"The Things They Carried" Commentary

Essay by dvskater8o5High School, 11th gradeA-, September 2014

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Tim Johnson

09-19-14

The Things They Carry

In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien used diction, writing style, and tone while writing the novel which affected the different emotions and brought to the readers. Tim O'Brien carefully used diction while writing the novel, in this passage it can be seen that with his chosen words, it becomes deeper. It can be seen in this passage that he wrote without standard prose, but instead he makes each line its own which making them stand out to the reader. He creates specific moods within the novel and in this passage, giving the reader an idea of what they characters are going through during the time of war. These can all be seen inside a passage from the chapter "Spin" when the author is recalling more of the things he remembers. These literary elements contribute to how the passage and novel bring different emotions to the readers.

In the passage "Spin" from the novel, Tim O'Brien carefully uses diction in order to make the passage more dramatic and also helps create a somber tone which is conveyed to the reader. The narrator states "A hand grenade. A slim, dead, dainty young man of about twenty.", he describes him as just a slim young man of about twenty. This expresses how the war is not something that is good for any reason, and that it is killing young men who are helpless to do anything but fight. He does not chose to say that anyone actually killed him, he only states the weapon used, and the fact that the young man is dead. This makes it clear what has happened, which creates a dark and somber tone. He clearly used diction to create a novel with emotions flowing to the reader.

The author...