The Things They Carried Literary Analysis - 1756 Words

In â€Å"The Things They Carried† Tim O’Brien relies heavily on lists as a literary device. O’Brien focuses on three distinct types of lists. These lists include military equipment, personal items and emotional or psychological strain. The lists serve a higher purpose, O’Brien uses these lists to introduce each character in the story and give the reader insight into what mattered most to each of the men. O’Brien’s use of lists as a means of character development then as a way to counteract the chaos and uncertainty of war sets â€Å"The Things They Carried† apart from other war literature. @ The first of these lists contained the â€Å"necessities or near-necessities† including: â€Å"can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, watches, dog tags, mosquito†¦show more content†¦Lieutenant Cross uses Martha as an escape from the reality of the war. Lieutenant Cross fantasizes about romantic trips with Martha to beautiful place s as he trudged through swamps and forests. In, the evening Cross reads letters from Martha and contemplates her feelings for him. The thought of Martha is so prevalent in Lieutenant Cross’s head, the war is hardly mentioned in the first few pages of the story. Even when Ted Lavender dies, it only takes up one sentence, before transitioning back to Martha. Even though she fills him with doubt, worry, love and longing; Lieutenant Cross would rather focus on Martha than the possibility of death. Martha is representative of the emotional baggage soldiers carry, â€Å"To carry something was to hump it, as when Lieutenant Jimmy Cross humped his love for Marth up the hills and through the swamps† (O’Brien 5). O’Brien, is showing readers that Lieutenant Cross is not only carrying the weight of his gear, but also the weight of his love for Martha. His love for Martha weighs heavy on his heart, and his thoughts about her seems to become an obsession. @ After Lavender’s death, Lieutenant Cross struggles with guilt and his sense of reality. Lieutenant Cross’s mental breakdown related to the death of one of his men is a symptom of PTSD. PTSD is post-traumatic stress disorder, and can develop after a very stressful or frightening incident, or after a traumatic event. The death of one of his men is a veryShow MoreRelatedEssay about The Things They Carried Literary Analysis764 Words   |  4 PagesLiterary Analysis of The Things They Carried: Metafiction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tim O’Brien brings the characters and stories to life in The Things They Carried. He uses a writing style that brings stories to life by posing questions between the relationship of reality and fiction (Calloway 249). This is called metafiction and it exposes the truth through the literary experience. 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