The Things They Carried ( Tim o'brien) - Essay Example

Symbolism in The Things They Carried The Things They Carried is an anthology of 22 chapters narrated by a character Tim O’ Brien. In this story, the Alpha Company has been mobilized to fight in the Vietnam War (O’ Brien 2). Symbolism is among the most powerful and effective elements of writing. Writers of literary works of art often use symbolism in their attempt to communicate their message. Tim O’ Brien makes intensive use of symbolism as a vehicle in his representation of thoughtful themes in the story such as effects of war, emotional and physical burdens.

One of the most outstanding symbols in this story is O’ Brien’s daughter, Kathleen. Kathleen has been used symbolically to represent the reader. Just like the reader, she responds to the author. Her age and relationship with the storyteller, affects the manner in which he relays and conveys what happens. Just like the reader, Kathleen hears the story for the first time from her father (O’ Brien 32). Another symbolic figure in the story is the young Vietnamese soldier who is dead, constantly appearing in O’Brien’s nightmares, visions, and hallucinations.

This symbolizes guilt over horrible acts in war. O ‘Brien had thrown a grenade during war four years ago, but was not certain whether he had killed a man. The author has also used the character Linda symbolically to represent how it is possible to bring back pats elements through storytelling and imagination. Linda was O’ Brien’s classmate who died in fifth grade of brain tumor (O’ Brien 132). She symbolizes O’ Brien’s believe that storytelling can be used to negotiate confusion and pain.

She was his first love and his first experience of death. Through her, the author communicates that through imagination, the past can be brought to the present, and the dead made alive. Work citedO’ Brien Tim. The Things They Carried: a work of fiction. 2009. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1-256. Print.