Albert Schweitzer’s claim, “In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit,” applies to everyone. The connection people have with others “rekindles the inner spirit.” These connections have the remarkable ability to inspire. Powerful bonds ignite something inside people to create a supportive impact. The influence of familial relationships towards one's positive behavior is conveyed through rhetorical devices.
The strength of a significant bond allows one to cope with traumatizing events. This idea is explored in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried through the rhetorical usage of connotations. The novel describes the grisly reality of war and the relationships formed during the grueling experience. O’Brien describes the battlefield experience, “They shared the weight of memory. They took up what others could no longer bear. Often, they carried each other, the wounded or weak.” (O’Brien ch.1). O’Brien puts emphasis on the comradery formed between soldiers with the use of connotations. O’Brien’s compelling diction illustrates the powerful relationship formed between the
…show more content…
soldiers with words such as “shared” and “carried.” Both of these words have positive connotations not only in the text but in society. Sharing is when one gives a portion of his or her valuables, tangible or intangible, to another. The author makes this concept evident when the author points out that resources are scarce on the battlefield. Sharing what little the soldiers have with each other shines a light on the bond between them. The soldiers not only share materials but transforming experiences. They not only share, they also carried each other as well. To carry something is to support it because it cannot stand alone. O’Brien uses this word repeatedly throughout his entire novel to place importance on the soldier's’ act of carrying each other through the war. They are always there to support each other when they are unable to support themselves: just like family. The toll that war has taken on the soldiers ultimately brings them closer together. The soldiers have an understanding of each other like no one else. They have made it through traumatic events because they had each other to fight for. Strong motivation derived from the urge to return to one's family drives one to refuse submission. This concept is prominent in Solomon Northup’s 12 Years a Slave. His story details the events of his life as a free, black man taken from his family and traded into slavery. Northup shares some of his thoughts during his captivity: Why had I not died in my young years-before God had given me children to love and live for? What unhappiness and suffering and sorrow it would have prevented. I sighed for liberty; but the bondsman's chain was round me, and could not be shaken off. I could only gaze wistfully towards the North, and think of the thousands of miles that stretched between me and the soil of freedom, over which a black freeman may not pass. (Northup ch. 9) Northup appeals to the reader’s emotion to stress the hardships he has gone through in captivity and how the only thing driving him to keep fighting is his family. He uses anguished diction to prompt feelings through words such as “suffering” and “wistfully.” Suffering is the state of undergoing pain, distress, or distress. The reason Northup is able to keep battling despite his suffering is the thought of his family. They are the reason he has survived, his purpose for living. This word implies the struggle and misery causing the reader to feel sympathy for Northup. Without the desire to see his wife and children, he would have lost his will that is otherwise so strong. Equally important, is Northup’s usage of “wistfully.” To be wistful is to feel sad or melancholy about something: in this case a longing for his family. The persistent nature of his efforts are derived from the hope of going back to the family he loves. The glimmer of hope that remains gives a powerful message with the intent that love is worth enduring horrible experiences. A loving relationship with the right partner elicits a powerful expression of one's true self.
Zora Neale Hurston exemplifies this notion in her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. The story follows the life of a young woman named Janie and the different influences of her multiple relationships. Janie tells her friend Pheoby about the difference between two of her husbands:
Naw, Pheoby, Tea Cake ain’t draggin’ me off nowhere Ah don’t want tuh go. Ah always did want tuh git round uh whole heap, but Jody wouldn’t ‘low me tuh. When Ah wasn’t in de store he wanted me tuh jes sit wid folded hands and sit dere. And Ah’d sit dere wid de walls creepin’ up on me and squeezin’ all de life outa me... Ah wants tuh utilize mahself all over. (Hurston ch.
12) Hurston uses symbolism to express the positive influence that a loving partner can have on another. Janie’s second partner, Jody, was not a true husband. He represented restriction while Janie’s final partner, Tea Cake, symbolized personal expression. Hurston uses the different relationships in Janie’s life to convey the concept that the correct partner allows one’s true identity to emerge. Hurston uses contrasting diction to the distinct symbolism of each of Janie’s husbands through words like “squeezin” and “utilize.” “Squeezin’” is used to describe her time spent with Jody. This word is tied to duress and strain. When one is squeezed it is not a comfortable position to be in; it is forced upon the individual just like jody’s ideals are placed on Janie. However, “utilize” is used in reference to the portion of her life devoted to Tea Cake. When someone or something is utilized, it used very practically and effectively. Jody’s restriction did not permit this; but Tea Cake allowed Janie to utilize herself however she pleased. These different partners represent the varying effects of a relationship and how a fitting partner brings forth someone’s real character. An inspirational figure cause one to strive to reach his or her full potential. Khaled Hosseini affirms this idea in his novel Kite Runner. He describes the life of a young Afghan boy’s childhood and continues through his adulthood. The child, Amir, is raised with his father, Baba, who has a great impact on him throughout his entire life. Amir reflects on his past after his father’s recent death, "Listening to them, I realized how much of who I was, what I was, had been defined by Baba and the marks he had left on people's lives... Now he was gone. Baba couldn't show me the way anymore; I'd have to find it on my own," (Hosseini ch. 13). Hosseini uses juxtaposition to emphasize the extent to which Amir relied on his father’s help. Baba and Amir’s relationship helped guide Amir through his life because of the good role model that is Baba. Amir needed Baba to show him the right path to take; however, now that Baba has passed, Amir faces the struggle of figuring out what to do next without his father’s aid. Baba was a positive influence on Amir and in his absence, Amir begins encounters hardships. Amir states that who he is is “defined by Baba.” Their companionship made Amir the person he has become. Hosseini illustrates this by clearly expressing Amir's feeling of loss and his uncertainty of what course of action to take now that his father is dead as opposed to the contrary situation during Baba’s life. He has always been a good influence on Amir, whether he was aware of it or not: particularly when it comes to work ethic. Baba prepared his son for his death and made him able to move on. In essence, the presence of a close bond between a father and son has a beneficial effect. It can be clearly seen that the influence of familial relationships benefits one. This distinguished connection between people is unlike any other bond. It carries a significant weight that pushes one towards a favorable outcome. Finally, it stresses companionship and generates an extraordinary ambition for a desired end result. These kind of relationships are essential in life; they compel one to thrive.
In The Things They Carried, an engaging novel of war, author Tim O’Brien shares the unique warfare experience of the Alpha Company, an assembly of American military men that set off to fight for their country in the gruesome Vietnam War. Within the novel, the author O’Brien uses the character Tim O’Brien to narrate and remark on his own experience as well as the experiences of his fellow soldiers in the Alpha Company. Throughout the story, O’Brien gives the reader a raw perspective of the Alpha Company’s military life in Vietnam. He sheds light on both the tangible and intangible things a soldier must bear as he trudges along the battlefield in hope for freedom from war and bloodshed. As the narrator, O’Brien displayed a broad imagination, retentive memory, and detailed descriptions of his past as well as present situations. 5. The author successfully uses rhetoric devices such as imagery, personification, and repetition of O’Brien to provoke deep thought and allow the reader to see and understand the burden of the war through the eyes of Tim O’Brien and his soldiers.
The book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about Janie Crawford and her quest for self-independence and real love. She finds herself in three marriages, one she escapes from, and the other two end tragically. And throughout her journey, she learns a lot about love, and herself. Janie’s three marriages were all different, each one brought her in for a different reason, and each one had something different to teach her, she was forced into marrying Logan Killicks and hated it. So, she left him for Joe Starks who promised to treat her the way a lady should be treated, but he also made her the way he thought a lady should be. After Joe died she found Tea Cake, a romantic man who loved Janie the way she was, and worked hard to provide for her.
Analyzing innocence has always been a difficult task, not only due to it’s rapid reevaluation in the face of changing societal values, but also due to the highly private and personal nature of the concept. The differences between how people prioritize different types of innocence - childhood desires, intellectual naivety, sexual purity, criminal guilt, etc. - continually obscures the definition of innocence. This can make it difficult for people to sympathize with others’ loss of purity, simply because their definition of that loss will always be dissimilar to the originally expressed idea. Innocence can never truly be adequately described, simply because another will never be able to precisely decipher the other’s words. It is this challenge, the challenge of verbally depicting the isolationism of the corruption of innocence, that Tim O’Brien attempts to endeavour in his fictionalized memoir, The
In the short story, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, each soldier carries many items during times of war and strife, but each necessity differs. This short story depicts what each soldier carries mentally, physically, and emotionally on his shoulders as long, fatiguing weeks wain on during the Vietnam War. The author Tim O’Brien is a Vietnam War veteran, an author, the narrator, and a teacher. The main character, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a Vietnam War soldier who is away at war fighting a mind battle about a woman he left behind in New Jersey because he is sick with love while trying to fulfill his duties as a soldier to keep America free. Tim O’Brien depicts in “The Things They Carried” a troubled man who also shoulders the
One of the underlying themes Zora Neale Hurston put in her book, Their Eyes Were Watching God was feminism. Hurston used each of Janie’s three marriages to represent Janie moving closer to her liberation and freedom from male dominance. She finally found her liberation and became truly independent after graduating from her final relationship with Tea Cake by killing him.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Lora Neale Hurston, the main character engages in three marriages that lead her towards a development of self. Through each endeavor, Janie learns the truths of life, love, and the path to finding her identity. Though suppressed because of her race and gender, Janie has a strong will to live her life the way she wills. But throughout her life, she encounters many people who attempt to change the way that she is and her beliefs. Each marriage that she undertakes, she finds a new realization and is on a never-ending quest to find her identity and true love. Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake each help Janie progress to womanhood and find her identity.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about a young woman that is lost in her own world. She longs to be a part of something and to have “a great journey to the horizons in search of people” (85). Janie Crawford’s journey to the horizon is told as a story to her best friend Phoebe. She experiences three marriages and three communities that “represent increasingly wide circles of experience and opportunities for expression of personal choice” (Crabtree). Their Eyes Were Watching God is an important fiction piece that explores relations throughout black communities and families. It also examines different issues such as, gender and class and these issues bring forth the theme of voice. In Janie’s attempt to find herself, she grows into a stronger woman through three marriages.
Trauma can be defined as something that repeats itself. In The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, trauma recurs in soldiers for different reasons. However, although their reasons for trauma are different, the things they carried can symbolize all the emotions and pasts of these soldiers. One man may suffer trauma from looking through letters and photographs of an old lover, while another man could feel trauma just from memories of the past. The word “carried” is used repeatedly throughout The Things They Carried. Derived from the Latin word “quadrare,” meaning “suitable,” O’Brien uses the word “carried” not to simply state what the men were carrying, but to give us insight into each soldiers’ emotions and character, his past, and his present.
The Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger once said “Perjor est bello timor ipse belli”, which translates to: “the dread of war is worse than war itself”. With this quote, Seneca identifies that war has both its physical and mental tolls on its participants. The psychological and emotional scars of war do much more damage to a solider than the actual physical battles. Tim O’ Brien repeats this idea many years later in his novel “The Things They Carried”, by describing how emotional burdens outweigh the physical loads that those in war must endure. What keeps them alive is the hope that they may one day return home to their loved ones. Yet, the weight of these intangible “items” such as “grief, terror, love, longing” overshadow the physical load they must endure since they are not easily cast away.
Janie Crawford, the protagonist, a woman who dreams, hopes and imagines for true love and happiness. Aiming to achieve her dreams and hopes she learned about love and happiness from different men she married. Marrying Logan, Janie learned that marriage can’t just be arranged and one must devote a great deal of attention to have a happy marriage. Marrying Joe, she learned that both partners must have equal respect to each other in order to be happy. From Janie’s last husband, Tea Cake, she learned that with him she found true love and happiness, finally getting the equal respect she deserve. In the novel “ Their Eyes Were Watching God, “ Zora Neale Hurston used figurative language to make a statement about love and happiness.
Imagine walking through a rainy, humid tropical rain forest with forty to fifty pounds of precious luggage strapped to your back wondering where and when the next shot will be fired. Wondering whether or not you will live to see another day of combat with your brothers. American soldiers carried this burden with them every day while in combat during the Vietnam War. In the short story, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, he explains the positive and negative effects of the things that soldiers carried with them during the Vietnam War.
The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God follows a young woman named Janie living in the 1920’s. Written by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie’s character is mostly developed through her three marriages, to three very different guys, at three different times in her life. As Janie struggles to find a meaning of true love, as well as true love itself, we see her blossom in many different ways. The three men who are basis of this transformation are Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and TeaCake. Each man has a specific effect on Janie, who is an African American women raised by her old school grandmother.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora illustrates the importance of relationships throughout ones’ life. Through two very different relationships with two very different people, Janie’s self can be determined. When learning about individuality, it is a bare essential to look at their background. Janie’s and my individuality and independence are influenced by both our surroundings our relationships with the people around us.
In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, O’Brien explores the nature of stories and what role truth plays in being able to deliver a story and convey its weight to an audience. Throughout the course of the novel O’Brien gives many accounts and his characters recount many tall-tales as well. All of these stories pose questions to the reader, and O’Brien contends that a story’s purpose is to help the audience member feel the reality of what happened and remember those who have died.
Self-knowledge. The one thing that cannot be taught; the one thing that many adults cannot seem to grasp. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie, a middle-aged African American woman, recounts her quest of love. As the quest progresses, Janie, through her relationships, begins to find her definition of love, while Hurston establishes that it is up to the individual to find out what love truly is.