Assignment #4--Criticism.

So far we have discussed biographical, psychological, and gender criticism as particular ways of approaching a literary work. In your own blog, choose one of these three types of critical approaches as discussed in the textbook and in class and apply that approach to one of the short stories we covered. Imagine you are demonstrating to other readers the application of the particular approach. Address why that particular story would be interpreted well with this approach, what particular elements of the story this critical approach emphasizes, and what new insights about the story we gain through its application.

The story I chose for a biographical way of approaching literary work was Tim O'Brien's "The things They Carried". In "The Things They Carried" Tim O'Brien expresses to us the story of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and a girl he loves named Martha. The meaning of biographical criticism is the analyzing of a literary work by using knowledge of the author's life to gain insight. Tim O'Brien was a Minnesota graduate who was drafted into the U.S Army. He served as infantry in Vietnam. He uses his knowledge in the Vietnam war to write the story "the things they carried". A prime example of biographical criticism in the story is Jimmy Cross who gives and receives letters from a college girl. This may have been something commonly done in Vietnam. Tim thinks this concept of the story so important that he focuses on this as the main idea in the war biography or story of Jimmy.
The second example of biographical criticism is the amount of lollygagging done by the Lieutenant. He would imagine romantic camping trips into the white Mountains in New Hampshire and often do nothing but gaze at his men. This may or may not have been the case in Vietnam (although I doubt it). The next example of biographical criticism can be the condoms carried around by infantrymen. We can assume that some of the men, as in Vietnam, had intercourse with the native women. A few other observations were "the men who carried no undergarments or boots." (pg 393). Many carried diaries and some of the supposed religious men carried the bible. A tactical approach to the things the men carried were the specific weapons named. One man (Dave Jenson) carried foot power as a precaution against the trench. Ted Lavender who Jimmy feels guilty about when he dies, carried drugs. Kiowa, who was a well-taught man carried the distrust of the white man and a hatchet. Jimmy, nonetheless, carries the picture of his "girlfriend". We wonder as readers if this is what tim o'brien had wanted his experience to be like.