Free Things They Carried Essays: Violence In Literature

“In great literature no sense of violence exists on its own sake”(College Board). The scenes from the novel, The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien will be used to explain violence in literature.Violence can show many different things in literature, for example, how cruel people can be. It can be towards a friend, an enemy or even oneself. Not all violence is intentional, one may not have a choice when harming one's life. In the novel The Things They Carried, there are many examples of violence that contribute to the reader's’ emotions.

Violence in literature can involve many things such as how manipulative people can be. Many children are bullied no matter where they might be. Schieble stated, “When violence is approached it may be discussed one-dimensionally as physical conflict among characters in literature or as connected with students lives as in the case of bullying”(18).Within the story, O'Brien's true love,Linda was bullied. This scene gives the reader an emotional attachment to Linda, due her being bullied because the reader can connect with the emotion that she may be feeling. When Linda was just nine years old she was diagnosed with brain cancer. . Many of the other children at her school often make fun of her for wearing her red cap.. When Linda does not have this cap on her head, it is bald and veiny. To Linda this cap makes her feel more comfortable and she would rather not let other students see her without the cap.

The characters in this novel tend to mess with each other in violent ways. This comes about, due to many of the characters having
In battle, soldiers have to kill the enemy; it could be one person or multiple people everyday. O’Brien explains an instance where Kiowa killed a man. Kiowa did not take it well and Azar kept telling him to forget about it because it is a war and it happens. The kill had a huge affect on