The Struggle of Weight in Tim OBriens The Things They...

The Struggle of Weight in Tim OBriens The Things They Carried The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines the word weight as a mass or quantity of something taken up and carried, conveyed, or transported. Tim OBriens war story The Things They Carried, published in 1990, explores the theme of weight and its importance to men at war in considerable depth. The opening chapter of this book, which was originally written as a short story, is comprised of a collection of lists. OBrien details for his reader both the physical objects, such as cigarettes, C rations, and packets of Kool-Aid, and the more intangible things, such as fear and silent awe, that weigh these soldiers down. With the amount of space that the author gives to†¦show more content†¦These landmark events then become all the more shocking because the reader is not expecting them. In a way, this dehumanizes the death of Ted Lavender and transforms it into just another item to be carried. This works on a larger scale as well. When the reader gets through the lists and fi nally gets into the narrative, that story becomes more engaging because of the mundane things that came before it. This style of narrative is also a good way to have your narrative come across as true and real. The reader is much more easily transported to the battlefields of Vietnam when they feel like they are sharing a cigarette with Lt. Jimmy Cross, talking about all the shit they have to carry. The secondary structural function that these lists serve is to make the reader just as weighed down as the men in the story. While reading, one must create a mental image for each item that is listed. This makes the reader just as weighed down as the characters because they share the experience of carrying all of these items. Weight, both physical and mental, has various meanings for the men of Alpha Company. 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