The Things They Carried: Tone (Anxiety and Remorse)Page 118-124

During a chapter of the book, O'Brien opens up about the man he killed while he was in Vietnam. He first gives a very gruesome and detailed description of the man. O'Brien repeats this description with little or no changes over and over again throughout this chapter. After thinking about it and wondering why he chose to do this, I came up with my own explanation. I think O'Brien's style in this chapter contributes to the tone in this portion of the book. The tone during this chapter is a combination of guilt, remorse, regret, and sadness. From looking at my own personal experiences, I realized that when I feel guilt, regret, or remorse I replay the situation in my head over and over again. I analyze what occured and think about what I did wrong. In my opinion, O'Brien goes through the same mental process that I, along with many other people, go through when he reflects on what he has done. Because O'Brien can capture a process that occurs in someone's mind and recreate it on paper, he is able to express his feelings very well to readers. The tone of this section of the book is so powerful and relatable for readers because all of the emotions that O'Brien is feeling are universal and have been felt by all people at some point in their lives before.