A Class Blog exploring American literature and the American experience.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Narrator and What He Carries
I noticed that the narrator does not mention what he carries even though he talks about what everyone else carries. Is he trying to hide something that he is carrying or is there a deeper meaning??
I think that we don't know what the narrator is carrying because we don't know who the narrator is. We think that it may be O'brien but we don't know. I think that it does't matter that we don't know what he is carrying because he wants us to be interested in the other people. The book is a collection of stories about a lot of different people. So by letting us know what they carry it allows us to get to know them. The narrator is taking the focus of himself and trying to show emotion and stories though the other characters. I don't think he is trying to hide anything I think he wants us to focus on the other characters and their stories.
i completely agree with Lauren. though there is a narrator, O'Brien is trying to not make it his story. The narrator is supposed to be representative of every solider in the war. If he carried anything, he would become a defined character, rather than a metaphor for every solider's emotions. As soon as the narrator is defined by what he carries, it completely changes the point of the story.
I think O'Brien is the narrator because yes as Lauren said it is a collection of stories and is about other people but I also think it is about O'Brien's experience in the Vietnam war as a soldier. Even though the stories and events that occure might not be completely true they all have meaning and a point behind why O'Brien tells them. All of what he says has some truth behind it because it is his truth and is through the eyes of himself and his own experience. This being said I believe that the whole book shows what O'Brien carried. I don't think he needs to say he carried his M-16 and his smoke grenades because that is a given, he was a soldier of course he carried items such as those. I think the book is everything that O'Brien carried. The book is all of his thoughts and memories and emotions and feelings and in a war that is certainly more than enough to carry.
I agree with everyone I think that O'Brien is the narrator because for the most part it is from his point of view. I think he originally does not talk about what he carries because he is focusing on the men around him to give the reader insight of the physical luggage that the men carry. I also think that O’Brien does not focus on the physical stuff he carries because he focuses on the emotional baggage that he carries with him and the list gets longer as the book goes on. Tim O’Brien’s character does not just express the emotions he carries through writing but he also used as an outlet to express other characters emotional baggage such as Cross and his love for Martha. Overall O’Brien is carrying emotional baggage of memories of the war and his writings give us insight to the other men emotional struggles.
I agree with Lauren because the story is not meant to be a personal narrative. O'Brien writes this book to portray a variety of stories in the life of a Vietnam war veteran. I agree with Nicki in that O'Brien's focus in what he carries is not physical, but it is emotional. This story is supposed to represent that physical baggage is not always heavier than emotional baggage. This is represented in the story of the water buffalo, because O'Brien gets angry that the woman is upset by the events of the story, not the emotions behind it. This shows that O'Brien wrote this book to bring out emotional baggage, not just the events of the Vietnam War. It is important that O'Brien does not only focus on his struggle throughout the war because his main point is to be an outlet of everyone's stories and emotions, as Nicki said earlier.
I think that O'Brien is just naming the things that each soldier carried so that we as readers can get to know them better, but this ins't necessary for the narrator because we are seeing everything from his perspective anyway. The book is also called "The Things they Carried" and not "The Things we Carried", so from the very beginning we know that the book is focusing on the platoon as a whole and not just on the narrator's experience even though we are seeing things from his perspective. Instead of trying to tell his own personal story, O'Brien tries to capture the emotions of the Vietnam War. Because of this, he tries not to include too many personal details, and he only includes the ones that help further the stories' meaning and impact. For example the story about him trying to run away to Canada to escape the draft was included because it captured the feelings of many young men during the time, but naming the things that he personally carried wouldn't add much to his story as a whole.
I agree with Katie that we don't need to read about what the narrator carries because we already are seeing everything through his perspective. These items are used to describe the other characters for us, but we are able to gain the narrator's emotions and feelings by how he describes the events of the war. Also, I believe that what the narrator carries isn't described because that would make the novel seem more truthful than it is. We don't know the other characters and whether they are real or not, but since we feel so closely connected to the narrator via his emotions adding what he carries into the story would confuse the reader. We would start to question if even his part of the story is real or not and that would distract us from the main point of the book which is the emotions concerning the war.
As everyone has pretty much said, the things that all of the soldiers carried can really be split into the physical and emotional categories. In the beginning of the book, O'brien describes the weapons, equipment, and personal objects that the soldiers carried. This information really can provide insight into how we as readers see the different characters. For example, we can figure that Kiowa is very religious because he carries a bible, Strunk is cautious/survivalist for carrying a slingshot that won't run out of ammo, etc. However, the emotions the men carry provides far greater insight into their character, and this emotional weight has become a huge focus in the book compared to the beginnng. The stories of the baby buffalo and the mountain "voices" highlight this change.
By not revealing what he carries, O'brien leaves the main character's perception untouched. If he revealed what he carried, such as a slingshot or a bible, it would distance the reader from the main character's perspective. O'brien's ambiguity allows us as readers to put ourselves in his shoes; he allows us to come closer to experiencing the war than we could otherwise.
I also think that he doesn't want the book to be about him, but about his whole platoon. They were all in that war together, caught together and became very close to each other. He was never alone during the war and i guess he wouldn't be able to write a war story just about one person because the platoon did everything together.
I think that we don't know what the narrator is carrying because we don't know who the narrator is. We think that it may be O'brien but we don't know. I think that it does't matter that we don't know what he is carrying because he wants us to be interested in the other people. The book is a collection of stories about a lot of different people. So by letting us know what they carry it allows us to get to know them. The narrator is taking the focus of himself and trying to show emotion and stories though the other characters. I don't think he is trying to hide anything I think he wants us to focus on the other characters and their stories.
ReplyDeletei completely agree with Lauren. though there is a narrator, O'Brien is trying to not make it his story. The narrator is supposed to be representative of every solider in the war. If he carried anything, he would become a defined character, rather than a metaphor for every solider's emotions. As soon as the narrator is defined by what he carries, it completely changes the point of the story.
ReplyDeleteI think O'Brien is the narrator because yes as Lauren said it is a collection of stories and is about other people but I also think it is about O'Brien's experience in the Vietnam war as a soldier. Even though the stories and events that occure might not be completely true they all have meaning and a point behind why O'Brien tells them. All of what he says has some truth behind it because it is his truth and is through the eyes of himself and his own experience. This being said I believe that the whole book shows what O'Brien carried. I don't think he needs to say he carried his M-16 and his smoke grenades because that is a given, he was a soldier of course he carried items such as those. I think the book is everything that O'Brien carried. The book is all of his thoughts and memories and emotions and feelings and in a war that is certainly more than enough to carry.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone I think that O'Brien is the narrator because for the most part it is from his point of view. I think he originally does not talk about what he carries because he is focusing on the men around him to give the reader insight of the physical luggage that the men carry. I also think that O’Brien does not focus on the physical stuff he carries because he focuses on the emotional baggage that he carries with him and the list gets longer as the book goes on. Tim O’Brien’s character does not just express the emotions he carries through writing but he also used as an outlet to express other characters emotional baggage such as Cross and his love for Martha. Overall O’Brien is carrying emotional baggage of memories of the war and his writings give us insight to the other men emotional struggles.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lauren because the story is not meant to be a personal narrative. O'Brien writes this book to portray a variety of stories in the life of a Vietnam war veteran. I agree with Nicki in that O'Brien's focus in what he carries is not physical, but it is emotional. This story is supposed to represent that physical baggage is not always heavier than emotional baggage. This is represented in the story of the water buffalo, because O'Brien gets angry that the woman is upset by the events of the story, not the emotions behind it. This shows that O'Brien wrote this book to bring out emotional baggage, not just the events of the Vietnam War. It is important that O'Brien does not only focus on his struggle throughout the war because his main point is to be an outlet of everyone's stories and emotions, as Nicki said earlier.
ReplyDeleteI think that O'Brien is just naming the things that each soldier carried so that we as readers can get to know them better, but this ins't necessary for the narrator because we are seeing everything from his perspective anyway. The book is also called "The Things they Carried" and not "The Things we Carried", so from the very beginning we know that the book is focusing on the platoon as a whole and not just on the narrator's experience even though we are seeing things from his perspective. Instead of trying to tell his own personal story, O'Brien tries to capture the emotions of the Vietnam War. Because of this, he tries not to include too many personal details, and he only includes the ones that help further the stories' meaning and impact. For example the story about him trying to run away to Canada to escape the draft was included because it captured the feelings of many young men during the time, but naming the things that he personally carried wouldn't add much to his story as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Katie that we don't need to read about what the narrator carries because we already are seeing everything through his perspective. These items are used to describe the other characters for us, but we are able to gain the narrator's emotions and feelings by how he describes the events of the war. Also, I believe that what the narrator carries isn't described because that would make the novel seem more truthful than it is. We don't know the other characters and whether they are real or not, but since we feel so closely connected to the narrator via his emotions adding what he carries into the story would confuse the reader. We would start to question if even his part of the story is real or not and that would distract us from the main point of the book which is the emotions concerning the war.
ReplyDeleteAs everyone has pretty much said, the things that all of the soldiers carried can really be split into the physical and emotional categories. In the beginning of the book, O'brien describes the weapons, equipment, and personal objects that the soldiers carried. This information really can provide insight into how we as readers see the different characters. For example, we can figure that Kiowa is very religious because he carries a bible, Strunk is cautious/survivalist for carrying a slingshot that won't run out of ammo, etc. However, the emotions the men carry provides far greater insight into their character, and this emotional weight has become a huge focus in the book compared to the beginnng. The stories of the baby buffalo and the mountain "voices" highlight this change.
ReplyDeleteBy not revealing what he carries, O'brien leaves the main character's perception untouched. If he revealed what he carried, such as a slingshot or a bible, it would distance the reader from the main character's perspective. O'brien's ambiguity allows us as readers to put ourselves in his shoes; he allows us to come closer to experiencing the war than we could otherwise.
I also think that he doesn't want the book to be about him, but about his whole platoon. They were all in that war together, caught together and became very close to each other. He was never alone during the war and i guess he wouldn't be able to write a war story just about one person because the platoon did everything together.
ReplyDelete