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"the things they carried" literary analysis
literary devices used in tim obriens the things they carried
"the things they carried" literary analysis
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In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried there is a clear connection between water and death. This is shown through the deaths of Max Arnold in “Speaking of Courage”, Norman Bowker in “Notes”, and of Kiowa in “Speaking of Courage”, “In the Field”, and “Field Trip”.
The first time we see the connection of water to death is in “Speaking of Courage” when Norman Bowker tells the reader about how the lake “was often filthy and algaed, relying on fickle prairie rains for replenishment,” (132). This forms the idea that the lake is a gross, unsafe body of water and he connects it to death by later saying, “And the lake had drowned his (Norman’s) friend Max Arnold, keeping him out of the war entirely,” (132). To emphasis the point, Norman walks into the poisoned lake that killed his friend, Max, and “opened his lips, very slightly, for the taste,” (148). This foreshadows what will happen to Norman later on and makes you question his judgement, since he wades into the lake that had given him an awful ear infection and killed his friend.
In the following story, “Notes”, we find out that No...
The lake itself plays a major role throughout the story, as it mirrors the characters almost exactly. For example, the lake is described as being “fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans” (125). The characters are also described as being “greasy” or “dangerous” several times, which ties the lake and the characters together through their similarities. The narrator explains, “We were bad. At night we went up to Greasy Lake” (124). This demonstrates the importance that the surroundings in which the main characters’ choose to be in is extremely important to the image that they reflect. At the beginning of the story, these characters’ images and specifically being “bad” is essentially all that mattered to them. “We wore torn up leather jackets…drank gin and grape juice…sniffed glue and ether and what somebody claimed was cocaine” (124). They went out of their ...
Proximity to death is more than a reoccurring theme in “Greasy Lake”. Mortality is almost synonymous with growing up and the inevitable change from adolescence to adulthood. The older people get and the more life people have, the closer death is to everyone. After each incident, the narrator grows and finds himself one step closer to demise, barely able to escape from the vise of
Death is an intriguing thing. From time immemorial we have feared it, used it, pondered it. Frequently, stories allow the reader into the minds of those immediatly surrounding the one who will die; but all of us "will die." Our morbid interest is in dying, the going, that threshold between death and life. What happens there? There are similiarities and differences in how death appears to the protagonist, written by Ambrose Bierce in An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge, and Ernest Hemingway in The Snows of Kilimanjaro. Bierce offers An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge to show the incredible fantasy that passes through the mind of a man as he dies. Hemingway's engrossing description lies in The Snows of Kilimanjaro. Here, on the African savannah, a man encounters death slowly and with excruciating lucidness. While the differences between the two stories are easy to enumerate, it is the simliarities that may offer the most insight into the minds of the authors and, perhaps, into the minds of us all. The setting for An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge is northern Alabama during the Civil War. Peyton Farquhar (Peyton) is said to be a planter who is left behind by the Confederate Army due to circumstances "...of an imperious nature," but he longs for the "release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction." Immaturity seems the watchword for him; the eagerness with which he swallows the bait presented by a Union spy may give a glimpse of the lack of gravity in Peyton's character that leads to his capture and to the fantastic attempt at escape or denial that his mind fabricates just before his death. Peyton is not a realist. Harry is a realist. The protagonist in The Snows of Kilimanjaro faces his pending doom with distinct clarity and resignation. In fact, his insistance greatly distrubs his wife (naturally) who tries to cheer him up by telling him that help is only a day away, and all that is needed to make it is a positive attitude. Harry is positive. He is certain that he will die very soon. He knows the mistake that has sealed his fate. Although he would change the past if he could, he does not seem to lament his end except for the writing he will never do.
In[a] the novel, Trouble, Henry respects Chay nearing the end of their adventure, because he learned about his tragic life in Cambodia. Henry had been an ordinary boy with the “Great Franklin Smith”, living his own ordinary life, until a tragic car accident ruins all of the Smiths plans for the future. Now Henry and Sanborn travel to Mt. Katahdin for Franklin, but Henry loathes Chay for killing Franklin. To avenge Franklin’s death, their epic adventure to Katahdin brings, troubles, hardships, origins, and anger between all members, making a unique journey for all.
In the year 3000, the planet Earth is a desolate wasteland. It has been a little over a half a century since the “big one” hit the Earth. The majority of the human race has been eliminated with only a few hundred remaining. The only ones who have survived barely made it on to the spaceship as the big one smashed the Earth. Marcus is one of the many survivors coping with solar winds and debris floating around the Moon. After half a century, the survivors are running out of supplies on the moon. The crew must go back to post-apocalyptic Earth and explore the wasteland. Marcus knows that this journey will not be an easy one. They encounter different
In the essay, “Move over Boys, Make Room in the Crease,” the author, Sarah Maratta, explains the bias against women’s involvement in sports. Maratta states the claim that women should be treated as equal in their aspirations to be involved in sports. Maratta grew up her entire life loving sports; in particular, she was quite fond of hockey. In this essay, we find out that not only does she have a passion for the icy and mostly Canadian sport, but that she has a desire to see women treated fairly in all aspects of the sporting world. While discussing the flaws and ill-treatments of women in the sports industry and society, she conveys a sense of urgency in making sports completely unbiased toward gender and about the true love of the games.
The Color of Water by James McBride covers a unique epoch in the history of the United States. The memoir was finished in 1996, but depicts a life story that is surreal in the mid-20th century. James McBride’s unique and skilled use of a double narrative adds a new spin to the impact of the two memoirs because both lives seem so abstract to each other but in actuality complement each other. It has a magnificent effect in the narration by keeping us, the readers, interested by taking each step with them.
Water, in this case, refers to life and rebirth. A third piece of evidence would be Beloved's appearance; she had soft unwrinkled skin. like that of a baby; "She had new skin, lineless and smooth, including. the knuckles of her hands." Pg.
People do not like to believe they are puppets on strings, as free will is more fun, exciting and empowering. But sadly it does not matter what people think, for their futures have already been decided. Especially if you are a hero, chances are, your destiny has already been made. As dramatic and mystical as it may sound, but fate overpowers free will. No matter what route one takes, and what type of extreme measure a person is willing to go through, if it is ones destiny to achieve something or lose something or do something, they will do it. However, free will does have a role to play.
One of the first things we have learned about politics this semester is that there is a constant struggle over the true definition, especially in how broad or narrow the definition is. When Thomas Jefferson wrote that “Politics are such torment that I would advise everyone I love not to mix with them.” it is understood that he is referring to the electoral and governmental aspects of politics. If Dr. Michael Rivage-Seul and Leslie Cagan were to read this quote, they would argue that Jefferson has an extremely narrow view of politics and that if one were to desire a more accurate definition, they would have to look further than the restrictive culturally accepted definition. Martin Luther King, Jr. would also disagree with this definition but he I think he would have a bigger problem with the advice that Jefferson is giving. All three of the authors that we have looked at would, in one way or another, be forced to disagree with Jefferson based on the principles that they try to uphold and emphasize in their writings and speeches.
Water imagery in Bombal’s The Final Mist (La última niebla) is also closely related to death and self-realization. The fog represents death while liquid water imagery represents the awakening of passion within the narrator. However, in confronting death and passion during her transformational journey, the narrator becomes resigned to living a live without passion, which, for the narrator represents an emotional death.
Eiseley’s essay on water is from a reflective stance, connecting past, present, and future by water. He links his own magical experiences to water, by telling of when “…I lay back in the floating position that left my face to the sky, and shoved off” (Eiseley 139) he sets his mind adrift, and “… this sort of curious absorption by water¬¬—the extension of shape by osmosis…” (Eiseley 137) he becomes an embodiment of water. He goes on to articulate his interpretation of being one with nature, geology, history, and archeology, via water. All his reveries are brought about by a view of a stagnant pool on a roof. He not only feels connected to life through water, but he lets us glimpse that water is able to dredge up his past, and stir speculations of his future. He speaks of our current evolutional phase as a waypoint on the path to the future, he writes “…I have seen myself passing by—...
death is of the way the poet feels about the frogs. In the first verse
“Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him (Bierce 1-2).” Death was ultimately present throughout much of both short stories, his sudden and striking hand took the life of many during the Civil War. Each moment of battle was soiled with sweat, blood, and tears of the soldiers. The bodies of fathers, brothers, and friends littered the battlefield, and often the death passed over members closer to home. Not only were those whose lives were lost affected, but the families of the brave men were affected devastatingly as well. The author Mark Twain approached the suddenness of death in his story “A Private History of a Campaign that Failed”. Ambrose Bierce also captured the sharp essence of death in his tale of Peyton Farquhar in “An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge”.