Symbolism In The Things They Carried - 1368 Words

The Things They Carried Lorraine Fonger South University Composition III/Literature ENG1300 Colette Morrow October 29, 2017 The Things They Carried How many â€Å"things† do you carry with you every day? Everybody carries things that symbolize who they are or where they are from. Those things may be heavy, light, or even things that you cannot see. In the short story â€Å"The Things They Carried† by Tim O’Brien, he introduces a lot of symbolism in every object mentioned, many of them you can see, some you can’t see. In this short story, the narrator tells of the burdens carried by each soldier and the meanings of these things to the men. The things they carried described in detail the soldier’s emotional issues in their lives†¦show more content†¦Often, they would share the load of machinery by taking turns carrying the equipment and giving relief to the men that routinely carried it. This is just some of the things that were specialized to an individual according to their size or skill. But the soldiers also carried things that weren’t so necessary, yet they would bring these things along anyway for certain personal reasons and a sense of security. Not only did the soldiers carry heavy physical burdens, they carried heavy emotional burdens of fear and the need to maintain ties to home. According to Evans, â€Å"Grief, terror, love, longing—these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight† (Evans, 2015). O’Brien clearly defines one of the hardest things the men had to carry, â€Å"By and large they carried these things inside, maintaining the masks of composure.† (O’Brien, 1990, p. 184). Henry Dobbins, who was a big man, always had a lot of extra food with him. He burned up food very quickly and went through food much faster than most. He would also carry his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck. This was his way of telling everybody that he had a girlfriend at home and was sexually active when he had breaks. The pantyhose symbolized his masculinity and the normal, rational existence of home. Ted Lavender was the guy who carried tranquilizers, 6-7 ounces of dope, and more rounds of ammunition thanShow MoreRelatedSymbolism in The Things They Carried Essay1104 Words   |  5 PagesA. Park The Things They Carried The symbols in Tim O’Brien’s â€Å"The Things They Carried† are essential to understanding the soldiers and their lives during the Vietnam War. At the opening of the story, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross would dig into his foxhole and read the letters while imagining romance with Martha; however, at the end of the story after the death of Ted Lavender, he â€Å"crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters† (402). The inner feelings of Cross would be mistakenlyRead MoreEssay about The Things they Carried Symbolism772 Words   |  4 Pages The Things They Carried: Essay Prompt Two Tim O’Brien writes about both the physical objects they carry as well as their emotional burdens. The objects that these soldiers carry serve as a symbolism for what they are carrying in their hearts and minds. The soldiers carry items varying from pantyhose, medicine, tanning oil, and pictures. Jimmy Cross is an inexperienced sophomore in college, he signs up for the Reserve Officers Training Camp because his friends are doing the course. Jimmy Cross doesn’tRead MoreSymbolism In Tim OBriens The Things They Carried1969 Words   |  8 Pagesstory â€Å"The Things They Carried† (pg. 433), the story follows Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his command during the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Cross constantly spends most of his time fantasizing about a girl named Martha, who he has an unrequited crush on. However after witnessing the death of one of his soldiers, while he was preoccupied thinking about Martha, Cross feels guilty and realizes that he needs to focus on leading his command. I believe that O’Brien’s â€Å"The Things They Carried† use imageryRead MoreSymbolism in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried Essays978 Words   |  4 Pagesexperience in Vietnam, â€Å"The Things They Carried† is a short story that introduces the reader to the experiences of soldiers away at war. O’Brien uses potent metaphors with a third person narrator to shape each character. In doing so, the reader is able to sympathize with the internal and external struggles the men endure. These symbolic comparisons often give even the smallest details great literary weight, due to their dual meanings. The symbolism in â€Å"The Things They Carried† guides the reader throughRead MoreSymbolism in Tim O Briens quot;The Things They Carriedquot;605 Words   |  3 PagesSymbolism In The Things They Carried In Tim OBriens story The Things They Carried we see how OBrien uses symbolism in order to indirectly give us a message and help us to connect to what the soldiers are thinking and feeling. During a war soldiers tend to take with them items from home kind of as a security blanket. The items they normally take with them tend to reveal certain characteristics of their personality. Henry Dobbins is the guy who loves to eat so he made sure he took someRead MoreHeroism In Tim OBriens The Things They Carried1684 Words   |  7 Pageswar. A more realistic rendition of war is seen in Tim O’Brien’s short story, The Things They Carried. Throughout the story, O’Brien uses metafictional characters to portray the physical and emotional burdens carried by American soldiers who were forced to conform to societal expectations upon being drafted for the Vietnam War. The literary elements O’Brien uses throughout the story to convey this theme are symbolism, imagery, tone, and inner conflict of the protagonist. The Vietnam War, which lastedRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien865 Words   |  4 Pageswho enter here.† Dante Alighieri. Hope is an anodyne. In times of war many soldiers require a buffer to alleviate the pain of witnessing the horrors of the war zone reality. This may manifest as emotional baggage, a reoccurring theme in â€Å"The Things They Carried† by Tim O’Brien. Emotional baggage transcends the physical weight it manifests that was in the soldier’s packs. Emotional baggage can manifest as something intangible, like an obsession, or take on physical weight and mass, like something thatRead MoreEssay about Literary Techniques in The Things They Carried1276 Words   |  6 PagesIn The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien uses many such techniques to provide more depth to his book. Four literary techniques used by Tim O’Brien are symbolism, pathetic fallacy, irony, and juxtaposition. One literary technique prominent in The Things They Carried, particularly in the story by the same name, is symbolism. Throughout this story, O’Brien mentions all the things that the soldiers carry with them, both physical and emotional. However, the physical items that the men carried is moreRead MoreThe Things They Carried by Tim OBrien1154 Words   |  5 PagesThe novel The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien begins by Mr. OBrien describing his dramatical events that happened during the middle of his Vietnam experience while he was fighting in the war. Mr. OBrien received his draft notice in the month of June in the year of 1968. When he received this notice Mr. OBrien had feelings of confusion, and that drove him to go north to the Canadian border, and it had him contemplating if he wanted to cross it or not because he does not want to be forced toRead MoreSymbolism In The Tell Tale Heart And The Tell Tale Heart987 Words   |  4 Pages How does the symbolism affect the meaning of a written piece, does it make it more or less important? Symbolism is used to represent ideas; that may imply deeper, hidden meaning than what the text directly states. Symbolism can be used in different ways throughout different books; for example, â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†, by Edgar Allen Poe and â€Å"Once upon a Time†, by Nadine Gordimer, contain a variety of symbolism that have the possibility of having two or more meanings. The problem with this is identifying