MS. MOORE’S AP ENGLISH CLASS Figurative Language and Surrealism in The Things They Carried

Figurative Language Authors use figurative language to evoke a reader’s senses and to make their writing descriptive and colorful. Types of figurative language:  Simile  Metaphor  Alliteration  Imagery (sensory)  Personification Tim O’Brien uses this tool in his fiction to create a sense of realism in his stories.

Surrealism In The Things They Carried, O’Brien states that within his stories “there is always that surreal seemingness, which makes the story seem untrue, but which in fact represents the hard and exact truth as it seemed.” (p. 71) Definition of Surrealism in the context of TTTC: How something seems to have happened vs. how it really happened.

Is there a connection? The use of figurative language within a story, especially within O’Brien’s stories, can give the reader the impression that the story is plausible, if not completely true. The figurative language compels the reader to believe the story, even though it may only be what “seemed to have happened.”