The Things They Carried and The Red Convertible - Book Report/Review Example

Comparing and Contrasting The Things they Carried and The Red Convertible War stories are one of the most interesting genres in literature, and The Things They Carried and The Red Convertible are one of the most analyzed, studied, and debated in this genre. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a compendium of different stories narrating the author’s memories of the Vietnam War as a soldier. Because it is a compendium of stories, there is no conventional narrative structure with an introduction, climax, and finale. On the other hand, The Red Convertible tells the tale of brothers trying to deal with their constantly changing realities; the author depicts the problems numerous Vietnam soldiers and their families confronted at the aftermath of the war. This paper compares and contrasts these two stories in terms of themes, point of view, and style. Themes As stated by Tim O’Brien the story The Things they Carried portrays peace or reconciliation and not warfare or conflict yet for the combatants they have to engage in warfare before attaining peace. The setting for the story is mostly in Vietnam, and those chapters that occur in other parts of the world are thoughts about the war and the extent of its impact on the individuals that the combatants mature into. Being engaged in war for too long made the soldiers unable to cope with their ‘normal’ surroundings (O’Brien 23): They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment. The above quote tells about the emotional burdens of the soldiers whose lives are constantly in danger. The second important theme is guilt. There is an enormous level of guilt taking place in the story. For instance, both Cross and Bowker think that they should be held responsible for the death of Kiowa. Even O’Brien senses too much guilt for taking the life of an unreal person. The third central theme is truth. O’Brien emphasized that truth is revealed in numerous different ways in the story. Although not every part of the stories is real, the emotions and sentiments within them are. The last major theme is seclusion. The soldiers were secluded from the outside world, for that was there way to survive. They regarded everybody as strangers and not only the people of Vietnam but those at home too. Even at home they regarded themselves secluded, for the people around them were unable to understand or grasp the ordeals they had to endure in order to survive. One of the most obvious similarities between The Things They Carried and The Red Convertible in terms of theme is the story’s setting, which is the Vietnam War. The second similarity is the experience of distress, anxiety, and trauma by the soldiers who witnessed too much death in the battlefield, like Henry. The descriptions of posttraumatic stress disorder in both the story are very similar. However, the two stories differ in terms of the ‘concreteness’ of the central ‘object’ of the story. In The Red Convertible it precisely delves into the symbol of a ‘car’ and of ‘driving’ (Erdrich 1): There it was, parked, large as life. Really as if it was alive. I thought of the word repose, because the car wasn’t simply stopped, parked, or whatever. That car reposed, calm and gleaming, a FOR SALE sign in its left front window. The truth is exact in the story, whereas in The Things They Carried the truth is stretched out and constantly being questioned. Point of view With regard to point of view, The Things They Carried deviates from the traditional first-person account of wartime journal. Indeed, the story continuously changes from first to third person and vice versa. Even though numerous of the stories use a third-person all-seeing narration that highlights the fictitious attributes of the anthology, O’Brien plays the first-person speaker in other stories. The stories create a conflicting relationship between the brutality of death and a peaceful one. For instance, as the victim of O’Brien is sprawled in the road, “the butterfly was making its way along the young man’s forehead, which was spotted with small dark freckles. The nose was undamaged. The skin on the right cheek was smooth and fine-grained and hairless” (O’Brien 88). Hence, the reader is not confined into a single point of view. The reader does not see, experience, or feel the story merely through the point of view of O’Brien. In terms of point of view, both The Things They Carried and The Red Convertible use first-hand narration. For Lyman and O’Brien, the stories always exist in the present, and that the pains, traumas, and wound of the past are always present and unable to heal. On the other hand, O’Brien’s story is more complex in its point of view compared to Lyman’s, as shown by how O’Brien shifts the narration from first-person to third-person point of view. Lyman’s story rigidly remains from the first-person perspective. Style O’Brien adopts a highly vivid, colorful, and imaginative writing style thus he guides the readers in imagining every scene as though it is happening in front of them. He can graphically describe every shocking scene, but with beauty and eloquence. The below passage is a proof (O’Brien 52): They were just goofing. There was a noise, I suppose which must have been the detonator, so I glanced behind me and watched Lemon step from the shade into bright sunlight. His face was suddenly brown and shining. A handsome kid really, sharp gray eyes, lean and narrow-waisted, and when he died it was almost beautiful, the way the sunlight came around him and lifted him up and sucked him high into a tree full of moss and vines and white blossoms. The above passage shows how intense and vibrant O’Brien’s imagery is. His words form images in the mind of his readers. By questioning the truthfulness of the stories, O’Brien highlights the general style that describes The Things They Carried—difficult to define, wordy, contrasting but harmonious at the same time, unforeseen, and random. This unique style of writing shows how important symbolism and vivid use of words are in the success of a story. The Red Convertible is filled with vivid imagery, symbolisms, and verbosity, just like how O’Brien wrote his story The Things They Carried. Both of these stories depict a rather painful memory or scene in a beautiful, charming way. For instance, Lyman brings up his convertible and claims, “I owned that car along with my brother Henry Junior. We owned it together until his boots filled with water on a windy night and he bought out my share” (Erdrich 1). Also, in both of the stories, the connection between the outside world and the world of the soldiers is intensely portrayed. The isolation of the soldiers from the mainstream population is described in both stories in a harrowing way. Setting, characterization, and imagery were the best components of the writing style for both the stories. The only difference between the two stories in terms of style is the complexity. The Red Convertible uses a traditional storyline, for it starts with a preview of the life experiences and background of the narrator. Conclusions War stories like The Things They Carried and The Red Convertible are supposed to be utterly shocking, depressing, and sad, but these two stories are able to provide an account of war experiences in a unique, appealing, and interesting way. Being war stories, these two stories have apparent similarities in themes, point of view, and style. Still, the differences are also there due to the differences between the authors, especially in relation to background, experiences, and interpretation. Works Cited Erdrich, Louise. “The Red Convertible.” Siegal Lifelong Learning 1-8., n.d. Web. 5 June 2015. O’Brien, Tim. “The Things They Carried.” Cory Snow 1-163., n.d. Web. 5 June 2015. Read More