Dafna Secemski Tim O Brien describes in great detail the heavy loads soldiers had to carry.

They all carry heavy helmets and boots. Kiowa carries a bible, because he is a Baptist. Mitchell Sanders carries condoms. Norman Bowker carries a diary. Rat Kiley, the medic, carries comic books. Each one of them carries something different. OBrien is trying to portray the heavy emotional burden they each have to carry. This relates to the idea of story-truth. The readers are unsure if each specific person carried each specific item, rather one can realize if a soldier is carrying heavy items than his emotional baggage may be heavy. This literary device of symbolism aids the readers with understanding how difficult it is to be a soldier, not just physically but emotionally as well. OBriens use of symbolism and story-truth proves he thinks grasping what the soldiers felt is more important than completely grasping the facts. Jeremy Hikind An example of imagery in The Things They Carried is when Tim OBrien is describing the face of the man he kills. He uses examples like the mans eye was a star-shaped hole, his jaw was in his throat, and his neck was open to the spinal cord (OBrien 118). This description enhances the emotions the reader should feel while trying to understand what it feels like to kill someone. He wants the reader to know what it feels like to see someones dead, motionless body lying on the ground and to know that he or she was murdered by the readers hand. OBrien also repeats the same imagery again and again throughout the seven-page chapter to emphasize the despair and the absolute devastation of taking the life of another human being. Nicole Feigenblum

Quote: Snow Falling on Cedars, pages 250-251 Ten years later [Ishmael] would still dream of that, his own fingers curled against the wall, how white and distant his arm looked . . . a piece of trash on the floor . . . the arm was scooped up inside a town and dumped in a canvas bin . . . that fucking goddamn Jap bitch was all he could think to say This quote is an example of how his relationship with Hatsue is connected with the amputation of his arm and how it affects his life thereafter. Therefore, the literary device used in this text of Snow Falling on Cedars is coherence. Ishmael, while only half conscious, sees his arm on the floor next to the operating table, and all he can do is to think of Hatsue and all that she had done to him. When thinking back on his amputation, he will think of Hatsue and all the heartbreak that she brought upon him. The quote, Ten years later [Ishmael] would still dream of that, proves that he will never be able to forget his pain and as a result, will be stuck in the past until he can realize that he has to forget to move on in his life. While watching his arm being thrown away into the canvas bin, his ability to grow and mature is taken with it, leaving him with a piece missing for the rest of his life.

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Amanda Nussbaum In The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien, one literary device the author uses is a motif to describe the loneliness during the war. OBrien described the loneliness and silence during the night time as one that can make a person become paranoid. When he was pulling a prank on Bobby Jorgenson during his night watch shift, Tim described himself becoming one with Jorgenson; going almost numb with every sound heard in the night. The noises are so powerful no matter how quiet they are because the night guard can start to hallucinate and hear strange noises as a result of their imagination taking over. Then when OBrien began feeling guilty for his prank that he was pulling on Bobby (making noises to drive him crazy during his night shift), he couldnt stop and instead started to think about his fears in life as a child and an adult. When OBrien was describing himself becoming one with Bobby because of the common fear of the noises during the night shift, he starts to wander with his thoughts of becoming one with nature and his sudden inner evil and writes on page 199: I was down there with him, inside him. I was part of the night. I was the land itself everything, everywhere - fireflies and paddies, the midnight rustlings, the cool phosphorescent shimmer of evil - I was atrocity - I was jungle fire, jungle drums - I was the blind stare in the eyes of all those poor, dead, dumbfuck ex-pals of mine - all the pale young corpses, Lee Strunk and Kiowa and Curt Lemon - I was the beast on their lips - I was Nam - the horror, the war. Tim OBrien is describing to the reader through these motifs that he was one with nature, his enemies, and even his friends. Even though he knew that torturing Bobby was evil, he also knew that there was nothing inside of him that was strong enough to hold him back. He thought he was so evil, that he described himself as the horror, the war. Risa Scharf:
It had nothing to do with morality. Embarrassment thats all it was. And right then I submitted. I would go to war- I would kill and maybe die- because I was embarrassed not to. That was the sad thing. And so I sat in the bow of the boat and cried (_ The Things They Carried_ page 57). Tim O Brien demonstrates an essential literary device, use of voice. In this passage, the voice portrays the rawness and the reality of the work. Some men in war did not have heroic or humble motivations for joining war. The realism of

this passage carries throughout the entire work. The sound of the writers style is short, blunt, and yet emotional. There is no pleasantness in the voice. By using this literary technique the author feeds the reader with emotion through the power in the sound of his words.

Eitan Benchabbat
In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien narration is one of the literary devices used. It is especially prevalent in the vignettes Speaking of Courage and Notes. OBrien, the author, writes about Norman Bowker telling his story of the time he almost won a silver star of courage to Tim OBrien, the character. Tim OBrien, the character, then goes on to tell this story and subsequently writes a book about it. There are up to six narrations in this vignette. The multiple narrations add new dimensions to the stories, which add to the re-telling of the story and further the themes. An example of another dimension of narration is when Tim OBrien, the character tells the readers what happens to Norman Bowker after the initial story of driving around the lake. The multiple narrations tell the reader of Norman Bowkers suicide and the book Tim OBrien wrote about him, which otherwise would have remained unknown. The multiple narrations also create confusion of truth, which builds on the theme of story-truth versus happening-truth. On page 152 OBrien writes that he took out the story and added scenery from his own hometown, but the emotional core came directly from Bowkers letter. Whether this is OBrien the character or author is not clear because he is speaking inside the book yet some of the topics are about books the author actually wrote. Although it is unclear who is speaking it still exemplifies that multiple narrations add dimensions that further the main theme of the novel.

Alexa Sonnenblick: In The Things They Carried, Tim OBrien uses metaphors as a way to convey a better understanding to the reader. On pages 71-72 Mitchell Sanders recalls a story: A six-man patrol goes up into the mountains on a basic listening-post operation. The ideas to spend a week up there, just lie low and listen for the enemy movement...Otherwise they keep strict field discipline. Absolute silence. They just listen...These six guys, they dont say boo for a solid week. They dont got tongues. All ears. This quote is not meant to be taken literally. By writing that the men do not have tongues, OBrien is trying to show to the reader the extent of how quiet the soldiers had to be when listening for enemies, and really how careful and conscious they had to be while fighting in the war as a whole. Rebecca Raab The novel, Snow Falling on Cedars, is written in a melancholy mood. The snowstorm going on outside the courthouse just adds to the gloomy feeling. The murder trial that is taking place is the main event of the novel and it is all so depressing. The only parts that one might think are somewhat happy are the love scenes between young

Ishmael and Hatsue, but their outcome just fits in perfectly to the sad mood. Guterson probably wanted the emotion of the readers to come out during the entire novel. There is never a time to feel relaxed while reading the novel because it is either sad, or thrilling to know what Miyamoto's destiny will be. Therefore the literary device of mood is used in the book and helps out mold the theme.
Abigail Katcoff (motif) Throughout Snow Falling on Cedars, there are storms. There is constant reference to the storm outside the courtroom (28, 60, 170, 270). The supposed murder victim, Carl Heine, fell off his boat during a heavy fog (455). Hatsue and Ishmael first met at their hollow cedar during a rainstorm (110). All the harsh weather in Snow Falling on Cedars brings to attention the chance details in life that can make a huge difference. For example, a giant ship happened to pass Carl Heines ship while his battery was dead. Kayla Schiffer - Allegory in Snow Falling on Cedars The title of Snow Falling on Cedars itself calls attention to the allegory of the cedar trees. Inside of the hallow shelter of the cedar tree, Ishmael and Hatsue discover love. The tree contains the purity and innocence of such love that trumps the appearances and racial battles that exist outside of the comfort of the forest. Ishmael and Hatsue are first found protected by the tree during a storm. The canopy that blocks the storm also shields them from the rest of their society that succumbs to long-running hatreds and prejudices. The innocent emotion they find under the tree is masked by the reality they must face once they step out from under their safety. While the isolation of the deceptively peaceful tree emphasizes the hatred their love has not seen, it also sheds light on the reality of the situationtheir love is a fantasy that is not viable in the face of Ishmaels draft and the many cultural and societal barriers that stand between them. Hatsue emerges from their dream and ends the relationship because of its impracticalities. Ishmael, on the other hand, remains infatuated by their love. While he hopes the image of snow will restore for him his youths innocence, the violent snowstorm veils their secret place of protection (8). The antithesis of the secrecy and isolation of the tree as both a solution to prejudice and a hindrance to recognizing the reality of their world lays the groundwork for the prejudice and the many struggles San Piedro Island is faced with throughout the novel.

Allie Lemmer
Imagery- The Things They Carried- pages 40-41 This passage describes OBriens job at the meatpacking plant. He would stand on an assembly line removing blood clots from the pigs. He depicts the sight of the dead pigs with blood only left in clots on their necks, the feel of the lukewarm blood bath that drizzled over him when he shot water at the clots to get rid of them and the smell of pig that ever left his body no matter how many times he tried to wash it away.

The mental picture that is created from these words and phrases is the horrendous experience of watching and being part of the process that turns pigs into meat, specifically removing clots from their necks. However it is also murder. This mental image shows us why he was so afraid of and against going to the war; he was nauseated by the idea of killing an understood how terrible it was. This image is to make us realize the same thing and show us his thought process, and why he ran to Canada and nearly didnt go to the war. AARON LAUER In the novel The Things They Carried the symbolism is fairly obvious. For instance, the main character, Tim OBrien, a soldier in the Vietnam war loses his best friend Kiowa in a battle on a field of droppings. This story symbolizes the feeling the soldiers had a war: Vietnam was the field and American soldiers of this war were Kiowa. The field is worthless but the soldiers are protecting it and dying for it. The drafted soldiers feel no need for any man to die because of the insufficient reasons of war. Talia Waitman
A commonly used technique is stereotypes. Authors generally use stereotypes either to help the reader make a quick assumption, or to prejudice the reader in a certain way. In Snow Falling on Cedars, Guterson depicts Kabuo Miyamoto as a stereotypical Japanese man with a rigid grace...and the impression of irrefutable physical strength. (Page 1) Guterson biases the reader to believe that Kabuo Miyamoto is a strong, harsh, and guilty Japanese man. Guterson did this so that the reader could quickly assume that Kabuo was guilty, and would think that throughout the novel-- but later be surprised by the ending. Another reason he could have depicted Kabuo as a stereotypical Japanese man, would be to show the reader how Kabuo was viewed through the lens of the rest of the community, and how harshly they judged him.

Talia Schabes SYMBOLS- LINDA Linda represents the way that OBrien was able to keep a person alive through his writing. Linda was a classmate of OBriens in fifth grade, who he declared to be his first love. Through Lindas death at such a young age, OBrien decided that storytelling was his way of contemplating and negotiating pain and sorrow. That was how he tried to get over the deaths of Kiowa, Linda and his fellow soldiers. After Lindas funeral, OBrien begins daydreaming, and in these dreams he sees Linda, still alive, which teaches the reader that through his continual pondering and writing, he keeps the dead alive. Although Tim OBriens novel was about the Vietnam War, including the vignette about Linda allowed the story to relate to other people besides war veterans and their family members. Cancer affects almost every individual directly and therefore OBriens book is universal. By the end of the novel, OBrien realizes that writing is his way of sifting through lifes

difficulties and persevering through them. He also realizes that not only can he perpetuate the lives of the dead through his writing, but he can also save his own life through storytelling.

Oriel Farajun Epigraph David Guterson includes two epigraphs in his novel Snow Falling on Cedars. The first, a quote from Dantes The Divine Comedy, foreshadows the themes of the novel: In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost. Ah, how hard a thing it is to tell what a wild, and rough, and stubborn wood this was, which in my thought renews the fear! Guterson uses the dark wood, San Piedro Island, as his setting for the novel. The straight, just way was lost during World War II when residents of the island turned against their Japanese-American neighbors because of their prejudice and racism. Guterson uses this epigraph to describe the Americans hatred of the Japanese-Americans and their future internment as wild, rough, and stubborn because, although the Japanese-Americans had pledged their allegiance to the United States, the American people, and many of the people from the island, would not listen to reason and prejudiced against the Japanese-Americans. This was a horrible time in United States history which, when remembered, evokes sadness and renews the fear that the Japanese-Americans experienced. The second, a quote from Harvey Oxenhorns Turning the Rig, foreshadows the cedar tree Ishmael and Hatsue used to escape the madness of the war and the racism around them: Harmony, like a following breeze at sea, is the exception. This can be read together with Dantes passage. When the world, the United States, and, specifically, San Piedro Island was in the midst of chaos, Ishmael and Hatsue were able to escape the madness and find their harmony in the cedar tree they were the exception to the racism and horror that surrounded them. Guterson cleverly uses these two epigraphs to paint a clear and total picture of his novel. Ayal Pessar Imagery There are many examples of imagery in The Things They Carried, by Tim OBrien, often pertaining to nature. OBrien runs away in order to escape the draft, and is met and assisted by a man named Elroy. One day Elroy is observing an Owl that is circling over a violet-lighted forest. He compares this scene to Jesus. This quote by Elroy represents the innocence, clear conscience, and peace of mind that OBrien had before the war. However the passage is also a foreshadow of terrible things to come. OBrien will eventually lose his peace of mind due to the adversity of the Vietnam War.

One evening, just at sunset, [Elroy Berdahl] pointed up at an owl circling over the violet-lighted forest to the west. Hey, OBrien, he said. Theres Jesus. (On The Rainy River, 50) Shaya Oster Symbolism- In the novel, symbolism is attached to the things the soldiers actually carried. Each of the soldiers carries something from their lives in America, such as Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carrying a photo of the supposed girlfriend he left in New Jersey and the bible that Kiowa always carried with him. The things the soldiers carry symbolize their need to stay connected to their previous lives, since detachment will cause them to descend into complete madness. Jamie Lebovics Colloquialism Rather than using strictly formal language, The Things They Carried uses slang, curses, and casual language in dialogue. The language that the characters use contributes to the mood of the story by establishing the relationships as close, comfortable and clearly strengthened by shared experiences. Scenes between the young men show how they interact with camaraderie and not with excessive regard for rank and position. They could relate to one another. The awful times and experiences they went through, they went through together. The word they used helped them get through things and relate in whatever way was most comfortable while in such an uncomfortable situation. They used a hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness. Greased theyd say. Offed, lit up, zapped while zipping. It wasnt cruelty, it was just stage presence. (OBrien 19) Moti Goldman Preface: these will be based on the court cases presented in the book: thus, the wording will reflect the statements of the prosecutor rather than the author. I wrote mostly in general terms, as the subject matter was a bit dry, and, well, I forgot to cite. 1+2. Pathos/Imagery: In an attempt to convince the jury to convict Kabuo, Prosecutor Alvin Hooks crafts a plausible series of events leading up

to the death of Carl Heine. He makes good use of imagery and a somewhat subtle use of vocabulary to portray the defendant as a cold-hearted murderer. Prosecutor Hooks depicts a scene where Mr. Heine is fishing at sea, and Kabuo, desperate to gain revenge for his family, purposely pretends to have a dead battery to gain access to mr. Heines boat, where he kills Carl Heine. Within the prosecutors attack, he appeals to the jurors to imagine the situation playing out in a specific way, using his wording to state that it was all planned out, and thereby implanting the suggestion that this was the case, rather than just a hypothetical case. He finishes by asking the jurors to look at Kabuos face, emphasizing the fact that he is of Japanese ancestry, and therefore not like us, willing to commit murder to avenge his family. So, in the end, Prosecutor Hooks appeals to the jurors inherent xenophobia, and by crafting a case based around the inherent belief that Kabuo is guilty, he presents the situation in a way unfavorable to the defendant. 3. Ethos: The lawyer for the defendant, Nels Gudmundsson, gives his case based on dry facts, rather than on extrapolation. The key to his argument is that there is reasonable doubt that Kabuo committed the homicide, and that he therefore might be innocent. This plays on the ideals of justice, wherein only the guilty are punished, thereby convincing at last 1 juror that, due to ethical constraints, sentencing Kabuo is unfair. In a way, the entire argument of the defense is that the defendant might be innocent, and that the jurors have a moral obligation to only convict the guilty, which means that there must not be reasonable doubt.