When writting a story, an author will utilize many tools in his arsenal to present it to the reader. He includes psychological, biographical or gender elements in his publications.
In the story "The Things They Carried", Tim O'Brien used a lot of pychological components, that allow us to use a psychological criticizm to study this particular piece of his work.
Story takes us to Vietnam, where a group of soldiers on a mission, have to struggle with war attrocities, changing weather, disease, pain, suffering and death on a daily basis. One of them, big Ted Lavender, keeps himself drugged all the time, just so he can deal with every day. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross daydreams about a girl left back home, and Kiowa, being numb from all he have seen, can only talk about death.
When Lawender dies, Jimmy snaps back from his wonderland and decides that from now on he will be the real leader for his platoon. He realizes the need to be clearheaded and tough, so the rest of his soldiers can survive.
At the same time, Kiowa wonders how it feels to grieve and have a sense of sorrow for his fallen comrade, but is unable to do so.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Blog #3 Assignment Option A
In the story "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien, Kiowa, one of the soldiers in the platoon, hails from Oklahoma, he is a devout Baptist, who carries an illustrated New Testament from his father, as well as an old hunting hatchet. He also has to carry his grandmother's distrust of the white men.
Being in Vietnam, fighting in the war, disensitized Kiowa to any feelings but death. He's constantly describing the experience of seeing someone die, how he died, how he fell to the ground. He wishes he could care about fallen comrades like his Lieutenant, he wants to find some capacity for grief, but what he saw and what he did made it impossible.
The only other feeling he has, is a feeling of s simple pleasure of having his boots off, hearing sounds in the night, smelling his New Testament.
Feeling that, it makes him a flat character. We can't really see his reaction to other cirmcumstances, different situations. Just this particular setting.
Apart from the main character in the story, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, Kiowa stood out the most for me, because of his descriptions of someone dying, and his inability to feel anything else. It's a scary and lonely place to be.
Being in Vietnam, fighting in the war, disensitized Kiowa to any feelings but death. He's constantly describing the experience of seeing someone die, how he died, how he fell to the ground. He wishes he could care about fallen comrades like his Lieutenant, he wants to find some capacity for grief, but what he saw and what he did made it impossible.
The only other feeling he has, is a feeling of s simple pleasure of having his boots off, hearing sounds in the night, smelling his New Testament.
Feeling that, it makes him a flat character. We can't really see his reaction to other cirmcumstances, different situations. Just this particular setting.
Apart from the main character in the story, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, Kiowa stood out the most for me, because of his descriptions of someone dying, and his inability to feel anything else. It's a scary and lonely place to be.
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