Social Groups In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
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In a literature, there are specific social groups that are marginalized, excluded or silenced within the text in order to show only one side of the perspective. Especially, in texts that contain a lot of controversial materials that can cause the readers to build up wrong direction of biases. By doing so, the readers will focus on one specific group the author wants to represent. The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, is based on the stories from the American Vietnamese war veterans, and their experiences throughout the war. Because the topic of American involvement in the Vietnam war is very controversial, he excluded and silenced the perspective and the stance Vietnamese people in order to bring the reader’s attention to what the American soldiers believed and thought, were doing the right thing at the time of the war. He used two specific methods discrimination (name calling), complete exclusion, and biased narration. This causes the audience to follow the pathway he have paved for the readers to believe in what Tim O’Brien have intended to convince.
Although Tim O’Brien did mention different groups of the war, when he did, he identified them with discrimination like nicknames such as greenies. By name calling the way the soldiers did during the war allowed the readers to feel more close to the…show more content… In The Things They Carried, the narrator uses those methods explained above to illustrate the American perspective of the war while limiting or not even mentioning the Vietnamese perspective of the war. Leaving the readers to wholeheartedly approve and accept the only perspective the author provided. This biased narration is the ultimate method of marginalization of group or groups of the text because it not only limits the information the readers may gain and it also paves the one and only pathway for readers to follow throughout the