The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a compilation of war stories based off of O’Brien’s experiences during the Vietnam War. These stories are fragments of truth with an underlying falsehood that proves worthy of a closer look. When you peel back the deception...
Moral degradation is a necessary evil in order to survive through war; therefore, construction of a new morality is inescapable. Within the stories in The Things They Carried, soldiers are required to do so during and after the Vietnam War. War breeds monstrosities and wanton...
Introduction The question of whether or not Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” conforms to the conventions of the memoir genre is a complex matter quite simply because it is a novel that deliberately blurs the lines of fact and fiction. The stories are based...
Both The Things They Carried and Apocalypse Now explore the trauma of the Vietnam War and its influence on soldiers’ fears. Similar characters appear in both works, their identities crafted to represent different aspects of human nature. The protagonists, Captain Willard and Tim O’Brien, tell...
Some people with a strong guilt often have to live with that guilt their whole liveslife. In the novel “The Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien shows before a war, after a war, or even during a war that guilt is something that can be carried...
In the novel The Things They Carried, author Tim O’Brien demonstrates many ideas about war, survival, corruption, and powerlessness through his collection of short stories. Throughout his book, O’Brien describes many incidents that happen merely because of chance and luck. In these short stories, O’Brien...
It is one of the greatest paradoxes in literature: a made-up story is more accurate than a factual story. Tim O’Brien sets out to prove this notion in The Things They Carried. This is a book of short stories, some of his personal war tales,...
“The Things They Carried” by Time O’ Brien is a short story set in the Vietnam War. The story focuses on a platoon of seventeen soldiers. The title, which is repeated throughout the story, has two meanings. The first is the soldier’s duties and equipment...
In Steven Kaplan’s essay “The Things They Carried” published in Columbia: University of South Carolina Press he says, “Almost all Vietnam War writing–fiction and nonfiction–makes clear that the only certain thing during the Vietnam War was that nothing was certain” (Kaplan 169). The manipulation of...
The reality of war unfortunately creates an oppressive system that causes soldiers to struggle with internal conflict and individual thought. In the book Going After Cacciato by Tim O’Brien, Paul Berlin’s thoughts and emotions are presented fluidly in the observation post as he accepts ideas...
Behind every war hero’s eyes lies the soulless connection to humanity, physically present but emotionally disconnected from the world. Behind every war hero is the years of untreatable trauma and years of unnoticed suffering. Their silent and desperate screams for help, are constantly unheard by...
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a collection of essays, all centered on anecdotes of American soldiers during the Vietnam War. The seemingly straightforward recollections slowly reveal dense layers of personal and metaphorical meanings upon closer inspection, with the exploration of the characters’ emotions...
He has dark secrets and regrets. The mystery to solve is not only that of John Wade, but that of the narrator of the story himself. Throughout the novel In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien, the narrator uses the case of John...
Through an analysis of The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, we can see how the author scrutinizes the soldiers who participated in the Vietnamese war and what happened to them after the war. Throughout the book, O’Brien incorporates himself in unique ways throughout the...
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a highly unique work, a compilation of many stories carried home by veterans of the Vietnam War. The length of the stories in the 22 chapters varies dramatically, a technique that “demonstrates well the impossibility of knowing reality...
Into the wild is about a young man name Chris McCandless otherwise known as Alex, who is a transcendental. In the beginning of the book, Alex grew up in a very puritanical family but Alex becomes rebellious and transcendentalism as he runs away from his...
Introduction The novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien delves into the profound experiences and emotional turmoil encountered by soldiers during the Vietnam War. O’Brien not only reflects on his own emotional experiences but also offers insight into the thoughts and feelings of his...
Most, if not all of them, were drafted unwillingly. They were asked to leave their families and their homes, their girls or their kids, and they were told to die and kill for reasons unclear. These soldiers marched through swamps and villages with mutilated children...
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien appears to be a war story about items a platoon of soldiers carried while in Vietnam. The story actually centers around the death of one of the platoon members and the horrible conditions of Vietnam. But the author...
Book analysis In “The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien, the audience can see the lives of many soldiers in their time in Vietnam before, during and after their time. Many soldiers in the story have to deal with the effects of having other people’s...
In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien discusses the physical and emotional burdens that come along with war. The “things” that the soldiers carry are both literal and figurative. They carry sentimental items to remind them of home, food, weapons, survival gear, and even physical...
Sometimes the hardest part of going to war is coming home. In the two short stories, “Soldiers Home” by Ernest Hemingway and “Speaking of Courage” by Tim O’Brien, each of the characters Krebs and Berlin show the difficulties it has on a soldier returning home...
Tim O’Brien skillfully blurs the boundaries between truth and fiction in his literary masterpiece, “The Things They Carried.” This captivating narrative offers readers an intimate glimpse into the minds of soldiers, laying bare the emotional and psychological tolls of war. For the seventeen soldiers featured...
Throughout war literature, characters of soldiers are fundamentally exposed. Young men go to war and come out with countless stories and scars from their adventures. For tremendous acts of bravery, some soldiers are presented with awards such as the Distinguished Service Cross and the Medal...
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien draws a thin line between courage and cowardice despite the fact that the distinction is small. Courage is the ability to go up against fear; in the book, it identifies with numerous things and is portrayed as an...
The Things They Carried is a touching short story and helps us to remember the lives of those who gave so much for our benefit. This story is about the soldiers of the Alpha company in the Vietnam War who each carried something into battle,...
In his masterpiece The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien writes a collection of heartbreaking, witty, unbelievable stories about a group of young American soldiers trudging through the war against Vietnam. The Things They Carried manages to convey the feelings associated with being in war without...
Throughout recorded history war has always existed, however, it was not until recently that humanity recognized the hardships of it. “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien follows a platoon of soldiers during the Vietnam War. One of these soldiers is First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross,...
Introduction to The Things They Carried In the title chapter of The Things They Carried, six young soldiers of the Vietnam War listen raptly to a monk who has come to their base from another, safer world. Following an unexplained personal moment when the main...
Watching friends die, being shot at, and dealing with the fact that death is looming around every is a reality for soldiers regardless of what side they are fighting on. Vietnam was an extremally controversial war, and much of the nation was opposed to the...
October 1, 1946 (age 74 years), Austin, Minnesota, United States
Occupation
Novelist, Short Story Writer
Genre
Memoirs, War Stories, Short Stories
Notable Works
Going After Cacciato
The Things They Carried
If I Die in a Combat Zone
Quotes
"A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth."
"Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons."
"But in a story, which is a kind of dreaming, the dead sometimes smile and sit up and return to the world."
Born
October 1, 1946 (age 75)
Activity
Tim O’Brien is an American novelist noted for his writings about American soldiers in the Vietnam War.
Works
“The Things They Carried”, “Dad’s Maybe Book”, “Going After Cacciato”, “If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home”, “In the Lake of the Woods”, “July, July”, “Northern Lights”, “The Nuclear Age”, “Tomcat in Love”
Themes
War, Mortality and Death, Storytelling and Memory, Morality, Shame and Guilt.
Style
Tim O'Brien writes with realism in mind above all else. This intense form of realism, called verisimilitude, takes the form of straightforward conversational writing at times, as with the soldiers, and in-depth, elevated diction at others, as in the narration.
Quotes
“That's what fiction is for. It's for getting at the truth when the truth isn't sufficient for the truth.”
“A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.”
“A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done.”
