Saturday, May 18, 2019

The Things They Carried – Dialogue and Materials

Themes and Dialogue of OBrien in The Things They Carried War has done many horrible things to many peck throughout time all over the world. War experience filled with death, suspense, and constant fear has brush through millions and millions of people who ar still sc ard by the fear some experience. To some so horrific that a normal life, post war, was almost unbearable. But some were able to take the experience and fictional character it to the world.Tim OBrien is a perfect example of this. OBrien was born in 1946 in the Midwest, scarce one time of age was drafted into the Vietnam War. OBrien single served for one year from 1969 to 1970, but nevertheless, the memories gathered in that year lasted him a lifetime. (Herzog) These memories, though some held them in, OBrien used them to transform his writings to some of the most accurate and cutaneous senses pieces just about war in our multiplication. They established OBrien as on of the most important soldier-authors of t he Vietnam generation furthermore, they establish his reputation as one of Americas most notable postmodernist writers not only for his themes but also for the structure of his books and his exploration from multiple perspectives of problematic nature of truth and truthfulness (Herzog, 78). OBrien was a man who had an objective to be original and construct all of his memories to others the best dash he could. And the only way to do that was his way.In an interview of OBrien, Herzog quotes from him In this new book The Things They Carried I forced myself to try and invent a form. I had never invented form before. His writings are unequalled and compared to the normal dialogue of introducing characters OBrien takes a different approach and make believes his own style. In the book The Things They Carried, OBrien uses materialistic belongings to show his experiences from a different perspective on war and the people in it without the immediate use of dialogue. OBriens story The Th ings They Carried is a story of company of men that are in the Vietnam War.These men are normal people, called into duty of war by draft. Though each person is not introduced by age, and what their history was, they way they are introduced is by what they carry in their endless liberty chit through unknown jungles. But though they are introduced by only what their position and what they carry, the ad hominem direct of knowing a character is better than ever. The first man introduced is First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. He is the leader of all the men and whom everyone answers to. But for a man that is the one in charge his judgment is everywhere but on the war.He carries letters and two photos from a girl named Martha from home and keeps a pebble in his mouth that she sent him. He is madly in love with her but all of her letters are not love letters from a signifi dopet other but just friendly letters. They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them fol ded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack (LaPlante, 79). He wants to be focused on the war but his loving thoughts of her haunts him and takes him past from the reality of war he is in. It took him as more than as a fellow soldier acquire shot in the head before he knew how much a problem he had.The appliance machine gunner was a man by the name of Henry Dobbins. Being the machine gunner he had to carry a twenty- trine pound gun unloaded, but it was always loaded, and fifteen pounds worth of ammo strapped around his chest and shoulders. Personally he was introduced as a gigantic man that carried Black keel insecticide, and extra food rations. Though not a huge introduction, he fanny still be known as a person but also with some mystery of who he is. From his belongings, Sanders can be seen as a big man that would be a brute force character in the company, but also a vital part to the company.His responsibility as the machine gunner with all the weight and his importance in battle puts him as a leader and a sure man that people can rely to. His character and personality as a strong man, who can be there when he is needed, and do whatever needs to be done can be seen alone from OBriens writings without any dialogue needed. Just from his position and his responsibilities his character unconstipated personality can be understood and noticed. The RTO or the man who had to carry the radio was named Mitchell Sanders. The radio he had to carry was twenty-six pounds with its battery.He also carries condoms and starched tiger fatigues for special occasions. He is an important man to the mob but he also can be seen as a light guy, more some of the others. He carries condoms even with no need for them at all and Norman Bowker, one of the other soldiers, carries a thumb that Sanders had cut off of a Vietnamese kid only fifteen or sixteen. So Sanders can be seen as not as much of a serious guy but still responsible enough to have the responsibilities of the h olding on the their only way of communication.Dave Jensen was introduced with being all about personal hygiene. He carried a toothbrush, dental floss, several bars of soap taken from hotels, three extra pairs of socks, and Dr. Scholls foot powder for trench foot, earplugs, and extra sand bags for extra protection at night, and for superstitious reasons a rabbits foot. His position in the company is never mentioned but promptly by looking at all of the things he carries, it is seen he carries almost twice as much as anyone else. Through his items his personality of being over cautious stands out.He is not a very big character in the story but because of how OBrien clearly shows how cautious and scared he is to make him a bigger character. Everyone is important in the company and when OBrien talks about Jensen, he is referring to a quarter of the soldiers that were in war that were just like him. Though these are just a few to the many he introduces to the reader, all from OBriens di fferent writing style can be experienced and enjoyed more. OBrien with his writings uses materials of what the soldiers carry to almost control the reader about how to feel about the character, and used this writing style in other books of his.His writing style can take you inner(a) of the different soldiers heart and caput and with the different stories in The Things They Carried other detail are added to the story so nobody can know if his stories are real or true. This gives readers more freedom to have personal opinions. The element of perception has to do with uncertainty. The whole stew of variables determines what we perceive and what call real (Herzog, Interview). OBriens writing style all has a purpose with its creativity.The Things that they carry are not only the materialistic things that the soldiers personally have but it could be anything. Things is framed around the burdens we carry, not just war, not just physical, but spiritual as well (Herzog, Interview). Just te lling a story wasnt enough OBrien wanted the reader to live it, to experience it like he did with his writing style. He wanted to tell you the story but leave mystery, his writing style was an attempt to expand readers mind further than ever before. OBrien said, A good piece of fiction, in my view, does not offer solutions.Good stories be intimate with our moral struggles, our uncertainties, our dreams, our blunders, our contradictions, our endless quest for understanding. Good stories do not resolve the mysteries of the human spirit but rather descried and expand upon those mysteries (LaPlante, 587) Sources 1. Herzog, Tobey C. Tim OBrien. New York, NY Twayne Publishers, 1997. Print. 2. Egri, Lajos. The art of dramatic writing. Touchstone, 1960. Print. 3. LaPlante, Alice. Method and Madness. W W Norton Co Inc, 2009. Print. 4. Herzog, Tobey C. unpublished interview with Tim Obrien. Cambridge, Mass. , 11-12 July 1995

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