Leaving soldiers as a shell of a human being, the torment of war is everlasting. Despite being off the battlefield, soldiers suffer from mental and physical distress long after the war is over. Consequently, soldiers have to relearn how to participate in society, and for some the impact of war destroys the concept of normal life altogether. The pain and sorrow of soldiers can be put into words through rhetorical devices. Moreover, these devices, through the use of specific language, describe in detail the ways in which war physically and mentally changed soldiers. Further stressing this change, rhetorical devices reveal that once a soldier is deployed the concept of normalcy is destroyed. The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien perfectly…show more content… O’Brien emphasizes, through occupation specific diction, the idea of going from a place of comfort and safety to a place of war, and the shock that follows this change. Accordingly, O’Brien implements diction to show the ways soldier adjust to the atrocities of war. The specific diction exercised by O’Brien highlights a sense of unity amongst soldiers in a place of isolation, created through language. Particular diction that O’Brien utilizes to describe soldier communication includes “LZ Gator and Recon” (O’Brien, The Things They Carried and Friends). Communicating in a certain manner, O’Brien employs diction to show that soldiers use specific words to speak on the monstrosities of war as a coping mechanism. O’Brien claims that the war-related diction soldiers exploit when speaking to one another makes their horrific actions seem less severe. Additionally, the specific words executed by O’Brien reveal a brotherhood formed by the soldiers, as the language they use is specific to just their operations. By having language specific to their operations, soldiers begin to bond, hoping to forget the horror they have witnessed. While their pain can temporarily be ignored when still at war, the pain felt after leaving the battlefield is never ending. Equally as important, O’Brien exercises nostalgic diction to emphasize the ways…show more content… Once deployed, soldiers can never return back to the life they had before. O’Brien discusses the ways in which war changes soldier through the implementation of rhetoric devices. These rhetorical devices convey the pain that sticks with soldiers forever. Distinguishing war as a monster that torments soldiers forever, O’Brien employs honest diction to comment on the ways soldiers adapt to the warzone, figurative extended metaphors to relate physical weight to the permanent emotional baggage soldiers carry, and telling syntax to reveal the increased emotions and thoughts of soldiers. Allowing soldiers to feel comfort in a place of danger and pain, O’Brien exercised diction to show how soldiers speak in a way that makes them feel safe, like being at war is not a reality. Diction is used as a coping mechanism, allowing soldiers to feel like their pain is not real. Accordingly, this coping technique will not work forever, and soldiers will be left with trauma that will never go away. Furthermore, O’Brien discusses the weight of war on soldiers through the employment of extended metaphors. O’Brien figuratively speaks of the the damage war causes soldiers by representing emotional destruction in attainable material items soldiers carry. Like the weight of the bags soldiers carried, the impact of war lasts forever and is detrimental to their health. Disclosing the mental turmoil soldiers endure,
