Literary Modes in War Literature, Such as The Things They Carried Essay

Literary Modes in War LiteratureThe immediate impact of The Things They Carried is found on OBriens fidelity to detail. The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the necessities or in effect(p) necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cig arttes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, stitching kits, Military Pay manpowert Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water. unneurotic these items weighed between 15 and 20 pounds. These facts are combined with the intangible and the psychological. They tot every last(predicate)y carried ghosts, they shared the weight of memory and they carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die or already have passed away. OBrien intentions his detail and horse sense of war to bring meaning to his war story. I felt that the use of Tragedy, Myth and Gothic were well constructed literary modes in the n ovel The Things They Carried. These men in the story go heavy physical loads, they also all carry heavy emotional loads, composed of grief, terror, love, and longing. Each mans physical preventive underscores his emotional burden. After the war, the psychological burdens the men carry during the war broaden to define them. Those who survive carry guilt, grief, and confusion, and many of the stories in the collection are about these survivors attempts to come to terms with their experience. Repeatedly in The Things They Carried OBrien forces this image beforehand us to convey the tragedy of war. It also serves as a allegory for combat to American soldiers in Vietnam the shit referred to the day-to-day combat operations endured by GIs in the field (Clark 463). OBrien relays this conventional metap... ...trasting outside mythologies to internal mythologies and study them both to real truths. OBrien begins to make these comparisons right from start, as he presents the external myt hology of courage in opposition to the experience of his soldiers. OBrien says, The war is entirely a matter of posture and carriage (15). This is not merely a audience to how the soldiers must stand or how they carry their packs. It is also about the things the soldiers carry in their minds, and the posture they must maintain is the challenge to show intrepidity in the face of immense fear. Myth, such as OBrien at the channelise of modern war novels, the term courage takes on new dimensions. It becomes much personal. It requires an honest quest by the individual to discover his or her profess internal truths. Once found, we need to have the courage to defend it against the competitor that is myth.