I collaborated with Kelsey Bergstrom Young on her piece titled Held By What We Carry. This piece is a narrative depicted through eight different sections- Prologue, Ritual, Memories, Morning, Connection, Dinner Table Tango, Coming To, and Finale. Through this narrative, we are introduced to the characters. As the family members take their places, the relationships and dynamics between them become clear. Each dancer has a bag that represents their baggage- the container that signifies all things, good and bad, they have had to carry, will carry or are carrying in life. Throughout the piece the dancers are seen grasping for things in all directions, sometimes missing and sometimes succeeding in acquiring the item or experience that they then …show more content…
This icon of family life is so often the site of the most profound dysfunction, as we fight to keep our bags in check, try to behave ourselves and often “fail”. Kelsey described this section with the words dramatic, theatrical, passion, sad, violent, warm and heated. As the music for “Dinner Table Tango” begins the ancestor, a celestial character in the narrative, moves the dinner table to its place. Simultaneously the family members begin to dance in with their chairs. Once teach family member reaches their place at the table they sit, the ancestor exits. Not long after they sit the children are sent off stage by the parents and a duet begins between the mother and father. The children re-enter and appear to be fighting so the father rushes over to separate them, ending the duet with his wife. Everyone returns to the table and the chaos begins and the family begins to dance around the table; as each member of the family does their best to control their bags. They return to their seats, and not long after the mother and father begin to argue, the children take refuge behind and under the table. In this scene, I used a combination of Henna Sky (Rosco 325) in the high sides, No Color Straw high shins, and Lilac mids. The henna sky is a nice red-orange color, coming from the high side angle it adds a nice accent of color on the bodies bringing in a feeling of heat, and a sense of hostility. Combined with the high sides the no color straw high shins helps to create a feeling of a warm evening with a nice dinner setting. The addition of the lilac mids with the warm colors gives the scene a starkness, and an unsettling feeling. As the music fades out the mother and father freeze looking straight forward with over exaggerated and creepy smiles on their
O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. New York: Broadway, 1998. Print.
In the novel “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, there are a lot of characters that carry burdens which manifest later into themes of the novel. The novel is about the Vietnam war and the experience of drafted 18-24-year-old individuals serving in a platoon squad together. For instance, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross who is a vital member of the Alpha Company carries vital things that later translate into the theme. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carries compasses, maps, and responsibilities for the Alpha Company such as marching in a line and keeping guns clean. The character accompanied with all his objects is used as a metaphor for the war that has no structure. He is a leader in the eyes of the Alpha Company who see him as the oldest and wisest but
...e story the list of things that the items could actually symbolize continues to grow as O'Brien continues to use symbolism to do this. "The list becomes longer in the end and encompasses the hopes, dreams, and fears that each man carried" (Malone, 1).
The Things They Carried is a collection of stories about the Vietnam War, but in reality, the book centers around the relationships the men make, their connections to the world they left behind and the connections that they formed to Vietnam. The stories are not war stories, but stories about love, respect and the bonds made between men when they spend day after day fighting just to stay alive.
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a very uniquely written book. This book is comprised of countless stories that, though are out of order, intertwine and capture the reader’s attention through the end of the novel. This book, which is more a collection of short stories rather than one story that has a beginning and an end, uses a format that will keep the reader coming back for more.
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried storytelling mode allows his lectors to empathize with the characters personalities and emotional burdens during the Vietnam of war through the use of many elements of fiction including characterization, war settings, irony of situation, symbolism, and plot but most notably his technique of correlation between the weight of the stuff each soldier carried on them necessary for their survival in battle and the weight of the stuff they carried internally such as their doubts, fears, love and hopes.
In “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien portrays a captivating message of responsibility to his readers. Its moral explains how we sometimes let ourselves “out” of our problems, because we would like to be somewhere pleasant. The excerpt retrospect’s the war in Vietnam and illustrates the mentality and life of the foot soldiers that fought and died there. By establishing what each character carried in a literal, spiritual, and mental form, the reader can understand what the men were about. By doing so, O’Brien creates a world where reality and imagination meet and are in competition with each other.
The title of the book itself couldn’t be more fitting. The Things They Carried is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Tim O'Brien about soldiers trying to live through the Vietnam War. These men deal with many struggles and hardships. Throughout this essay I will provide insight into three of the the numerous themes seen throughout the novel: burdens, truth, and death.
O Brian, Tim “The Things They Carried” 1986. Schakel. Ridl. 493- 506 Korb,Rena “The Things They Carried”. Short Stories for Students. Detriot: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Oct. 2014
“The Things They Carried” is a story about the Vietnam war, in the simplest of terms. It focuses on one particular team of soldiers and their experiences during the war. O’Brien’s writing is complex and has many layers. In the story, O’Brien lists the items the soldiers physically carry in a stark comparison to the things they carry mentally throughout the war. The author uses symbolism, metaphors, and imagery to show the soldiers loss of innocence and the effects of war on an individual.
O'Brien, Tim. "The Things They Carried." X. J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia. Backpack Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. Joe Terry. Pearson, 2012. Print. 10 Feb. 2014.
But he realizes “it was only a gesture.the letters were in his head” (370). He also discards the pebble she gave to him but cannot rid himself of the boulder that is the emotional burden of his love for her. The weights of desires, fears, and responsibility place great amounts of pressure on an individual. The soldiers in “The Things They Carried” all around lug a great deal of heavy weaponry and equipment. But the heaviest items are intangible things such as their emotions, shame, and reputations.
Fear plays a very large part of life, and when faced with high risk situations it makes a mountain out of a molehill. The Things They Carried is a series of vignettes written by Tim O’Brien that tells his story as a soldier in the Vietnam War. Many of the vignettes he tells are deeply disturbing. They express the fear O’Brien and the men in the Alpha Company felt while stationed in Vietnam. O’Brien shows this through the use of flashbacks of the travesties he witnessed. He uses the unfamiliar setting and the intense, rapidly changing mood to strengthen them. These three elements of style truly bring out O’Briens writing, and show the emotion behind his words, helping the reader fully understand his experiences.
Through the use of his the objects he describes he also shows the symbolic meaning of everything they had to carry. They had fear and memories two of the heaviest burdens a human can carry, they had memories of friends lost in this world and one left behind in the old world. “Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried tranquilizers until he was shot” this shows the wei...
According to the case scenario in which Annalise Keating who is a licensed paralegal, conducts an interview for hiring a full time paralegal position. There are six practice management violations committed by Annalise are as follows: