The Things They Carried Literary Analysis Paper
This semester we have talked extensively about elements of a novel and short story, including setting, characterization, foreshadowing, conflict, and so on. We have particularly focused on theme and symbol, and this essay will tie together these two elements.
The essay prompt:
In the title story of the novel, several soldiers carry a wide variety of “things.” Select one of these objects, and analyze the symbolic role of that object. Describe what the object represents to that character and why he chooses to carry it. Support your analysis with passages the text.
Task:
You will write a three-to-five page paper that analyzes one symbol in The Things They Carried and the various roles, connotations, meanings, etc. that symbol carries.
As you are writing your paper, you should be analyzing a variety of techniques:
-You should first look at what the object is and what it represents. Pay attention to how this
character/object is re-visited throughout the novel.
-You should analyze the character and what the narrator uses to characterize this soldier (description,
what is important to him, use of language, etc.).
-You should make observations about why your selected character carries this particular object.
-You should make inferences about your character and what can be discovered about him because of the
object he carries.
-Continue to look deeply at the symbolic role of the object. You will do much more than suggest that
your selected soldier “misses home,” and that that’s the reason for why he carries this thing that he does.
Think deeper!
Symbols:
As you are reading:
As with your other literary analysis essays, you are required to use the text of the story in your paper. Take notes of the page numbers on which your selected symbol is mentioned as you are reading.
When you begin reading, I would recommend selecting several things (3? 4?) and then watching how they develop and what they represent throughout the novel. As you are reading, take careful notes as you trace the development of the symbol. This will save you valuable time when it comes time to start writing your essay. You will also need to pay careful attention to the structure of the novel and the use of time, since the organization of the novel can be disjointed and somewhat confusing.
You may need to re-read the story several times, looking for minute details. Get started on this right away.
These papers will be due ______. Don’t waste any time getting started.
Don’t forget a Works Cited page with the novel entry as well as any literary criticism you utilized.
Reminders:
Don’t summarize. Present an argument which you will defend.
Short story titles are in “quotation marks.” Books are italicized or underlined.
When using quotation marks at the end of a sentence, the period goes inside the quotation marks.
Ex: The theme of a sacrificial lamb is visible in “The Lottery.”
Don’t explicitly state “the writer wrote this story because…” unless you know the definite reason. Using words like “likely,” “seems,” and “probably” allude to possible author decisions.
Work Cited = One resource Works Cited = More than one resource
Don’t end a paragraph in a quote.
Don’t forget to off-set long quotes and then cite correctly.
Don’t use: “would” “was because” “things” “always”