-
Essay / Analysis of O'brien's use of tone in The Things They Carried
Behind the eyes of every war hero lies the soulless connection to humanity, physically present but emotionally disconnected from the world. Behind every war hero are years of incurable trauma and years of unnoticed suffering. Their silent and desperate cries for help are constantly ignored by ordinary people. Tone plays an important role in war stories and in The Things They Carried, O'Brien shows the emotional connection between soldiers like their love, bond, friendship, etc. In the book The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien describes the war stories, describing the effects it had on mentality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The novel uses tone to describe what each soldier experienced and the importance of what they carried using a sympathetic, somber, etc. tone. readers understand and connect emotionally to the soldiers, understanding their emotions. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien describes the Vietnam War and the adversity the soldiers went through. War stories often have certain tones that are different from other books, the author's must be at a distance but also emotionally close enough to evoke raw emotions in readers. Adversity is an experience that every human being encounters at least once or twice in their life, and in The Things They Carried, soldiers face their greatest adversity, war. O'Brien writes the stories of characters like Lt. Jimmy Cross, Kiowa, Norman Bowker. , etc. to explain what they experienced and the significance of what they carried. O'Brien's tone toward the war is nonjudgmental about any situation, but is also apathetic toward what his comrades experienced. Story of O'Brien Street with Lt. Jimmy Cross, his tone in describing Lt. Cross's story is dark, nostalgic and empathetic. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a man of integrity who begins to diminish during his journey as his love for Martha takes over his mind. Besides the ammunition cross he carried, he also carried letters from Marta that he cherished very much. The letter signifies the contrast between Jimmy's two worlds, life with war and life without. He does not connect the two and uses life with Martha as an escape from the war, resisting his duties and withdrawing from Vietnam, which causes the deaths of several of his comrades. Kiowa was a Native American who tried to do things with compassion and kindness. Kiowa carried a Bible which showed his value to religion and his ties to his country as his father was a preacher. His Bible also reveals the underlying message of indigenous conformity. Norman Bowker was a relatively gentle soldier throughout the war, and his death at the end of the novel reveals the veterans' struggles and pressures. Norman Bowker kept an important diary because it shows how he dealt with his feelings. When writing the Kiowa and Norman Bowker stories, O'Brien's tone was different from that of the other chapters. O'Brien's tones were those of guilt regarding Kiowa and Norman Bowker. Guilt for not being able to save his best friend Kiowa and for writing the best description of Norman Bowker's story before his death. Although O'Brien felt guilty, his tone also expressed emotions of empathy, understanding, and non-judgment. He understood Norman Bowker and his actions during rainy days. The human brain has the ability to imagine whatever it wants, which helps us get out of the.