In the story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien, imagery is created to support the author’s use of tone to show his perspectives on the idea and moral points of war. Tim used imagery in describing a pig factory, his experience on a shore, and time spent with a man named Elroy to create the overall tone of longing for clarity and despair in his story. All of these examples that create imagery are shown to the reader, which helps to express the author’s tone about his views and beliefs on war.
To begin, one way O’Brien presents imagery is through the use of how he describes his experiences from working in the pig factory which allows him to form a tone that expresses disgust and that can relate to how he feels about the draft. Tim gave clear examples of what he does at the pig factory and he describes factors in the environment by saying how the pigs were “decapitated” and the “greasy pig stink” made him feel as if his life is “collapsing towards slaughter”. Through O’Brien’s lens, readers are able to compare changes in his life since the draft notice to all negative aspects of working of in the pig factory. While Tim’s
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description of the pig factory’s conditions contributed well to the overall tone of the story, he also accomplished presenting the tone through his expressions of his remembrance of the objects that he saw on the shore. Furthermore, when O’Brien is recalling everything he remembers from the time at the shore deciding to leave or stay, he presents the reader with very specific and detailed descriptions of the shore that create imagery.
He describes the “delicate lattice work of leaves” and the “tiny red berries” to emphasize how closely he payed attention to all the details on the day at the shore where he had to make a large decision about going to war. When Tim describes even the smallest details of what is around him, readers can see that he payed close attention to his surroundings and was able to recall in his mind small descriptions of objects he saw on the shore. Readers can see through O'Brien's detailed imagery of the shore a tone which can also be formed through his descriptions of Elroy, who helped him during when he could not make a decision about
war. Moreover, O’Brien tells readers of Elroy and how he helped him get through hard times with the draft and goes into great depth about Elroy’s personality and what imagery he can recall from his time spent with him. Tim’s time spent with Elroy led him to realize the characteristics about Elroy such as his eyes, which were described as if “eyes were slicing me open”. This description of Elroy’s eyes showed how he felt a cutting sensation which overall emphasizes the different tones presented in the story. With the exemplary details of Elroy’s characteristics in Tim’s imagery, readers have a clear visual that presents the tone of the story as well as descriptive information and recollections from Tim’s time spent with Elroy. In conclusion, Tim O’Brien used many different examples and memories to help readers visualize the tone to create a better overall understanding and meaning of the story. The author’s viewpoint and beliefs on war are clearly present in the story’s imagery and can be an easily determining factor of the tone the author wants to be evident to the reader. Through Tim O'Brien's imagery, the reader is able to clearly see tones created by the author such as despair, a longing of hope, and awareness which all combine to form the overall tone of the story created by imagery.
In the short story “Chickamauga,” by Ambrose Bierce, there are several examples of imagery throughout the passages that help to describe the horrors of war. Bierce sets the story with a young boy playing war in a forest, who is then approached by a “formidable enemy,” a rabbit. The sudden appearance startles the boy into fleeing, calling for his mother in “inarticulate cries,” and his skin getting “cruelly torn by brambles.” The selection of these details leaves a lucid image in the mind of the reader, allowing them to see a sobbing boy running through the forest, covered in cuts and scratches. It represents the innocence and fear of a child, lost and alone in an unknown place. The birds above his head “sang merrily” as the boy was “overcome
The visual I have created is meant to display how the author Seven Galloway effectively used descriptive language and imagery in the novel The Cellist of Sarajevo to demonstrate character development in Dragan, one of the protagonists. For instance, in the first image moving forward from the 12’oclock section of the clock, we can see an image of Dragan in Sarajevo with the intent of setting the mood of war, where “everything around him is a peculiar shade of grey”. This imagery is meant to display not only the visual cast set upon Sarajevo in a time of war, but also to show Dragan’s internal demeanor and how he initially perceives the world around him, while the idea of a ‘grey’ world surrounding him outlines his pessimistic worldview. These ideas are also manifest in the following image, where we
The three narratives “Home Soil” by Irene Zabytko, “Song of Napalm” by Bruce Weigl, and “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen all have the same feelings of war and memory, although not everyone experiences the same war. Zabytko, Weigl, and Owen used shifting beats, dramatic descriptions, and intense, painful images, to convince us that the horror of war far outweighs the devoted awareness of those who fantasize war and the memories that support it.
In the short story, “On the Rainy River”, Tim O’Brien reflects on how an individual’s values and identity shifts in the face of adversity. This idea is portrayed in the character of Tim O’Brien and how he is able to compromise his values when he is faced with internal turmoil in the presence of adversity. “Oddly, though, it was almost entirely an intellectual activity. I brought some energy to it, of course, but it was the energy that accompanies almost any abstract endeavor”. This quote portrays how weakly Tim clung onto his values even though he held an opinion against this war. Tim never really takes initiative to fully fight this war, he only puts in the bare minimum. He talks about how the editorials he wrote were “tedious’ and “uninspired”
Tim O’Brien begins his journey as a young “politically naive” man and has recently graduated out of Macalester College in the United States of America. O’Brien’s plan for the future is steady, but this quickly changes as a call to an adventure ruins his expected path in life. In June of 1968, he receives a draft notice, sharing details about his eventual service in the Vietnam War. He is not against war, but this certain war seemed immoral and insignificant to Tim O’Brien. The “very facts were shrouded in uncertainty”, which indicates that the basis of the war isn’t well known and perceived
Imagery is used by many authors as a crucial element of character development. These authors draw parallels between the imagery in their stories and the main characters' thoughts and feelings. Through intense imagery, non-human elements such as the natural environment, animals, and inanimate objects are brought to life with characteristics that match those of the characters involved.
In “Bloody Sunday” the author uses imagery to explain the terrible effects of war. The author uses imagery to make the reader feel those horrible effects. One example of imagery
The relationship you have with others often has a direct effect on the basis of your very own personal identity. In the essay "On The Rainy River," the author Tim O'Brien tells about his experiences and how his relationship with a single person had effected his life so dramatically. It is hard for anyone to rely fully on their own personal experiences when there are so many other people out there with different experiences of their own. Sometimes it take the experiences and knowledge of others to help you learn and build from them to help form your own personal identity. In the essay, O'Brien speaks about his experiences with a man by the name of Elroy Berdahl, the owner of the fishing lodge that O'Brien stays at while on how journey to find himself. The experiences O'Brien has while there helps him to open his mind and realize what his true personal identity was. It gives you a sense than our own personal identities are built on the relationships we have with others. There are many influence out there such as our family and friends. Sometimes even groups of people such as others of our nationality and religion have a space in building our personal identities.
Most of this story revolves around experiences that Tim O’Brien has had. And he certainly has changed from the beginning of the story (speaking chronologically) where he was no more than a scared civilian, who would do anything to escape such a fate as the draft. He would eventually become the war-hardened slightly cocky veteran that he is now. But it is only through his experiences that he would become who he is today. Through all the things he has witnessed. Whether it be watching curt lemon be almost literally "blown to heaven" to having killed a man and making assumptions about who he truly was. He made not have been most affected by the war, but it was he who was described in the most detail, due to the fact that he was describing in first person
The 1979 National Book Award winner, Tim O’Brien for his fiction in, “Going after Cacciato” born in Austin, Minnesota is an author and war hero from numerous fiction and nonfiction war stories, memoirs, and is known to be a critical literally technique war veteran of a master in description of the images with themes in courage therefore which he portrays vividly explicit as a man. Tim O’ Brien personifies his memoir nonfiction book “If I die in a combat zone box me up and ship me home”, from his critical experience when Tim O’Brien was drafted the Vietnam War. Tim O’Brien uses Extordinary literally techniques such as the theme of imagery for courage of how Tim O ‘Brien was able to survive throughout the war with a nation torn by the ravages
As a child, my parents would tell me personal stories about the Vietnam War. My dad would tell me how he and his family traveled by boat to America to escape the brutal war, but were robbed of everything — their money, their clothes & their pictures. My mom, on the other hand, would talk about how my late great-uncle, her uncle, and my late grandpa served for South Vietnam and how they all suffered physical and emotional ailments. Just like my family, Tim O’Brien describes the soldiers’ suffering in The Things They Carried. The Protagonist, Tim O’Brien, remembers the past and continuously works the details of these memories of his service in Vietnam into meaning. Through a series of linked semi-autobiographical stories, O’Brien illuminates
Life dwells in a never-ending sequence of decisions which revolves around an individual's motivation to achieve a goal. More often than not these choices are insignificant and lack meaning in an individual’s life. However, when a decision arises which will surely have an impact on the rest of the individual’s life, they will undoubtedly look to their motivation to guide their decision. On the other hand, when the individual is faced with the inexplicable decision that can change the fate of one's life, they may be faced with a dilemma of conflicting motivations, which resonates from what others desire for the individual and what the individual desires. In his short story, On The Rainy River, Tim O’Brien depicts his life-changing journey in
What is courage? Is courage a feeling? Is courage a memory? Being a coward is one of the worst feelings experienced, that is why Tim O’Brien felt uneasy after he arrived back from the war. In the story “On the Rainy River”, by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien was to fight in the Vietnam war, he did not want to go to war as he did not throughly understand the reason for it. In “On the Rainy River”, by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien felt cowardly as he was hesitant of the causes and effects of the war, he could have escaped to Canada, and he only went to the war in fear of humiliation from others.
A fight always brings in extra conflict. It is apart of human nature to pick a side in any given argument, whether it is physical or verbal. Yet in this task, humans harm their ways of life, just as they did in the story. It can be seen when played out, but in literature the story must specify its tone to allow the reader to know what is happening. Imagery is also important as it allows the reader to get a mental image of the situation at hand. In the short story War of the Clowns, author Mia Couto uses tone and imagery to develop the plot of his fictional war.
Former president of the United States of America, John F. Kennedy said something that describes the true terrors of the war; “Man must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.” War is a dangerous and scary thing that many people are apart of. Usually, it is not portrayed to the public in an appropriate manner. Many times, war is showed as something that you may want to be apart of, but in reality it is a horrific event that can get you killed and scar you for life. Writing about war is usually supposed to make the readers feel the true, and indescribable horrors of the war. Regardless of the situation, when writing about war, the most effective strategy is to put the reader in the shoes of the characters to make them feel like they are there and experiencing the event. The author does this by using imagery.