Literature Analysis #3

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

1. The story is a fictional memoir narrated by the author himself. There is no central plot because the story is written as a collection of multiple events that don't take place in chronological order. One chapter in particular, "Ambush", stood out the most, however. This chapter depicts a moment when Tim is walking down a dirt path during the middle of the night in Vietnam. As he's walking, his heart begins to pound faster and faster due to his situation circumstances. It develops a sense of suspense to the audience and you can imagine yourself in his shoes. When he hears something up ahead, Tim gets even more frightened. He readies a grenade, and is not hesitant to throw it if necessary. All of a sudden, he sees a silhouette in the night and releases the grenade. After a grueling few seconds, the grenade explodes and kills the man. From that day, he states, Tim was never able to look at the world in the same way - he had killed a man.

2. The theme of the specific chapter is that war changes people in ways that civilians will never understand. Unless you are personally faced in this position, as many soldiers are, you will fail to comprehend what happens to people when they return from the battlefield. Some might think they can relate in certain ways, but I believe that nothing compares to killing a man you know nothing about. It's a feeling a never want to experience in my life.

3. The tone of the story is fearful. Throughout the entire story, Tim is a coward, and he wants nothing to do with the military at all. He is scared every morning he wakes up and every night he painfully drifts into a sleep. The only thing that keeps him sane is his friends.

4. O'Brien's use of setting, syntax, and diction empowered the text to make it intense and seem lifelike.

• Setting:
• Syntax:
• Diction: