The Things They Carried Theme 1: Coping mechanisms Story 1: The Things They Carried Story 2: Spin Examples - Jimmy Cross uses Martha as a coping mechanism → blames her after Lavender died - Tim O'Brien uses writing to process what happened to him during the war - Azar strapping a puppy to a mine and blowing it up as a way of coping with the seriousness of the situation he is in. - Norman Bowker and Henry Dobbins playing checkers every evening as a way of coping with the pointlessness and chaos of war - Soldiers dehumanize death by shaking hands with a man they just killed as a way of coping with the fact that they can die any minute Styles - Using a variety of stories to make his point in Spin. - Listing each member of the Alpha company and explaining how they cope with trauma, thereby humanizing them instead of seeing all men in uniform as the exact same - Uses repetition to emphasize all of the different things they carry and everything that makes up the soldier, thereby humanizing them when they tend to be dehumanized Theme 2: Power of storytelling/Ambiguity of truth Story 1: How to tell a true war story Story 2: Lives of the dead Examples - O'Brien claims storytelling has a way of bringing people back from the dead - Tim O'Brien keeps Linda alive through his writing - A story doesn't need to be real in order to be true. A powerful story, especially a war story, makes you feel something real and come a little closer to understanding what the soldiers are going through during the war. - Mitchell Sanders story about strange sounds in the mountains, but then admits making parts of it up - When a lady tells O'Brien to come up with new war stories, he says the most he can do is make up more things in order to give greater truth to the story. Styles - Addressing the reader constantly (you can tell a true war story) to make the reader better understand his point and put the reader in his shoes - O'Brien uses symbolism to emphasize the power of storytelling and the ambiguity of truth. For example, he describes how he and his fellow soldiers would often invent stories about the people they encountered in Vietnam, using these stories as a way to cope with the trauma of war and to create meaning out of the senseless violence around them. - O'Brien blurs the lines between reality and fiction, emphasizing the power of storytelling to create meaning out of chaos. Theme 3: Search for understanding Story 1: Speaking of Courage Story 2: How to tell a true war story Examples - Norman Bowker trying to tell his story to the person taking his fast food order through the intercom - Norman Bowker having an imaginary conversation with his father, but realizing all his father cares about are his medals - Norman Bowker realizing not even Tim O'Brien can understand and ends up killing himself - Tim O'Brien saying that a true war story doesn't have to be true to convey the emotions of war, sometimes things need to be made up in order to convey the message and emotions the soldiers were feeling - Mitchell Sanders story about strange sounds in the mountains, but then admits making parts of it up in order to get his point across better, which is that the truth in a true war story is irrelevant Styles - Describing the setting in great detail to show how differently Norman Bowker sees things that were once so familiar to him. - Creating an imaginary dialogue between Norman Bowker and his father - Using Curt Lemon and Rat Kinley as an example to better convey his message that a true war story doesn't have to be real if it makes you feel something real Too Much Happiness Theme 1: Search for understanding Story 1: Dimensions Story 2: Free Radicals Examples - Serial killer tells Nita the whole story because he wants to share his story with someone - Serial killer lacks understanding from family about his sister's behavior to him - Doree comes back to visit her husband after he does something unspeakable because he's the only one who can understand the pain of losing his children - Doree doesn't tell Mrs. Sands about her visits because she knows she won't understand - Doree seeks understanding from Maggie but realizes she won't understand her relationship (Lloyd looking for birth control pills in her things) Styles - Revealing the actual truth about what happened towards the end of the story - Not using a chronological order in order to better reveal Lloyd's possessiveness over Doree - Letter included in story in order for Doree to process the information without having the emotional burden of listening Lloyd saying it Theme 2: Illusion of happiness Story 1: Too Much Happiness Story 2: Deep Holes Examples - Despite achieving great success in her career and personal life, Sophia is haunted by the memory of her abusive and controlling husband, and struggles to find true happiness. - Sophia's relationship with Maxim seemed perfect until he got jealous of her success and it all fell apart - Sally seems to have the perfect family in deep holes with a husband and three children, however it quickly falls apart after the oldest son disappears in college and pursues an alternative lifestyle, shattering her image of a perfect family - Kent realizes that happiness is ingrained by society and goes off to find his own definition of happiness. . - Years later, Kent is content with his life and finds peace, which Sally finds hard to understand because it does not fit her image of what happiness should look like, one that has been ingrained into our minds by society Styles Theme 3: Gender roles Story 1: Too Much Happiness Story 2: Free Radicals Examples - Sophia defies traditional gender roles by not devoting her entire life to taking care of her child, Fufu and pursuing a career that had very few women in it. Sophia can only get a job in Stockholm because all of the other countries won't accept female professors - Two sisters, Clara and Elisa, devote their entire lives to taking care of the brilliant Weierstrass - Maxim leaves Sofia because he gets jealous of her success, which shows that women are seen by him and other males at the time as inferior and it damages the image they have of themselves when a woman does something better - Nita let Rich dictate the aspects of her life and let him replace his wife for Nita. He moved her into the home he shared with his wife and viewed her as an accessory, the same way he viewed his previous wife. Styles - NIta struggles to find a purpose without having her husband in h
