The things they carried

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

   The things they carried

By Robyn Hulleman and Tara Vredegoor

Content 

• Introduction​
  
• Preperation assignment​
  
• Vietnam war​
  
• Characters ​
  
• Context/author​
  
• Plot of the novel​
  
• Themes​
  
• Literary therms​

• Assignment class

Introduction

Homework asignment
What do you think the novel is about?

Context and author 

• Tim O'Brien 
• Semi-autobiogtraphical stories
• Experiences 

Vietnam war

The vietnam war briefly explained

Literary period 

• Postmodern 
• Non-linear narrative
• Metafictional components

Characters

Tim O'Brien

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross

Kiowa

Norman Bowker

Ted Lavender

Curt Lemon

Plot

• Characters 
• Deemed traumatic
• Flasbacks -> live war trauma 
• Audience sympathise 
• Literary and figuratively

Examples story's

• "The things they carried"

- Jimmy 

- Carry 

- Lavender

• "Field trip"'

- remember and honor

• "The lives of the Dead"

- Close-up 

-Stories about fallen comrades

Themes

Survivor's Guilt 

(guilt or a sense of responsibility for surviving a traumatic event when others did not)

- Tim O'Brien killing an enemy; "the man I killed"

- Norman Bowker surviving while Kiowa died;  "speaking of courage"

Truth and storytelling  

• "How to Tell a True War Story,"
• Story-truth vs happening-truth 
  

- The subjective reality conveyed

• Comrade Curt Lemon

- Power of storytelling -> emotional truths 

• Exaggerated 

- "The Sweetheart of the song Tra Bong 

- Convey deeper truths of war

Love and longing 

(emotional connections to home, family, and the people the soldiers care about)

-Letters from home

- Jimmy Cross and Martha

- Norman Bowker's longing for recognition

Reflection on identity

(the characters confronting the impact of war on their sense of self)

- Norman Bowker's post-war struggle: 

- Lieutenant Cross's leadership and responsibility: 

-Kiowa's spiritual struggle

Literary devices 

Protagonist and antagonist  

• Memory and storytelling 
• Traditional
• Physically and emotionally
• Greater background
• Affects people 

• Common humanity

Methaphore

(A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable)

- “Lieutenant Cross wished the rain would let up. Even for an hour, it would make things easier.

But then he shrugged. The rain was the war and you had to fight it.” 

- “The things they carry”  

- “That's what a story does. The bodies are animated. You make the dead talk.” 

Symbolism

"Turning an object or action in a literary work into something that means more than itself, that stands for something beyond itself."  

• The pebble 

- Connection and distance 

• The letters 

- Home and loneliness 

• Martha  

-Feminine force and home

Foreshadowing

(Hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story.)

- Ted Lavender's death

- Norman Bowker's post-war struggle

- Jimmy Cross' love towards Martha

Imagery 

"A lively description of objects and scene."

• Visual Imagery 
• Auditory Imagery 
• Tactile Imagery 
• Olfactory Imagery 
• Gustatory Imagery 

• Specificities 
• Hair, nails, skin 

Quiz

How is Curt Lemon killed?

1. He is shot in the head
2. He is never killed
3. He steps on a mine
4. He is killed by a grenade

What is unusual about the novel's antagonist?

Who is Martha?

What is special about the title of the book?

1. The title is a metaphor
2. The president invented the title
3. The title is named after the passed Kiowa
4. Martha wrote a poem about the title for Lieutenant Jimmy Cross