Literary Devices In The Things They Carried

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“The things they carried were largely determined by necessity.” (330) “First lieutenant Jimmy cross carried letters from a girl named Martha. They were not love letters, but cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rusksack.” (329) The Things They Carried by Tim O’brien published in 1990 was about a man named Jimmy Cross. Cross was the lieutenant during the war of sixty-eight he was in love with a young women named Martha who attended Mount Sebastian college in New Jersey. Martha would send Cross letters often, none of which showed affection but cross hoped that she loved him as much as he loved her. Throughout the story Cross describes each of his men and what they carried, but each time his love for Martha would make his mind drift and he would day dream about being with her instead of doing his job as lieutenant. Soon Cross begins to realize that he must forget her when one of his men die due to his carelessness of drifting off in the dream world. So Cross decides to burn and get rid of all things that would remind him of his love to focus on his men and told himself that his obligation was not to be loved but to lead. Which is something all people can relate to in some way. The story is relatable…show more content…
Like the tone of the story is the way cross talks from what they have to carry to what they choose to and then to Martha and his desperation to be with her and his hope of her wanting the same. Which helps prove my theme of the story of what people physically carry and mentally carry. For example Cross had to physically carry maps, guns, food, and etc. but he chose to carry the letters Martha wrote him and the pebble she sent him those of which he did not have to carry. Mentally he carried the worry in stress of his love for her and his men he was lost and hopeless due to his love for Martha. This also tells you the literary allusion of the

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