Symbolism In Tim O 'Brien's The Things They Carried'
Angel Caisapanta
Professor Wells
English 1102
14 February, 2011
“The Things They Carried” In the short story “The Things They Carried,” written by Tim O’Brien, there is a lot of symbolism in each specific object that was mentioned. According to Dictionary.com, a symbolism is the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character. A symbol is something used for or regarded as representing something else; a material object representing something, often something immaterial; emblem, token, or sign. The things each soldier carried defined each individual soldier. The story was very detailed in the objects the soldiers carried which tied into the emotional things the soldiers carried. Most of the items each soldier had were very important for survival. “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity.” (O’Brien 596) They had their water, medical gear, foods, and most importantly weapons. Each soldier was locked and loaded with a specific war item. For example, Henry Dobbins, being the big guy, automatically made him the gunner, which led him to carry the 26 pounds of machinery called the M-60. The medic, Rat Kiley, was in charge of carrying the medical gear, including morphine, plasma, malaria tablets and surgical tape. The radio and telephone operator, Mitchell Sanders was in …show more content…
To the soldiers, whenever injuries were to occur, there would be a silver plane that would come and rescue the soldier and take them to the hospital. This led to freedom, once the soldier was done at the hospital, they would go on home and be free. This was what all the soldiers wanted to do, just go back home to their families. Many of the soldiers envisioned themselves on this Silver Bird, flying with no worries of being shot, no worries of suffering through the blazing sun, and no worries of not seeing their loved
Professor Wells
English 1102
14 February, 2011
“The Things They Carried” In the short story “The Things They Carried,” written by Tim O’Brien, there is a lot of symbolism in each specific object that was mentioned. According to Dictionary.com, a symbolism is the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character. A symbol is something used for or regarded as representing something else; a material object representing something, often something immaterial; emblem, token, or sign. The things each soldier carried defined each individual soldier. The story was very detailed in the objects the soldiers carried which tied into the emotional things the soldiers carried. Most of the items each soldier had were very important for survival. “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity.” (O’Brien 596) They had their water, medical gear, foods, and most importantly weapons. Each soldier was locked and loaded with a specific war item. For example, Henry Dobbins, being the big guy, automatically made him the gunner, which led him to carry the 26 pounds of machinery called the M-60. The medic, Rat Kiley, was in charge of carrying the medical gear, including morphine, plasma, malaria tablets and surgical tape. The radio and telephone operator, Mitchell Sanders was in …show more content…
To the soldiers, whenever injuries were to occur, there would be a silver plane that would come and rescue the soldier and take them to the hospital. This led to freedom, once the soldier was done at the hospital, they would go on home and be free. This was what all the soldiers wanted to do, just go back home to their families. Many of the soldiers envisioned themselves on this Silver Bird, flying with no worries of being shot, no worries of suffering through the blazing sun, and no worries of not seeing their loved