The Things They Carried --- Diction

Diction

            Author Tim O’Brien uses a variety of characteristics to describe the war, which develop both an admiring tone and a tone that shows disapproval of the war. As a soldier who disagreed with the war effort in the first place, it is odd how O’Brien refers to the Vietnam War as “adventure”, “holiness”, “love”, and “beauty” (76-77). As a reader who has not been associated with a war, it is puzzling how O’Brien refers to it with such cheerfulness even though it is such a bleak subject. War essentially is, without the fighting and bloodshed, an adventure. It is traveling into the unknown on an enterprise not usually done in ordinary life; it is also creating a close kinship with a group of men who can almost be considered as “brothers”. Realistically, however, war is conflict and blood will be shed--the physical combat creates “awful majesty” (77). At its core, war can be considered majestic because of its notion of killing other humans, which it is such a far-fetched idea. Society tends to consider fantasy was being majestic, yet they know that it is inanimate. In some ways, O’Brien creates an approval tone of war by the colorful diction he uses.

            In reality through, war is full of savagery and brutality, which is shown by O’Brien’s disapproving tone through his diction. O’Brien describes war as “terror”, “pity”, “despair”, and “drudgery” (76). From an outside perspective, the notion of war triggers thoughts of death and violence. Soldiers know that death is inevitable, “war makes you dead” (76). It is reasonable for O’Brien to make such cruel remarks about war, yet it is difficult to understand how O’Brien is able to put war in a positive light in spite of drastically altering his life. By his diction, O’Brien creates both an admiring and disapproving tone about the Vietnam War.

             

The Things They Carried --- Rhetorical Strategies

Rhetorical Strategies

·         “When someone died, it wasn’t quite dying, because in a curious way it seemed scripted and because they had their lines mostly memorized” (19).

Tim O’Brien uses a euphemism to undermine the nature of death for a soldier. As soldier who was constantly surrounded by bloodshed, death for O’Brien becomes less foreign and almost quotidian for him. As O’Brien grows with his conviction that death is inevitable, death is not as tragic as when he first experienced it, which is apparent by his euphemism. The style of O’Brien is very witty and craft, even when describing something as dreary as death.

·         “They spent six trillion dollars on firepower” (72).

This hyperbole is utilized to describe a barrage that the author had undergone. When describing any form of combat in the war, O’Brien is very descriptive and he creates realistic imagery. Although a gargantuan amount of bullets is said to be fired, yet probably not true, it still adds emphasis on the heavy fire that the platoon had taken, creating a sense of realism for the reader.

·         “You’re never more alive than when you’re almost dead” (78).

The author is able to create a wily antithesis from his almost near-death experience. Tim O’Brien relies on personal experiences to convey a certain message. This antithesis is used to challenge the prevailing assumption that they period right before death causes the most the most pain in one’s life. According to O’Brien, that period is when one feels the most liberated and lively. As a writer with an excellent sense of style, this is just one of the many examples where O’Brien puts a crafty twist on language.

·         “Jimmy Cross had been trained to treat [the soldiers] as interchangeable units of command” (156).

Tim O’Brien uses to simile to show what the true worth of a soldier is. As a leader of the platoon, Cross knows that men are going to be lost in his group. He does not show sympathy for the soldiers’ well-beings; he just sees them as being expendable. This is also a ploy used by O’Brien to enhance the reader’s respect for a soldier, who is treated nothing more than unit that can be disposable.

The Things They Carried --- Text Connections

Text Connections

            A text connection I found in The Things They Carried was Tom’s story of how he joined the Vietnam War. In terms of the war, Tom disagreed with the notion of fighting in the Vietnam War. He did disagree with it; yet once he was drafted, he decided to fight on the terms of his pride and the thought of being looked at differently by his community for not fighting. Tom said, “I would go to the war…because I was embarrassed not to” (57). This reminded me of all the men who fought to appear “macho” and tough. There are certain circumstances where men are not willing to sacrifice their life for something they disagree with, yet men want that appearance of toughness and masculinity. This reminded me a lot of the men in the antebellum south before the Civil War. Southern men placed pride and honor on such a high pedestal that any attack on them would be deemed a threat on their masculinity. In some cases, they were willing to duel to uphold their manhood. I also found this circumstance similar to the men during the Great Depression. As the consummate breadwinner of the family, the depression put a lot of strain on the father. Some refused to get relief, some even left their family because they were so ashamed at themselves—their pride dictated how to they lived their lives. It is interesting to notice a reoccurring theme of man yearning for a “macho” façade.     

The Things They Carried --- Syntax

Syntax

            When going through the tunnel systems of Vietnam, author Tim O’Brien uses terse statements to imitate the natural thought process of an estranged soldier. Part of the platoon’s mission is to destroy the tunnels used by the indigenous people of Vietnam; but before that is possible, one unlucky soldier is needed to search these underground tunnels. Only two things are needed: a gun, and a flashlight; but what if their “flashlight [goes] dead?”(10). In that certain circumstance with the flashlight being of the most importance for the soldier, it is reasonable to believe that the soldier is thinking what could happen if the flashlight fails on him. It is a normal part of the human thought process to take into account all the possible outcomes from a situation, even the ones that affect negatively. If the flashlight fails on the soldier, it cannot be measured all the different thoughts that go into a soldier’s mind. Going in the tunnel from the beginning, they do not know what is in the tunnel, or how deep or wide it is, or even if the tunnel if stable enough to avoid a collapse. The human mind will speculate what is in these ominous tunnels, and the “imagination [is] a killer” (10). A fundamental desire of humans is to be aware of as many things possible. If one is not cognizant of everything, which is all the time, the imagination is heavily relied upon. Yet, the imagination can produce such incredible images that the human is deathly frightened by something that is untrue.  If the soldier is trapped in a foreign passageway without any light, the soldier’s mind unsurprisingly will create such ridiculous images about what is perceived to be in the tunnel but is likely not present. Not necessarily being trapped in a cave, but a situation where one is not in control often is averted to avoid that sensation of being controlled by the imagination. This puts into perspective how much an individual soldier has to mentally endure during the course of the war.

The Things They Carried --- Personal Response

Personal Response

            After reading The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, it was one of the most exhilarating war novels I have read. I enjoyed the unorthodoxy of this novel in that it did follow a traditional story of a soldier fighting in a war. Although it did have some elements of thrilling combat, I enjoyed how most of the novel is about the hardships of life in Vietnam and also how it transitions to real life for the soldiers. Reading the anecdote of Norman Baker and how his life was worthless without Vietnam I did not understand at first. That empty feeling of life that eventually lead to his suicidal death puts into perspective the mental toll of war. This greatly enhanced by respect for soldiers who are so mentally strong that they can endure such a traumatizing thing, such as war, in their lives.    

The imagery that O’Brien produces in the story can be borderline grotesque; but it also very realistic and makes the reader feel as if they are a soldier in the Vietnam War. O’Brien’s style is so vivid that I can imagine the bullets zooming by my head. Not only does O’Brien appeal to the physical nature of the war, he also reveals the mental conditions of each individual. It was interesting to read about how individual soldiers would use unusual methods to cope with the brutal nature of the war: Henry Dobbins would wear his girlfriend’s pantyhose as a scarf believing it had magical powers; Tom Lavender would get high off tranquilizers.

            My favorite chapter of the novel was O’Brien’s internal struggle of whether to fight in Vietnam. I found it very interesting that his final reason to fight in the war was because he would be ashamed not to. He was willing to risk his life and fight for a cause he disagreed with so he would not be perceived as a coward by his peers. This novel had the perfect mixture of both the physical and mental conflicts endured by a soldier during the Vietnam War. It was truly a great read.