Imagery

In the chapter Sweetheart From Song Tra Bong, the imagery was incredibly vivd for me. I found it so vivid because of the rich adjectives and exact wording that O'Brien used in his writing. Using strong description was extremely important in this chapter because of the type of story being retold. The author needed to accurately and clearly describe Mary Anne's transformation from the girl with the "bubbly personality, [and] a happy smile" to the person who "...never returned. Not entirely, not all of her." The transformation of Mary Anne is seamless because of the detailed progression of naive child to hardened woman. Words and phrases such as "full of dreams", "laughing", "coy and flirtatious", "come-and-get-me" were bountiful in the beginning of the chapter; however, by the chapter's end, the phrases turned to a dark place. "Disappear inside herself", "no emotion in her stare", "slow and impassive," "her eyes: utterly flat and indifferent" are phrases that show Mary Anne's reversal as a character. Without the use of such powerful imagery, the change in Mary Anne would not have been compelling for the reader.

Metonymy

A metonymy is defined as a figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing is referred to by something closely associated with it. In the chapter The Dentist, I found what I believe to fall under this literary term. The line goes "...and the young captain's main concern seemed to be the clock." I almost did not even recognize this as a metonymy because it is so commonly used. After another quick glance through the chapter in an attempt to find a literary term, it clicked.The last word "clock" refers to the time. In this specific circumstance, it is how long the captain had spent fixing each soldier's teeth. A clock is understandably closely associated with time because a clock tells time. This substitution is often used even now as another form of saying "check the time."

Paradox

As I was reading the same chapter, an additional literary term connected with the words I was reading. In the chapter explaining true war stories, there comes a revelation. "War is hell, but that's not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is a drudgery. War makes you a man." Obviously, this statement is a paradox; it seems impossible, not to mention contradictory, that war consists of each one of these adjectives at the same time. How can a war be hell and love? How can it be nasty, but fun? I pondered over this for a few minutes. It appears to me that war creates many feelings in the hearts and minds of soldiers. How else can reenlisting be explained? War is just like life; it is not always wonderful, but parts of it make it worthwhile. There are emotions and feelings that make it so. The multiple stories already recounted by O'Brien have covered these emotions such as guilt to love to hatred to fear and so on. Every emotion is experienced by the soldiers, creating a paradox in explaining war.

Anaphora

In the chapter How To Tell A True War Story, the title itself contains the repeated phrase. Throughout the entire chapter the phrase "true war story" is repeated in the first sentence at the beginning of paragraphs beginning a new thought or point. O'Bren becomes dark as he writes that "A true war story is never moral...If a story seems moral, do not believe it." The memoirs of a soldier prove to be bleak and dismal. "You can tell a true war story by the way it never seems to end," is a bold statement. The memories haunt the men in the novel and are constantly in the back of their mind. It is amazing to me the horrors these extremely young men were forced to experience; this novel continues to shock me to my very core. The retellings of war accounts, although fictional, might have actually occurred in one shape or form in Vietnam. The idea that in a true war story "...there is not even a point..." is almost unbelievable, but then I remember that the war is not fiction. It truly happened; therefore, these stories have no point. They are simply horrific memories written down on pieces of paper.

Flashback

It's clear that the entire novel is full of flashback after flashback after flashback. O'Brien relies on the flashbacks to tell the stories of war. I decided during the first chapter that I would pick one to blog about that stood out to me. For some reason, the flashback in the chapter Enemies stood out to me. It might be because the entire chapter consists of one memory. It might be because the argument was "...about something stupid.' It might be because of the line "In any other circumstance in might've ended there. But this was Vietnam..." Most likely it was a mix of the a variety of reasons. This flashback shows the tension and edge that all the soldiers in Vietnam experienced. The pure terror positively led to fights and arguments among the men who were supposed to be fighting together, not against each other. Even little arguments could turn into fights that disrupted the peace and togetherness the platoons needed. This specific flashback easily proves the negative effects of war on the minds of the men fighting.

Allusion

As I began reading the chapter On The Rainy River, I hoped to find a literary term quickly. My prayers were answered by the middle of the first paragraph. What is the allusion you may be wondering? It comes after the sentence "Tim O'Brien: a secret hero." The allusion makes perfect sense as an additional name for the author; however, if you grew up in my family you would almost instantly recognize the reference in the name "The Lone Ranger." The Lone Ranger was first a radio show during the Great Depression that later turned into a television show. The Lone Ranger was a masked cowboy who rode his horse around the Wild West defending it from wrongdoings; of course, he had a sidekick too, who was a Native American I think. Odd that I know this, but my grandpa and dad always used to call me and my sisters the Lone Ranger when we were trying to do something by ourselves. Anyway, returning to The Things They Carried. O'Brien wanted to be brave going off to war and create a sense of pride in his parents. Thus, he compared himself to the Lone Ranger, a brave man who saves his world from dangers.

Point of View

Currently, I am in between chapters and I have realized something about this novel. It has become increasingly interesting to me because it is now in the first person point of view. The character telling this story from a personal point of view as it happened to him is intriguing. The first person point of view creates a more authentic story about the war. I can certainly say that if this book was written in third person or omniscient I would be less interested. For me, The Things They Carried would be a fight to get through, as war novels do not truly keep my attention. However, since this is being told from the first person, I get to read stories that seem as if they actually occurred; it almost feels as if the author is speaking directly to me, face to face. Actually, I am sure that some form of the story did happen somewhere in the war, as this novel is most likely catergorized as historical fiction. First person point of view is without a doubt allowing me to stay focused and curious about this novel.

Simile

In the third chapter, Spin, almost immediately O'Brien uses a simile. He states, "On occasions the war was like a Ping-Pong ball. You could put a fancy spin on it, you could make it dance." I have never been one to participate in Ping-Pong; as a result, this took me rereading the paragraphs before this simile a few times and asking my mom what she thought it meant before I fully grasped what O'Brien meant. At first read, I thought he meant one could make the war into whatever they wished if they spun their memories, like politicians spin stories for their candidates. My mom said that I was on the right track. Her point of view was that O'Brien was adding to his very first sentence of the chapter "The war wasn't all terror and violence." My mom believed that just like there are multiple ways to hit a Ping-Pong ball, there are many different ways to see the war. As we talked about it, we concluded that the writer would have made lifelong friendships created by the bonds only hard times make, the author would have learned about himself as a person and he surely grew in his experiences. The stories surrounding the simile only further prove that the war was not all fear; O'Brien recalls memories upon memories that have both bad and good entwined.

Anecdote

So, I realize that with this blog it may seem as if I am preoccupied with the Jimmy Cross/Martha connection. Honestly, I am not. However, in the following chapter, the bulk of the few pages consists of Cross pining over his love for a girl who will never love him back. He tells the writer (who is obviously one of the soldiers in his platoon-I just haven't figured out which one quite yet) a story of his path crossing with Martha again. Even though he realizes Martha will never return his feelings, he still holds firmly onto the hope she will one day do a complete 180 and change her mind. This brief story within The Things They Carried illustrates Cross' character. As long as he lives, Cross will never be able to get over Martha; she has an incredible hold on his heart for reasons unbeknownst to anyone but the man himself. To me, this makes Cross more real/believable because it allows him a quality we all know very well-wanting something you simply cannot have. The story he recounts describes Cross' character, giving us the opportunity to identify with the man and understand him a little better.

Symbol

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is clearly going to be a novel overflowing with words, lines, and phrases that are meant to evoke great emotion and touch the reader. Words strung together form sentences that create a poignant view of the Vietnam War. What has struck me the most at this point, however, is not the line "they carried the emotional baggage of men who might die" nor the phrase "the guy's dead" nor the word "fear". What my mind carried while I read the first chapter was from the very first page of the story; the letters from Martha. It touched me that a lieutenant pretended these letters were love letters. I never thought of myself to be a romantic, but I suppose I am one after all. It was heart wrenching for me to realize the unrequited love he had for her. Later, though, I began thinking about it. To me, the letters, photographs, and pebble were all symbols. Yes, obviously symbols of Martha the girl Jimmy Cross loved, but more importantly, symbols of his former life. These items were pieces of his world back home; one he would never be able to return to because his innocence was lost. Cross was "just a kid at war, in love. He was twenty-four years old." These things were pieces of Cross' naive world he could no longer belong to. The symbols created an understanding within me that ruins the romantic aspect of the trinkets.