Interpretive Analysis

Running head : TIM O 'BRIEN 'S 'THE THINGS THEY CARRIED : A 'COMING OF AGE NOVEL ' MADE NEW 'The Things They Carried : A 'Coming of Age Novel ' Made New

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INTRODUCTION

Even as the fragmented rays conjure up a literary VIGBYOR in Tim O 'Brien 's novel 'The Things They Carried , certain questions find their way to the minds of the readers , like , whether

it was really necessary to put in more complexity by naming the protagonist as Tim O 'Brien to achieve semblance with the real-life trauma out of Vietnam war . O 'Brien seldom missed any chance to heighten the PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Dis ) in the novel , which is seen as a desperate attempt to hammer his intended message to the heads of the readers . However , all these have helped this novel to go beyond the mould of a typical 'Coming of Age Novel . This essay thus probes these and more within the literary framework to arrive at a conclusion

Theme

The title of the novel itself is capable of evoking the guiding engine of the story : It points at "Things (tangible and intangible , physical and mental burden , which "They (the American soldiers "Carried (which would be their lifelong companion . This quick summation of a novel in its title helps readers to guess the essence of its theme as well "The overall of trauma of a war is unshakable from the lives of its participants " This theme obviously is based on a larger canvas where it demands attention of all the major supplemental elements to it - like all shades of emotion in appropriate blend , and the events that were to be responsible to generate those shades . Considering the application of these elements in the novel , one can say that Tim O 'Brien has successfully stretched the events through such broad canvas (1955-1975 , with appropriate mixture of the shades of emotion like grief , desperation , love or longing , save the terror and trauma , which overcast the entire journey of the novel . Apart from that , O 'Brien also justifies the existence of trauma even after a gap on 20 years with appropriate events , e .g , when Jimmy Cross opens his heart to O 'Brien by claiming his responsibility for Ted Lavender 's death , and cites his momentary craving for his long-lost love - this type of paradox actually adds momentum in a novel and O 'Brien has been able to successfully create that momentum off and on , through which , a background music of doom is established . That continuous , haunting tune of sorrow successfully as if keeps its theme clear in every page of the book - that a war is only a waste for everyone involved in it , dead or alive

Plot

Beginning a novel in the middle to rouse the reader 's interest as to what had happened before and what would happen after is a proven technique...