Emotional Burdens Which Precede the Ultimate Tragedy Awaiting a Character

Death is extremely final, and life is theoretically the greatest thing that anyone can lose. Whilst reading a tragedy that culminates with death, the majority of readers would say that death is the most significant tragedy of the story. Death is the result of primary dangers, which are the immediate physical dangers that result in death. But the tragedy of death is typically preceded by characters succumbing to other dangers. The dangers preceding death are secondary dangers, such as the character flaws of pride and paranoia. Emotional burdens can also be secondary dangers, as Bobbie Ann Mason discusses in her essay “On Tim O’Brien’s ‘The Things They Carried.’” She states that the main struggle in “The Things They Carried” centers around the intangible baggage that the men carry, despite being at war where their lives are in danger. Secondary dangers are the source of the physical and/or mortal primary dangers. In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montressor creates Fortunato’s primary danger by trapping him in a catacomb. In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” the primary danger is war. The supernatural Boogeyman monster is the primary danger in Stephen King’s “The Boogeyman.” These dangers are deadly, but the tragedies of death are byproducts of characters succumbing to the secondary dangers that they face. Thus, the tragedy of death may not be the “ultimate” tragedy. Despite death being the final tragedy, the ultimate tragedy is succumbing to dangers such as emotional burdens, paranoia, and pride.

Emotional baggage can be the catalyst of a seriously dangerous event. In “The Things They Carried,” “[the] immediate drama is the effort ... to contain the emotion, to carry it,” (Mason). Emotiona...

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...is true of paranoia and pride, as too much of either of these can lead to dangerous situations. The paranoia, pride, and emotional burdens that characters face culminate to result in the ultimate tragedy of the story.

Works Cited

King, Stephen. “The Boogeyman.” Night Watch. Stephen King.

Mason, Bobbie Ann. “On Time O’Brien’s ‘The Things They Carried.’” The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. 8th ed. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003. 1515-1516. Print.

O’Brien, Tim. “The Things They Carried.” The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. 8th ed. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003. 1001-1014. Print.

Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Cask of Amontillado.” The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. 8th ed. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 1109-1114. Print.