Cowardly Courage: Perseverance in War

Cowardly Courage Famous U.S. Army commander Omar N. Bradley once stated, "Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death." Bradley believes courage is something more than having the ability to face hardships, but rather it is the ability to persevere in times of uncertainty. Similarly, in the postmodern text, The Things They Carried, the author, Tim O'Brien, attempts to come to terms with his past actions and fears through the first person narrative, exploring the world of combat through personal recollections of war stories aimed towards the naive American public. In the novel, O'Brien portrays the typical young American soldier thrusted into the front line during the Vietnam War with severe emotional

Five times O'Brien employs the textual stutter; for example, "For more than twenty years I've had to live with it, feeling the shame, trying to push it away, and so by this act of remembrance, by putting the facts down on paper, I'm hoping to relieve at least some of the pressure on my dreams" to explain how difficult this memory is to discuss. O'Brien's slow and hesitant diction, marked by pauses through the use of commas, exemplifies the difficulties most people have with disclosing shameful memories. As a result of the textual stutter, O'Brien fragments his sentences in his text; such as, "To go into it, I've always thought, would only cause embarrassment for all of us, a sudden need to be elsewhere, which is the natural response to confession" to show hesistation. The use of fragmented sentences serves to lengthen O'Brien's passage, indicating that O'Brien wants to stall for time because he feels remorse about his past actions. O'Brien's use of the textual stutter and fragmented sentences creates parallelism in his text, giving the reader an opportunity to feel empathy towards O'Brien's embarrassment. O'Brien's use of unique syntax and parallelism within his text conveys the message that one must practice daily acts of courage to build up courage for moments like

He uses the same diction, with different variations of the word "shame" to indicate his unwillingness to reveal his disgraceful actions, emphasizing indignity and ignominy. Seven times O'Brien reiterates different variations of shame; for example, "To go into it, I've always thought, would only cause embarrassment for all of us, a sudden need to be elsewhere, which is the natural response to a confession." O'Brien's uneasiness about revealing his story highlights the difficulty most individuals have with confessions. The usage of embarrassment is an indication of his fear to come to terms with past actions; in this particular case, O'Brien wants to squirm and hide, highlighting his nervousness and discomfort. The use of repeated words such as confession highlights the process that one must face guilt and humiliation with a confession. O'Brien uses embarrassment and shame in this sentence to highlight the fact that he lacked the courage to disclose his story. As O'Brien continues, he employs the use of another word related to shame; for example, "For more than twenty years I've had to live with it, feeling the shame, trying to push it way, and so by this act of remembrance, by putting the facts down on paper, I'm hoping to relieve at least some of the pressure on my dreams." O'Brien implies that one must come to terms