“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien vs. “And of Clay Are We Created” by Isabel Allende

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Theme Analysis: “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien vs. “And of Clay Are We Created” by Isabel Allende These two stories are presented in two different parts of the world, with both holding the central themes of despair, and self realization. “The Things They Carried” is a story about Lieutenant Jimmy Cross in the Vietnam War trying to find his place with his girlfriend whilst carrying the burden of his platoon, and keeping them alive. In “And of Clay Are We Created”, deals with a rescue team member, Rolfe Carle, trying to save a little girl, Azucena, from the disaster of a massive volcano while keeping him from breaking down emotionally. The themes of these stories are quite similar in the grand scheme of things, but they hold different paths of self realizations in different cultures. The stories give a very in-depth characterization of the environment that each of the characters are currently experiencing. In “The Things They Carried” the description of the Vietnam environment is unforgiving, “they carried it, the humidity, the monsoons, the stink of fungus and decay, all of it…” (O’Brien 157). This shows that this is not a friendly climate and in fact creates some interesting intricacies in the mental battle the soldiers are having. You can compare this to the depressing environment that Rolf is dealing with in trying to free Azucena, “Forests and rivers had also been swept away, and there was nothing to be seen but an immense desert of mire” (Allende 302), as well as “They discovered the girl’s head protruding from the mud pits, eyes wide open, calling soundlessly” (Allende 302). This gives insight that Rolfe is not on vacation in some the tropics of South America, but dealing with a very deadly situation. The central theme of despair is feature prominently by the environment each character is currently dealing with. Although, the environment is a

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