Fiction and Sensory Details free essay sample

â€Å"On the Rainy River†,the author Tim O’Brien uses literary devices to help break down the story for us. It gives us a better grasp on the story and makes it easier to understand. Using literary devices keeps us interested in reading the story. Without using comparisons the story would be boring and harder to relate to. So the author uses similes; comparing two things using like or as. He also uses repetition to give emphasis to a particular word or phrase. Another lit device used in the short story is sensory details; using certain words or phrases to describe something that puts us in the story. O’Brien does a good job as incorporating these devices in his book. Tim OBrien uses repetition as a device to help us as a reader connect with the character. â€Å"I feared the war, yes, but I also feared exile I feared losing the respect of my parents. We will write a custom essay sample on Fiction and Sensory Details or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I feared the law. I feared ridicule and censure. †44-45 Tim’s use of repetition helps us understand the character. Using the word ‘feared’ over and over helps us remember what the character is like while reading the story. Tim feared many things losing his life war the law and exile; he feared being a soldier because there’s so much to lose. Similes help us compare two things; one that may not be easy to understand, whereas the other we can relate to. â€Å"Its a blur now, as it was then, and all I remember is a sense of high velocity and the feel of the steering wheel in my hands. I was riding on adrenaline. A giddy feeling, in a way, except there was the dreamy edge of impossibility to it—like running a dead-end maze—no way out—it couldnt come to a happy conclusion†47 We might not know how Tim was feeling but we can relate to the dead-end maze. We know how it feels to make a turn thinking ‘I’m out’ but then there’s no exit. We can relate to how the character is feeling because O’Brien uses a simile that’s easy for us to understand. You close your eyes while reading to see if you can picture the theme but can’t because there isn’t any words to help formulate that picture. Tim O’Brien however does a good job of using sensory details. â€Å"That close—twenty yards—and I could see the delicate latticework of the leaves, the texture of the soil, the browned needles beneath the pines, the configurations of geology and human history. †56 By reading the above quote we can picture the setting and make out what that theme might be. In this case the theme is beauty of simplicity, where everything just seems beautiful. We can picture the beautifulness because of the describing words that the author uses. The short story has many great examples of literary devices. The author does a great job of incorporating them into the novel The Things They Carried. He uses many other lit devices as well as using sensory detail, repetition, and simile. Tim really knows how to make the story easy to read and understand. He is also really good at choosing his words wisely