Thursday, September 10, 2015
The Things They Carried Style
Tim O'Brien's style in The Things They Carried is very different from the style of any other writers I have ever read. Even within the first short story, the style can be detected. Tim O'Brien uses the literary device called cataloging. He uses this device by creating a list of all of the items that the men carried, figuratively and materialistically, aside from the plot of the story. When creating these lists, O'Brien details the items meticulously by even stating the weight of each item and profiles the people by stating what they carried. For example, on page 2 of the novel when describing what Ted Lavender carried he states, "Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried tranquilizers"(O'Brien 2). While describing what he carried he is also telling the readers what his character is like and why he carried those items. Throughout the short story, he later comes back to characters mentioned earlier. To go along with the Ted Lavender, O'Brien later comes back to this character and continues with what he carries. He states, "But Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried 34 rounds when he was shot and killed outside Than Khe, and he went down under an exceptional burden, more than 20 pounds of ammunition, plus the flak jacket and helmet and rations and water and toilet paper and tranquilizers and all the rest, plus the unweighted fear."(6). So, as you can see, O'Brien gives detail to these items by giving their weight and stating that the fear Lavender felt as he died was heavier than the pounds of ammunition and gear that he carried with him. His style is apparent with the use of cataloging and the development of characters and the things they carried throughout the short stories.
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I also wrote a blog post regarding Tim O'Brien's style of writing in this novel. I also commented on his usage of weights and lists to categorize the items that the soldiers brought with them. I felt as if these lists allowed the reader insight into the soldier's world which were previously unavailable to us. Did these lists make you feel similarly? I thought it was intriguing how the lists were often repetitive, as if he was trying to drill these items into the heads of the readers. I think it's apparent that O'Brien's lists serve a larger purpose to the reader, although I feel that will be more obvious as the novel continues.
ReplyDeleteI also wrote about O'Brien's unique writing style and his use of cataloging. This literary device is used to describe the tangible and intangible items that the soldiers carried, like the weight of gear as you described in your blog. I found this device to be very effective because it gives the reader an insight on what the soldiers carried as the fought in the Vietnam war. Do you think this literary device is effective? Do you think this device should be used in all stories regarding war? How do you think this story would change if O'Brien' did not chose to include cataloging?
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