and guilt. This is reflected in the hold up at the time of Kiowas expiry.The soldiers were camping area out in a field along the Song Tra Bong, and the rain kept getting worse. And by midnight the field turned into soup (145). The rain emulates the emotions of the sap and despondent soldiers. Pathetic fallacy is a very useful technique because it helps to provide the tone for the story. If the story was a sad one but the weather was bright and sunny, the tone of the story would be wrong, and vice versa. In Speaking of Courage, the fact that it was raining during the master(prenominal) event of the story helps the reader gain and soul of just how bleak and dismal the events that occurred were.Irony, or a discrepancy between expectation and reality, is another literary technique used by Tim OBrien in The Things They Carried. Many of the titles of the st ories contain irony themselves. For example, Speaking of Courage is more centred on the themes of failure and the inability to be courageous than it is about courage. The story Love is not, as it would seem, about mutual love, but rather unrequited love. Field Trip, an expression with a usually very positive connotation, is a story about a visit to a battleground where many lives had been lost.The Story How to Tell a True War Story also contains much irony within it. The main point of this story is that a true war story cannot be told because the simple act of telling it makes it untrue. The title of this story is ironic- OBrien makes the reader gauge that he wants to instruct them how to tell a true war story, but the reader soon finds out OBriens real intention- that telling a true war story is impossible. Another ironic idea within this story is the idea that war can be beautiful. You hate it, yes, but your eyeball do not. Like a forest fire, like cancer under a microscope, any battle has a powerful, implacable beauty (81). This catches the reader off-guard because of how greatly it contrasts with the view of war we have been previously given. He continues to say that, a true war story will tell the truth about this, though the truth is ugly (81). This is very ironic because although the actual event may be beautiful, if a true story is told about it, the story is ugly.This adds to OBriens point that telling a story, even a true one, can only take away from the truth of the event. Using irony, OBrien can present his content in a creative an interesting way, and this helps the readers understand his point better. Another technique used by Tim OBrien is juxtaposition. The story The Lives of the Dead seems to be a bit of a non-sequitur to the rest of the book, however, OBrien has put it where it is for a reason. The point of The Things They Carried is not simply to tell stories about the Vietnam War- the lesson goes deeper than that.It comes to teach that wa r is about more than just fighting- it is about the connection between life and death. It is about ascertaining to detach oneself from death. It is about the sacredness and fragility of life. It is about so many things that many people never have to experience. But the Vietnam War is not OBriens first time coming into contact with these kinds of issues. As a child, he had a beloved friend named Linda who died of cancer. Lindas death was a major part of his growing up process.As a child, he already had to learn to distance himself from her death, saying, It didnt seem real the girl lying in the white casket wasnt Linda (241). And although he did not realize it at the time, her death helped him to deal with all the deaths he encountered in the war. For example, when Curt Lemon dies, OBrien refuses to see his be as a friend who died. Instead he says, his body was not really a body, but rather one small bit of waste in the midst of a much wider wastage (238).The lessons that OBrien l earned as a child are very relevant and linked to his experiences in the Vietnam War, which is why he chooses to include The Lives of the Dead. But this is not the only message that OBrien wants us to take out of the inclusion The Lives of the Dead in The Things They Carried- he wants to convey that even though something that happens in ones life may seem horrible and meaningless, it may become of use to him or her later in life, and it may help him or her to get through an other than unmanageable time.OBrien wants his reader to know that everything in life comes for a purpose. Throughout The Things They Carried, Tim OBrien makes use of many different literary techniques. In the story The Things They Carried, OBrien uses symbolism. In Speaking of Courage, the literary technique is pathetic fallacy. Irony is used in How to Tell a True War Story, among others, and juxtaposition is used in the story The Lives of the Dead. It can be seen that literary techniques have a simple but powerf ul effect in The Things They Carried.