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To what effect have writers used death or dying in two of the works you…

- - - - The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien follows a collection of short stories heard from or experienced by the author and narrator himself. Set in the Vietnamese war, readers follow the story from O'Brien being recruited up until the modern day, where he reflects on his time at war.
      - Context: The Vietnam war, set from 1955 to 1975 was a conflict that recruited hundreds of thousands of soldiers to fight for their country. O 'Brien was no different when he received the letter in 1968 and fought until 1970.
      - Thesis
        
        Although both books narrate different time periods they both challenge and explore the idea of death.
        
        In her novel The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses a third person narration, secondary characters and metaphors in order to explore the dying of protagonist, Edna, as a gradual happening due to situations that made death the only escape for her.
        
        The Things They Carried has O'Brien exploring death in a more direct and expected way considering the time period. Through the use of diction, euphemisms and imagery the concept of death is undertaken differently by the narrator depending on the time frame that the author refers to.
  - - - Book evidence
        
        "An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish." (page 6)
        
        Edna Is completely unaware of the rules and limitations that society is putting on her. The narrator opens up the eyes of the readers for us to be able to see which actions lead to her feeling of oppression. The third person narration allows for a identification of male supremacy. Due to these feelings that she is having of depression and oppression, the narrator is attempting to determine what she feels and set a path for her, which would be her dying in the end.
        
        Scholarly article evidence
        
        "As such the novella does not fail to remind the reader that on some level Edna is responsible for her destiny despite and precisely because of the enormous social limitations society has placed on a woman such as herself."
        
        The novella that does not fail to remind the reader of Ednas faithful ending would be the narrator that through the entirety of the novel keeps emphasizing the terrible feelings Edna has.
        
        The third person narration allows us readers an insight into feelings that Edna has but cannot explain since she is conformed into societies rules. Meanwhile the narrator is pointing out her moments of depression and feelings of oppression to show the meaningless and sad life that our protagonist was living. This life she lived, could be described by the narrator as a life not living. Therefore this narration is here to remind the readers that Edna is living a depressive life which is the reason as to why she suicides in the end.
        
        The narrator used metaphors to describe the feelings Edna had in order to pave the path that Edna was already going to follow
    - - When describing the feelings Edna had in moments of oppression, the narrator takes use of metaphors that will resemble Edna herself or the mood she is in. These Metaphors are important since they have the same purpose of setting a depressive and melancolic tone, which makes Ednas life seem unhappy.
        
        Book evidence
        
        "It was like a shadow, like a mist passing across her soul's summer day" (page 6)
        
        "Edna bit her handkerchief convulsively, striving to hold back and to hide, even from herself as she would have hidden from another, the emotions that were troubling - tearing her" (page 45)
        
        "She was seeking herself and finding herself in just such sweet, half-darkness which met her moods. But the voices were not soothing that came to her from the darkness and the sky above and the stars. They jeered and sounded mournful notes without promise, devoid even of hope."(page 52)
        
        All three quotes prove that metaphors and symbolisms are used in order to express depression. The metaphors used to express Edna's feelings and the situations that she is going through create a dark and shady mood, which resembles death.
        
        Scholarly Article evidence
        
        "pressures forced upon such a woman were either inescapably deterministic or somehow, entirery avoidable through a kind of mythical rebirth achieved through the act of suicide" (146)
        
        This quote shows how the only way out for Edna to stop feeling what she was feeling and finally probably get the life that she wished for was by dying.
        
        The way that Edna's death is approached is slowly and not all at once. Through the entirety of the novel metaphors and symbolism's regarding death are spread out. All of these descriptions start to show up in moments where she feels oppressed or controlled by society/men. Therefore through the use of the color black or darker shades, depressive sounds we see that the way that she is heading is towards that actual darkness. The only way that a woman like this can avoid this is by death, which is a thought that Edna unwillingly has through the novel and that the narrator already explores with the readers.
      - The Things They Carried: Imagery is used as a coping mechanism by Tim O'Brien, in order to cope with death of people he did not know in war.
        
        There is a chapter in the book where Tim O'Brien remembers the death of a man on the field. He decides to pay attention to each of the mans physical features that were distorted and with this he creates a story for this man, one that he does not know if it is real or not, however he goes on imagining the life that was taken away. Imagery could also be used as a form to dehumanize the person who died, as if by describing it they are describing an animal that just happened to die. Therefore this might be a reason behind the focus on features like nose, eyes, hands etc .
        
        book evidence
        
        scholarly article evidence
        
        "the language of death is itself altered to act as a buffer against too much emotional charge" (46)
        
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        Both, the quote and the scholarly article are here to complement each other as the book quote proves a moment where O'Brien is acknowledging death through imagery. Now the scholarly article is here to sustain the theory that Imagery is a coping mechanism the author uses. The constant focus on the dead persons characteristics in the chapter "The Man I Killed" shows that OBrien fixates on the subjective opposed to the deep feelings he is having. In order to not feel anything or feel less, he keeps describing to himself the person in front of him.
        
        The star-shaped hole was red and yellow. The yellow part seemed to be getting wider, spreading out at the center of the star. The upper lip and gum and teeth were gone."
        
        The description that the author uses is full of imagery. This has the effect that by describing the man Tim O'Brien is attempting to conform himself to the situation, as if by focusing on the details he will forget the man behind it. Along with this the imagery is used to focus on the man opposed to the fact that he is dead, by analyzing everything in his body O'Brien is wrapping his head around the fact that the man is in fact dead. His focus on physical characteristics and his deep description of them means that he is dulling out his own feelings, and therefore creates a distance between him and the man, so that he wont feel guilty and wont fixate on his own pain.
        
        The Things They Carried: All characters use profanities as escape of the vulnerability that comes with death .
        
        Profanities are something that we readers notice the entirety of the novel. They are used, not only by the narrator but also by the character in the book. When O'Brien recalls conversations in the war he often related them with men screaming profanities or constantly stating them. Different from O'Brien;s previous coping mechanism, this one is evident by everyone in the war. Due to the insane emotional instability that comes with the war a barrier was made by each person in it. This barrier is the vulgar language that shows a manly, and strong nature in each person, which is simply a made up character in each persons mind. Where the softness that should theoretically come with seeing someone die, has been replaced with a type of cruelty. This helps each man at war pretend to be stronger than they actually are, and therefore they wont loose their minds and loose focus on their objective when someone dies.
        
        book evidence
        
        "They used a hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness. Greased they say. Offed, lit up, zapped while zipping. It wasn’t cruelty, just stage presence. They were actors. When someone died, it wasn’t quite dying, because in a curious way it seemed scripted, and because they had their lines mostly memorized, irony mixed with tragedy, and because they called it by other names, as if to encyst and destroy the reality of death itself" (page 19)
        
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        "Worms, Rat Kiley said. Right out of the grave. Fuckin' zombie. The men laughed. They all felt great relief. " (page 12)
        
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        Scholarly article evidence
        
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