Summary:
Symbolism is one of the most effective and powerful elements in writing, enabling us to tell a story one way while all along communicating a different, more profound message. In his story "The Things They Carried," Tim O'Brien uses the items soldiers tend to take with them to war to symbolize what the soldiers are actually thinking and feeling.
Edwin F. Uruchima
Professor Richard Tayson
English Composition 102
03 May 2005
Symbolism In "The Things They Carried"
In Tim O'Brien's story "The Things They Carried" we see how O'Brien uses symbolism in order to indirectly give us a message and help us to connect to what the soldiers are thinking and feeling. During a war soldiers tend to take with them items from home kind of as a security blanket. The items they normally take with them tend to reveal certain characteristics of their personality.
Henry Dobbins is the guy who loves to eat so he made sure he took some extra food. Ted Lavender was the scaredy cat of the group so he carried tranquilizers with him. Dave Jense is the paranoid one, so he takes soap and a toothbrush to prevent germs and disease as best he can. Kiowa.....
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