Symbolism in "The Things They Carried"


     In the first chapter of The Things They Carried, I noticed the immense amount of symbolism that Tim O’Brien included.  First of all, the title itself is so meaningful in that O’Brien did not just want to list off everything the soldiers carried, but rather he wanted to share with the reader the things they carried inside and the things they could not stop thinking about.  Throughout the chapter, the narrator, also named Tim O’Brien, lists physical things the men carried, but he included the weight of each item.  Most of these weights were fairly large, especially if you had to carry the items around all day.  I noticed the symbolism when he talked about the meaningful things they carried, such as pictures, letters, or small objects sent from home.  O’Brien also gave the weights of these items, which had no comparison to the size of the guns, rations, radios, and other war items.  Yet these items had the most influence on their minds, and they left the most weight inside of them.  O’Brien included the minuscule weights of these meaningful objects to show that sometimes the lightest objects can weigh down a person’s mind the most.  Lastly, I found symbolism when O’Brien listed the different things the soldiers had to carry depending on their missions and jobs.  Some men had to carry much heavier things than others because of his specific role.  I took this as O’Brien saying that a person may have more baggage so to speak than another person because everyone comes from different places, relationships, and backgrounds.  If you add up all of the weight of the physical things the men carried, it would be immense, but the weight of the things they carried inside, such as fear, longing, and guilt, was much larger.  O’Brien stated, “… this was something [Lavender] would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war” (16.)  One of the heaviest objects in this chapter was right in that line, yet it didn’t represent something physical and it was not given an exact weight.  The symbolism here was that the things they carried inside were so much heavier to bear than anything else, and it was in fact so large that no weight amount could be given to describe it.    

Comments

  1. s18cmcneilSeptember 14, 2017 at 5:43 AM

    I definitely agree that a major symbol of the story so far is the weight of the things they carried, whether it be physical or emotional. The emphasis on the emotional baggage throughout the chapter seemed to carry a more influential tone rather than just the physical weight they had to bare. I think that a big part about the immeasurable weight of the things that weren't tangible aided to the importance of emotional baggage. I liked how O'Brien made it clear in many parts that the weight of memory, guilt, shame, etc. was shared with all the soldiers. It wasn't just one man carrying it, but they helped each other carry it. I think the story has an underlying meaning of brotherhood and support during a life-changing time in which they all are experiencing.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Marlow's Loyalty to Kurtz

     Once I finished Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, I thought about the one part that really stuck with me from the book.   After Marlow had been sick and on the verge of death, he reflected on Kurtz who also had been sick but passed away from his illness: “I was within a hair’s-breadth of the last opportunity for pronouncement, and I found with humiliation that probably I would have nothing to say.   This is the reason I affirm that Kurtz was a remarkable man.   He had something to say.   He said it” (Conrad 65).   I wondered why Marlow was so loyal to a man who had been kicked out of his company for his actions in Africa.   For example, he threatened to kill one of his fellow workers over ivory.   The wilderness in Africa and the greed for the wealth and money that comes from ivory changed Kurtz for the worse.   In that quote, though, Marlow stated that he still respected him and would stand by him, mainl...
Read more

The Masks in "Imitation"

     After reading all the stories in The Thing Around Your Neck, I kept going back and thinking about the symbolism and meaning in the story “Imitation.”   The chapter starts off with Nkem learning that her husband may be cheating on her, but it is important to note that she is staring at the Benin mask the whole time.   There are many masks around the house that Obiora, her husband, collected.   I think these masks symbolize Nkem’s life for many reasons.   The first is that Nkem says she wonders what life is behind those empty masks, and by the end of the chapter, she can’t remember where her life had gone.   She too became an empty mask that was lifeless behind it.   The second reason the masks relate to Nkem’s situation is that she said she wondered if the people behind those masks that had to kill people for the king wished they didn’t have to kill and that maybe they could have a say.   Those people represent N...
Read more

Feminism in "Mrs. Dalloway"

One of the discussions brought up in class that struck my attention and interest was that some people thought that Virginia Woolf did not have specific instances of feminism.   I disagree with this though.   After reading the first few pages I had already found a few specific lines that stuck out at me as directly feminist and challenging the social spheres and obligations of women and in some cases the sexism that went on during that time. It seemed obvious to me that Woolf wanted to get her feminist ideology across (being one of the main themes of the novel), but I will say, I have a feeling it was subtler than what I imagine in “A Room of One’s Own.” The two lines that really stuck out to me are as follows: “She would marry a Prime Minister and stand at the top of a staircase; the perfect hostess he called her (she had cried over it in her bedroom), she had the makings of the perfect hostess, he said” (7) and “And her old Uncle William used to say a lady is known by her sh...
Read more