The Things They Carried Analysis

All Wars Are The Same

War evokes many different emotions for some soldiers. Some are drafted and demanded to serve, others volunteer their lives for the sake of not being titled as cowards. Some get to fight another day, some don't, others get captured and become prisoners or hostages. But one thing is certain, for those who have experienced war know first hand that it has the power to change you as a person. In the short stories “Guests of the Nation“ and “The Things They Carried,” authors Frank O’Connor and Tim O’Brien share the same central idea of the horrible effects of war. Both stories are about a young male soldier who faces the true reality of war as well as the emotional and impacts these experiences leave with them. Though the
However, interestingly, they use these rather different styles for similar ends: both authors seem to share the implementation of Irony (Prinsky). In “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’brien uses heavy irony. For example, Ted Lavender, the soldier who is weighed down by extra ammunition and sheer panic, is the the only American to die (McCarthy). Also, Jimmy Cross leaves behind his love for Martha, choosing instead to bear the responsibility and guilt for a death that could be not have been foreseen. In the quote “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war.” (O’Brien 606). The quote illustrates the Also, in “Guests Of The Nation,” the author, Frank O’Connor implements irony by repeating the word “chum,” in fact he repeats it seventeen times throughout the story. It’s ironic because it underlines the failure of friendship in the plot, in the quote “Hawkins wanted to know, and we said yes. He laughed. But why should Nobel want to shoot him? Why should we want to shoot him? What had he done to us? Weren't we chums” shows friendship is indeed a failure in the story (O’Connor 631). Frank O’Connor also makes another ironic approach to the story by describing the timbre of belcher's speech, “peaceful,” it ironically contrasts with the reason the British soldiers were kept captive, as well as their fate (Prinsky). In the quote “'I wouldn't, not if I was to be shot twenty times over; he's my chum. And Belcher wouldn't - isn't that right, Belcher?' 'That's right, chum,' says Belcher peaceably” (O’Connor 632). Both authors share the similarity of making irony present in the