The Land and the Individual

Paper Summary:

This paper examines three books, "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, "The Things They Carried", by Tim O' Brien, and "The Crucible", by Arthur Miller. It looks at how, in all three stories, time is used in order to recall events and how the writers use the events from the past in such a way that their influence is obvious in the present. It also examines how land and travel are also significant, due to the fact that there are frequent changes seen between certain parts of novels, and these are used almost in the same way as time.

From the Paper:

"The manner in which people's thoughts change when they are in new locations is also exemplified in "The Things They Carried". An example of this is seen when a soldier kills an enemy in Vietnam. Though killing is part of the war and soldiers have to do it to survive. on taking someone's life a soldier is shocked at his action, and says, "Oh shit, the guy's dead" (The Things They Carried, Chapter 1, pg. 13). This demonstrates the manner in which on reaching Vietnam the soldiers didn't realize what they were in for until they took people's lives."

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