Symbolism In Tim OBriens The Things They Carried

In W.H. Auden’s Funeral Blues (pg. 762), the poem takes place shortly after the speaker’s beloved has passed away and shows how the speaker is forever affected by the beloved’s death and that he feels that he will never recover. The speaker talks about how he feels that love doesn’t last forever and how he wants the whole world to experience the grief and sorrow he is feeling. In Tim O’Brien’s short story â€Å"The Things They Carried† (pg. 433), the story follows Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his command during the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Cross constantly spends most of his time fantasizing about a girl named Martha, who he has an unrequited crush on. However after witnessing the death of one of his soldiers, while he was†¦show more content†¦According to Susan Farrell‘s article, â€Å"Just Listen: Witnessing Trauma in Tim OBriens The Things They Carried†, Farrell states â€Å"While storytelling in The Things They Carry is often associated with healing, I argue that the novel cautions as well against the temptation to find a too-easy resolution to war trauma. For O’Brien and for his readers, telling and listening both involve hard, recursive work that can never be fully completed; the unsaid always lies uneasily beside what can be spoken.† (pg. 4) This quote helps to show the trauma associated with war as well as helping to show the readers that O’Brien is able to convey the message of trauma that allows the readers to be able to associate with the pain and unnecessary guilt that Lt. Cross feels due to Lavender’s death. In Funeral Blues, the speaker loses his idealism that eternal love truly exists after his beloved dies. Throughout the poem, the speaker describes the hurt and sorrow that he is feeling as well as expressing his desire to make the world share his pain. This quote, â€Å"I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.† (Line 12), helps to reinforce the speaker’s feelings that eternal love doesn’t exist. This quote also helps to show how the speaker’s grief over his beloved’s death has helped to reinforce his thoughts about eternal love not being real. According to Jeannine Johnson’s article,