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The things they carried essay topics and outline examples, essay title 1: truth and fiction in "the things they carried".

Thesis Statement: Tim O'Brien blurs the lines between truth and fiction in "The Things They Carried" to convey the emotional and psychological truths of war experiences, demonstrating the power of storytelling as a coping mechanism.

• Introduction
• The Nature of Truth in Storytelling
• Examples of Fictional Elements in the Book
• The Emotional and Psychological Impact on Characters
• How Storytelling Helps Characters Cope

Essay Title 2: The Weight of Emotional Baggage in "The Things They Carried"

Thesis Statement: "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien explores the heavy burden of emotional baggage carried by soldiers during the Vietnam War, emphasizing that these intangible loads can be just as impactful as physical ones.

• The Literal and Symbolic Items Carried by Soldiers
• Depictions of Emotional Baggage in the Stories
• The Interplay Between Physical and Emotional Loads
• The Long-Term Effects on Soldiers' Lives

Essay Title 3: Morality and Ethical Dilemmas in "The Things They Carried"

Thesis Statement: Tim O'Brien raises questions about morality and ethical dilemmas faced by soldiers in "The Things They Carried," illustrating the complex choices and consequences that war imposes on individuals.

• Situations of Moral Complexity in the Stories
• Character Reactions to Ethical Dilemmas
• Exploring the Themes of Guilt and Responsibility
• The Broader Commentary on the Vietnam War

Metaphors in "The Things They Carried"

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Imagery in The Things They Carried

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Tim O’brien's Use of Figurative Language to Portray The Theme of Death in The Things They Carried

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An Insight into The Emotions of War in The Things They Carried

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March 28, 1990, Tim O'Brien

Collection of interconnected short stories

Historical Fiction

Norman Bowker, Rat Kiley, Henry Dobbins, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, Tim O'Brien

The narrative unfolds through series of interconnected short stories that depict a platoon of American soldiers' experiences during the Vietnam War, memories, and the items they carry with them. The protagonist, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, grapples with his responsibilities as a leader and his longing for a girl back home. He carries letters and photographs from her, as well as guilt and regret for his preoccupation with her rather than the safety of his men. Other soldiers in the platoon carry personal belongings that hold sentimental value or serve as a form of escapism from the harsh reality of war. Each item carries its own significance, reflecting the unique stories and personalities of the soldiers. The novel explores the psychological impact of war on the soldiers, delving into themes of fear, trauma, loss, and the blurred boundaries between truth and fiction. O'Brien masterfully blurs the line between fact and fiction, emphasizing the power of storytelling and memory as a means of understanding and coping with the horrors of war. The novel serves as a powerful testament to the resilience, camaraderie, and sacrifice of those who have served in armed conflicts, inviting readers to reflect on the enduring impact of war on individuals and society as a whole.

The setting of "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien is primarily during the Vietnam War, specifically focusing on the experiences of American soldiers deployed in Vietnam. The novel takes readers into the harsh and unforgiving environment of the war, transporting them to the jungles, rice paddies, and villages of Vietnam. The story unfolds in various locations, including the dense forests of Quang Ngai Province, the mountains near the border with Laos, and the riverside villages where the soldiers engage in combat and interact with the local Vietnamese population. O'Brien vividly describes the physical landscape, capturing the oppressive heat, the dense vegetation, and the constant sense of danger that permeates the air. In addition to the physical setting, the novel also explores the soldiers' mental and emotional landscapes. O'Brien delves into the interior worlds of the characters, portraying the weight of their experiences, the moral dilemmas they face, and the emotional burdens they carry. The setting becomes a reflection of the soldiers' internal struggles and serves as a backdrop for their personal transformations and battles with their own fears and demons. The temporal setting of the novel spans several years, from the early stages of the war to its aftermath. The narrative shifts back and forth in time, capturing the soldiers' memories, reflections, and the lasting impact of the war on their lives. O'Brien seamlessly weaves together past and present, blurring the boundaries of time and highlighting the enduring psychological and emotional effects of war.

The themes in "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien serve as a lens through which the characters' stories are told, offering insights into the complexities of war, memory, storytelling, and the weight of personal burdens. One of the central themes of the novel is the concept of storytelling and its power to shape and give meaning to our lives. O'Brien delves into the nature of truth and fiction, blurring the boundaries between fact and imagination. The characters use storytelling as a way to cope with the horrors of war, to remember their fallen comrades, and to make sense of their own experiences. This theme highlights the role of narrative in shaping our understanding of the world and the ways in which stories can serve as a form of catharsis and healing. Another significant theme explored in the book is the weight of personal burdens and the psychological toll of war. The characters in "The Things They Carried" carry physical objects that symbolize their emotional and psychological burdens, such as letters, photographs, and personal mementos. These tangible items serve as a metaphor for the intangible burdens they carry, including guilt, fear, and trauma. O'Brien explores the ways in which these burdens shape the characters' identities and influence their actions, highlighting the heavy price they pay for their service. Memory and its unreliability is another prominent theme in the novel. O'Brien examines how memories of war can be fragmented, distorted, and selectively recalled, blurring the line between reality and perception. The characters grapple with the weight of their memories, often haunted by the past and struggling to reconcile their experiences with their present lives. This theme underscores the enduring impact of war on the human psyche and the challenges of preserving and making sense of personal histories. Additionally, "The Things They Carried" delves into the themes of camaraderie, sacrifice, and the moral complexities of war. The bonds formed among the soldiers become a source of strength and support amidst the chaos and brutality of combat. The novel explores the sacrifices made by individuals for the collective good, as well as the ethical dilemmas they face in navigating the blurred lines between right and wrong in the midst of war.

Symbolism plays a significant role in the novel, allowing O'Brien to convey complex ideas and emotions through objects and events. For example, the weighty physical objects that the soldiers carry, such as Lieutenant Cross's letters from Martha, symbolize the burden of their emotional and psychological baggage. The pebble that Lieutenant Cross carries represents his longing for love and connection amidst the harsh reality of war. These symbols enrich the story , highlighting the themes of burdens, longing, and the conflict between love and duty. Imagery is skillfully employed throughout the book, creating vivid and sensory experiences for the reader. O'Brien's descriptions of the Vietnam War landscape, the soldiers' surroundings, and the visceral details of combat immerse the reader in the characters' experiences. Through powerful imagery, the author captures the sights, sounds, and smells of war, enhancing the emotional impact of the narrative. Irony is used to illuminate the contradictions and complexities of war. O'Brien employs situational irony to underscore the absurdities of war, such as the ironic death of Ted Lavender, who carries tranquilizers but is killed in a moment of vulnerability. Verbal irony is also present in the soldiers' dark humor and sarcastic remarks, revealing their coping mechanisms in the face of unimaginable circumstances. Metafiction, a prominent literary device in the novel, blurs the line between fiction and reality. O'Brien acknowledges the act of storytelling and explores the nature of truth, memory, and the power of narrative. For instance, O'Brien admits to fictionalizing certain elements of the story, blurring the boundaries between fact and imagination. This metafictional aspect challenges the reader's perception of truth and invites contemplation on the nature of storytelling and the role of fiction in representing the complexities of war. Other literary devices employed in the novel include repetition, foreshadowing, and paradox. Repetition is used to emphasize certain ideas and motifs, such as the repetition of the phrase "They carried" to highlight the soldiers' burdens. Foreshadowing hints at the characters' fates and adds tension to the narrative, while paradox presents the contradictions and ambiguities of war, such as the notion of killing for the sake of preserving life.

"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien has been adapted and represented in various forms of media, including film, theater, and music. These adaptations aim to capture the essence of the novel and bring its powerful themes and stories to a wider audience. One notable adaptation is the theatrical production of "The Things They Carried," which premiered in 2018. Adapted by Jim Stowell and directed by Sarah Diener, the play incorporates elements of storytelling, music, and multimedia to recreate the experiences of the soldiers in Vietnam. It utilizes the power of live performance to evoke the emotional intensity and psychological impact of war, engaging audiences in a visceral and immersive manner. Another notable representation of "The Things They Carried" is the 1990 short film adaptation directed by Peter Werner. This film, also titled "The Things They Carried," offers a visual interpretation of select stories from the book, bringing the characters and events to life on screen. Through the medium of film, the adaptation captures the visual imagery and the emotional depth of O'Brien's writing, allowing viewers to witness the harrowing realities of war. In addition to these direct adaptations, the influence of "The Things They Carried" can be seen in various songs, music videos, and other artistic expressions. Artists have drawn inspiration from the themes and stories of the novel to create their own works that reflect the experiences of soldiers in war. For example, Bruce Springsteen's song "The Wall" and Pearl Jam's song "I Am Mine" touch upon similar themes of memory, loss, and the weight of war that resonate with O'Brien's novel.

"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien has had a significant influence on literature, academia, and the public's understanding of war and its impact on soldiers. This powerful collection of interconnected short stories has left an indelible mark on readers and has contributed to important conversations about memory, truth, storytelling, and the human experience in times of conflict. One notable influence of "The Things They Carried" is its contribution to the genre of war literature. O'Brien's innovative blend of fact and fiction, his exploration of the subjective nature of truth, and his vivid portrayal of the psychological and emotional burdens carried by soldiers have inspired subsequent authors to tackle similar themes. The book's honest depiction of war's complexities and its emphasis on the human cost of conflict have shaped and influenced subsequent works of literature exploring the realities of war. Moreover, "The Things They Carried" has had a profound impact on the field of literary criticism and academia. Scholars and researchers have extensively studied O'Brien's storytelling techniques, narrative structure, and thematic depth. The book's exploration of memory, trauma, and the power of storytelling has provided rich material for analysis and has influenced the field of narrative theory. Beyond the literary sphere, "The Things They Carried" has resonated with a wide range of readers, including veterans, students, and the general public. Its poignant portrayal of the complexities of war and its lasting effects on individuals has prompted discussions on topics such as moral ambiguity, the dehumanizing nature of conflict, and the importance of empathy and understanding. The influence of "The Things They Carried" extends beyond literature and academia into popular culture. The book has been referenced in songs, films, and other forms of media, further cementing its status as a cultural touchstone. Its enduring relevance and impact demonstrate the power of storytelling to illuminate the human condition and provoke meaningful reflection on the consequences of war.

1. "The Things They Carried" has received widespread critical acclaim since its publication. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1991 and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in the same year. 2. Over the years, "The Things They Carried" has remained a staple in literature courses and reading lists across the United States. It is frequently taught in high schools and universities, and its impact on readers has endured. The book's exploration of war, memory, and the power of storytelling continues to resonate with new generations, ensuring its place as a significant work of American literature. 3. In 2018, "The Things They Carried" was adapted into a feature film directed by Rupert Sanders. The movie, starring Tom Hardy and Tye Sheridan, aimed to bring O'Brien's powerful storytelling to the big screen. While the adaptation faced some challenges and has not been widely released, it is a testament to the enduring appeal and cinematic potential of the book's themes and narratives.

"The Things They Carried" is an essential work to write an essay about due to its profound exploration of the human experience in times of war. Through its vivid storytelling and introspective narratives, the book delves into the complexities of the Vietnam War, the weight of personal burdens, the power of memory, and the impact of storytelling itself. By examining the novel, students can gain a deeper understanding of the psychological and emotional toll of war on soldiers, the ethical dilemmas they face, and the enduring effects on their lives. The book raises thought-provoking questions about the nature of truth, the unreliability of memory, and the ways in which storytelling can shape our perceptions and heal our wounds. Moreover, "The Things They Carried" serves as a powerful example of how literature can humanize and give voice to the experiences of those who have served in conflict zones. It provides a platform for discussion on war literature, trauma, empathy, and the power of narrative. Ultimately, studying and analyzing this work allows students to engage with important social, historical, and psychological themes, fostering critical thinking and empathy towards those impacted by war.

"They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment." "He was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man of about twenty. He lay with one leg bent beneath him, his jaw in his throat, his face neither expressive nor inexpressive. One eye was shut. The other was a star-shaped hole." "But in a story, which is a kind of dreaming, the dead sometimes smile and sit up and return to the world" "I survived, but it's not a happy ending."

1. Climo, J. (2005). Truth and fiction in Tim O'Brien's If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home and The Things They Carried. Modern Fiction Studies, 51(1), 186-208. 2. Friedman, L. (2013). ‘Dancing the Soul Back Home’: Trauma, storytelling, and truth in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. War, Literature & the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities, 25(1/2), 273-296. 3. Heberle, R. (2017). War, memory, and the inescapability of fiction in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. College Literature, 44(2), 225-245. 4. Herzog, T. (2002). Memory, history, and trauma in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 43(3), 259-277. 5. Kaplan, S. (2016). Postmodernism, metafiction, and Tim O'Brien's Vietnam War stories. In The Philosophy of War Films (pp. 135-154). University Press of Kentucky. 6. Kaplan, S. (2017). The Things They Carried: Tim O'Brien's personal debt to Hemingway. The Hemingway Review, 36(1), 71-85. 7. McWilliams, J. (2015). Intimations of mortality: Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and In the Lake of the Woods. In The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the Vietnam War (pp. 145-160). Cambridge University Press. 8. O’Brien, T. (1990). The things they carried. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 9. Stenberg, P. (2009). Lyric narrative and the war text: Tim O'Brien's "Speaking of Courage" and "In the Field" as poetic rewritings of The Things They Carried. Contemporary Literature, 50(3), 497-527. 10. Wood, M. (2000). Refiguring the Vietnam veteran: (Dis) locating subjectivity in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 41(2), 107-121.

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The Things They Carried

Tim o’brien, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Tim O’Brien's The Things They Carried . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Things They Carried: Introduction

The things they carried: plot summary, the things they carried: detailed summary & analysis, the things they carried: themes, the things they carried: quotes, the things they carried: characters, the things they carried: symbols, the things they carried: theme wheel, brief biography of tim o’brien.

Historical Context of The Things They Carried

Other books related to the things they carried.

• Full Title: The Things They Carried
• When Written: 1980s
• Where Written: The United States
• When Published: 1990
• Literary Period: Contemporary
• Genre: War Novel
• Setting: Vietnam; Minnesota; central Iowa

Extra Credit for The Things They Carried

Film Adaptation. "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" was made into a movie in 1998. It was titled A Soldier's Sweetheart and starred Kiefer Sutherland.

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The Things They Carried : Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam War Novel Endures

Privates First Class Carl Baden (New Orleans, Louisiana) and Arcadio Carrion (Puerto Rico) laying in the mud waiting for artillery to knock out the machine gun bunker that has them pinned down in a tree line at My Tho (April 4, 1968).

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Fifty years ago, many young men like Tim O’Brien , author The Things They Carried —published in 1990—were drafted into the army and later served in what was increasingly becoming an unpopular war. Today, in times of a volunteer army, many aspects of the military have changed. For one thing, women now serve in combat roles, too.

Critics have hailed The Things They Carried as one of the finest examples in American literature of writing about war. O’Brien served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970, and, in The Things They Carried , wrote a collection of linked stories that reads like a memoir. A character introduced in one story will appear in a later one, and even though they’re all linked in some way, each story can stand on its own. The title story is an overture and creates the world of Vietnam for readers. The story also establishes the physical weight of objects each soldier carries by choice or by regulation. Later in the novel, however, the things they carry are psychological. In the opening story, the repetition of the phrase “the things they carried” becomes haunting, and it unifies the experience for the reader, who begins to feel the weight of objects the soldiers carried.

Each character in the novel’s opening story carries, along with those articles that were SOP (standing operating procedure), personal items that often serve as a talisman or a salve for the grueling psychological effects of battle. Additionally, O’Brien writes, “they carried ghosts.”

In World War II, the average age of an American soldier was the mid-twenties, while that of soldiers in Vietnam was nineteen. The young soldiers in Vietnam were especially susceptible to the psychological pressures of combat.

Drafted in the summer of 1968, O’Brien himself is a character in the novel, acting primarily as narrator but also, significantly, as the principal character in one story. In “ On the Rainy River ,” O’Brien sets off to his home state’s northern border with Canada. There, along the Rainy River’s southern banks in Minnesota, O’Brien contemplates fleeing the draft and slipping into Canada. In an interview , O’Brien has talked about the story and its relation to actual facts. An author “plays with facts,” he says, in order to get to the truth.

O’Brien himself never spent days along the Canadian border, contemplating and seriously considering life as a draft dodger. Instead, he played golf that summer in southern Minnesota, but the anxiety of having to report to his induction base a few weeks later produced a tightness in his chest similar to that felt by the fictional O’Brien, who finally decides not to dodge the draft. “On the Rainy River” raises philosophical questions for students concerning the true meaning of courage.

Students who have read novels set in times of war, such as, among others, The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer (published in 1948) can make useful comparisons and contrasts with The Things They Carried . Mailer’s groundbreaking WW II novel, as does The Things They Carried , presents the reader with a cross section of soldiers serving in war. Readers and critics often note that both Mailer and O’Brien have written with journalistic detail. A comparison of the two authors’ use of the same techniques can help students talk about the various ways novelists can present the experience of war.

In interviews, OBrien speaks of a “stomach feeling” he wants to leave with his readers. He doesn’t sanitize details. Students who may have read Johnny Got His Gun (published in 1939) can discuss the “stomach feeling” they may have had from reading the novel by Dalton Trumbo.

When O’Brien was writing The Things They Carried in the late 1980s, American women were not serving in combat roles, although, as Ken Burns and Lynne Novick’s   documentary The Vietnam War demonstrates, in the war without a front, many women did serve in Vietnam as nurses near combat and at medical bases. Since 2015 women in the military can serve in combat zones.

The story “Sweatheart of the Song Tra Bong” was, O’Brien says, a “heuristic exercise.” By a kind of storyteller’s trial and error, he decided to try to craft a story that interjects a woman (the girlfriend of the medic, Rat Kiley) into the combat experience, first as the traditional girl next door in a pink sweater, who is improbably visiting Kiley in Vietnam, to a night-stalking member of a Green Beret unit. She goes native, echoing, admits O’Brien, The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Students can consider to what extent O’Brien’s story does or does not still ring true, now that women serve in combat, too, and are also beginning to write about their war experiences, as female veterans discussed  recently in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in a writing  workshop reported on in the Washington Post .

O’Brien’s success in creating for readers an authentic experience of war stems from a variety of techniques and styles, including linked stories, milieu-setting detail, and a cross section of well-drawn characters. The novel can serve either as an introduction to war lit generally or as a useful tool to further build on the writings on war students may have already encountered.

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Stream of Consciousness

• Conceptual Use : Characters’ thoughts and memories flow in a stream of consciousness that reveals their inner turmoil and the fragmented nature of their experiences.
• Conceptual Use : Situations where soldiers face death or loss in absurd or mundane circumstances underscore the tragic irony and senselessness of war.

Foreshadowing

• Conceptual Use : Hints and subtle clues about future events or the fate of characters create an atmosphere of foreboding and tension.

Personification

• Conceptual Use : The jungle, the enemy, or even the war itself is given life-like qualities, reflecting the soldiers’ perceptions and the omnipresent nature of their environment.
• Conceptual Use : The authentic dialogue captures the diverse voices and backgrounds of the soldiers, revealing their personalities, relationships, and coping mechanisms.

This conceptual overview illustrates the sophisticated use of literary devices in “The Things They Carried,” showcasing how Tim O’Brien crafts a narrative that is both a reflection on the Vietnam War and a meditation on storytelling, memory, and the human condition in the face of conflict.

The Things They Carried – FAQs

What is “The Things They Carried” about? “The Things They Carried” is a collection of interconnected short stories by Tim O’Brien that explores the experiences of a platoon of American soldiers during the Vietnam War. The book delves into the physical and emotional burdens they carry, the nature of storytelling and memory, and the impact of war on the human psyche.

Who is the author of “The Things They Carried,” and what is his background? Tim O’Brien is the author of “The Things They Carried.” He is a Vietnam War veteran, and his experiences as a soldier deeply inform his writing. O’Brien has been awarded for his contributions to literature about the Vietnam War and is known for his exploration of its psychological and emotional landscapes.

Is “The Things They Carried” a novel or a collection of stories? “The Things They Carried” is often described as both a collection of short stories and a novel. The book consists of interconnected stories that follow the same characters, particularly focusing on the narrator, Tim O’Brien, and his comrades in the Vietnam War, blurring the lines between traditional narrative forms.

What are the main themes in “The Things They Carried”? Main themes include the physical and psychological burdens of war, the fluid boundary between truth and fiction in storytelling, the complexities of bravery and cowardice, and the lasting impact of the Vietnam War on those who fought it.

How does Tim O’Brien address the concept of truth in “The Things They Carried”? O’Brien challenges conventional notions of truth, suggesting that the emotional truth of a story can be more meaningful than factual accuracy. He emphasizes the role of storytelling in understanding and coping with the experiences of war, highlighting how narratives can capture the essence of complex emotions and events.

Can “The Things They Carried” be considered an anti-war book? While not explicitly anti-war, “The Things They Carried” critically examines the consequences of war on individuals and society. Through detailed character studies and reflections on the nature of courage, fear, and loss, O’Brien presents a nuanced exploration of the Vietnam War’s human cost, inviting readers to draw their own conclusions about the nature of conflict.

What literary devices does Tim O’Brien use in “The Things They Carried”? O’Brien employs a range of literary devices, including symbolism, imagery, metafiction, repetition, juxtaposition, stream of consciousness, irony, foreshadowing, personification, and authentic dialogue, to enhance the narrative’s depth and emotional impact.

How does “The Things They Carried” explore the impact of war? The book explores the impact of war through detailed character analyses, the exploration of the soldiers’ internal and external conflicts, and the examination of the psychological burdens they carry. It portrays war’s complexity, highlighting not only the physical dangers but also the emotional and moral dilemmas soldiers face.

Let’s create a conceptual quiz based on “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, focusing on its themes, characters, and narrative structure. This quiz is designed to test your understanding and provoke deeper thought about the book’s complexities.

This quiz touches on key aspects of “The Things They Carried,” including its plot, characters, literary devices, and themes, to encourage a deeper understanding and appreciation of Tim O’Brien’s work.

Spot the Literary Devices

Instructions: Below is a conceptual paragraph inspired by “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. Identify the literary devices used in this paragraph.

In the fading light of dusk, the soldiers trudged through the muddied terrain, each step a testament to their weary spirits. The jungle whispered secrets in a cacophony of sounds, a symphony of life and death entwined. Lieutenant Cross carried a single pebble in his pocket, a smooth, cold reminder of a world beyond the chaos, each turn and tumble of the stone mirroring the turmoil in his heart. Words from letters never sent echoed in his mind, blurring the lines between the battlefield and the dreams of home.

• Imagery — The vivid description of the soldiers moving through the jungle at dusk, and the detailed mention of the pebble, create a strong visual image that enhances the narrative’s sensory experience.
• Personification — The jungle is described as whispering secrets, attributing human characteristics to it and enhancing the setting’s eerie and mysterious atmosphere.
• Symbolism — The pebble in Lieutenant Cross’s pocket symbolizes his connection to and longing for the life and love he left behind, serving as a tangible reminder of his inner conflict and desires.
• Metaphor — The phrase “symphony of life and death entwined” serves as a metaphor for the complex, intertwined experiences of beauty and horror, survival and mortality that characterize the soldiers’ reality.
• Internal Monologue — Reflections on “words from letters never sent” provide insight into Lieutenant Cross’s thoughts and feelings, showcasing his longing and the psychological distance between his present reality and his memories of home.

This exercise aims to deepen understanding of how literary devices can be employed to convey thematic elements, set the mood, and develop characters’ internal landscapes, drawing readers more fully into the world of the story.

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Introduction & Overview of The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried Summary & Study Guide Description

First published in Esquire in August, 1986, and later collected in The Best American Short Stories 1987, "The Things They Carried" became the lead story in a book of the same name published in 1990 by Viking Penguin. Since Tim O'Brien had already established himself as a literary voice to be reckoned with, this collection of interrelated stories received a great deal of attention. The book quickly established O'Brien as one of the leading figures in Vietnam literature.

Critics and readers alike have paid considerable attention to the question of whether the events in the book are literally true or products of O'Brien's imagination. Though O'Brien has made it clear in interviews that he believes the truth in literature has nothing to do with what actually happened, the similarities between his writing and his experience in Vietnam are striking. When O'Brien published the disturbing and confessional article "The Vietnam in Me" in the New York Times Magazine in 1994, he sparked renewed interest in the connections between his life and his writing. His last two novels are set in the United States but still prominently feature the Vietnam veteran's experience.

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The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried  is a powerful look into the lives and experiences of foot soldiers during and after the Vietnam war. Written by Tim O’Brien, the work is concurrently an autobiographical account of the war, a memoir, and a collection of short, fictional stories.

O’Brien chose to subtitle the book, “A Work of Fiction”, and successfully and intentionally blurs the lines of reality and fantasy by dedicating his work to individuals who will later be revealed as being the novel’s fictional characters.

To further complicate the overlapping of genres, and the continual shifts between fact and fiction, the protagonist in The Things They Carried  is a veteran of the Vietnam war by the name of “Tim O’Brien.” With the creation of this fictional persona, O’Brien is effectively able to explore his true emotions as if they were fictitious and challenges readers to reconsider stories that they perceive to be false, as they could just as easily be true .

The novel is particularly compelling in part to its originality and the manner in which O’Brien uses the art of storytelling to call upon his own memories of the Vietnam war and the catharsis of the past. Several of the characters in the book seek out resolution.

When reading this study guide, note the designations used to distinguish between Tim O’Brien the author and the fictional character in the novel, “Tim O’Brien”. Despite the similarities that the two share, it is important to remember that the work is a novel and not the autobiography of the author. The novel is, rather, presented as the autobiography of the fictional “Tim O’Brien.”

The medium becomes a part of the message of the novel: the undependable main character “Tim O’Brien” continues to challenge the truth of the stories he tells and the things he hears and passes on, which, in turn, causes the audience to question the truth in the stories that O’Brien shares with them.

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• The Things They Carried

Tim O'Brien

• Literature Notes
• The Things They Carried and Loss of Innocence
• Book Summary
• About The Things They Carried
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• On the Rainy River
• Enemies and Friends
• How to Tell a True War Story
• The Dentist
• Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong
• The Man I Killed and Ambush
• Speaking of Courage
• In the Field
• The Ghost Soldiers
• The Lives of the Dead
• Character Analysis
• Tim O'Brien
• Lt. Jimmy Cross
• Norman Bowker
• Mary Anne Bell
• Henry Dobbins
• Tim O'Brien Biography
• Critical Essays
• The Things They Carried in a Historical Context
• Narrative Structure in The Things They Carried
• Style and Storytelling in The Things They Carried
• The Things They Carried and Questions of Genre
• Full Glossary for The Things They Carried
• Essay Questions
• Practice Projects
• Cite this Literature Note

Critical Essays The Things They Carried and Loss of Innocence

One of the main themes of the novel is the allure of war. This trope, common in war literature, is made more complex here as O'Brien adds the layers of a Conrad-esque "heart of darkness" fascination in the character of Mary Anne.

The seductive allure of war is inextricably linked to the tendencies of human nature in O'Brien's novel. War, more specifically the act of killing, acts as a catalyst for some individuals, causing them to become primal versions of themselves, to become less human, to become killing machines. O'Brien revisits this idea numerous times throughout the text, adding subtle variations on the theme as he introduces different characters that struggle with the same core issue. O'Brien initially creates this tension by offering the counterpoint of O'Brien's daily work duty of declotting slaughtered pigs with his anxiety about his imminent service as a soldier in Vietnam. O'Brien merges the ideas of killing with animals, a symbolic linkage he revisits by describing the soldiers of Alpha Company as animal-like, "humping" their packs and "saddling up" their gear.

O'Brien struggles to hold onto the obverse of this animalism, this barbarism, which is a sort of hyper-civility. He succeeds in doing this by continually offering a highly self-conscious and self-aware cultural criticism that frequently draws on the archetypal works that are the foundation of western civilization like Plato's Republic.

Contrary to the protagonist "O'Brien's" experiential insulation from Vietnamese culture, which is a kind of "uncivilized other" according to the terms of U.S. rhetoric that largely defined the war, Mary Anne Bell is a character who deliberately strove for cultural immersion. For "O'Brien," the landscape and the Vietnamese occupying that landscape, such as the elderly Vietnamese men who watch him revisit the spot where Kiowa perished, are mostly incidental. Mary Anne actively sought out the ways of the Vietnamese, not just to observe from a distance, but to participate in if possible. Mary Anne, who should have behaved according to accepted Western norms, becomes so much a part of the landscape of Vietnam that she becomes "unnatural" to Mark and Rat. For example, the humming they hear coming from the Greenies' hut is freaky and unnatural, somehow not human, but it is Mary Anne's humming. And particularly as a female, she should be "domesticated" and behave in accordance with the readers' expectations of a young woman in a decade prior to the women's liberation movement. Instead she is seduced by the foreign landscape of Vietnam — one which "O'Brien" resists and barely describes — and is reduced to her animal-like primal self, a killing machine. Finally, opposite to "O'Brien," Mary Anne shows no resistance to the landscape, and has the agility and prowess to slip into the jungle like an adept, predatory jungle animal ready for the hunt.

O'Brien relies on symbolism Joseph Conrad created in Heart of Darkness to connect the landscape of Vietnam to the landscape of immorality that Mary Anne succumbs to and "O'Brien" resists. Mary Anne becomes a part of what O'Brien/"O'Brien" most vehemently opposes and what O'Brien/"O'Brien" most fears: the struggle between the light and dark forces of human nature and the predominance of the darker forces. Just as the character of Mary Anne echoes Conrad's character, Kurtz, "O'Brien" is a cousin to Conrad's character, Marlow. Like Marlow, O'Brien struggles against his imagination and the fantastic cultural stories that feed it, in "O'Brien's" case, the stories of World War II he learned from movies and stories of his father's generation. Ultimately, O'Brien shields himself from a fate similar to Mary Anne's through the way he employs stories, just as he did during the summer when he worked at the meatpacking plant, by forcing him to look at the struggle between dark and light within himself.

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The Things They Carried

By tim o'brien.

• The Things They Carried Summary

The Things They Carried is a collection of twenty-two stories, or chapters. All focus on the Alpha Company and the fate of its soldiers after they return home to America. A character named Tim O’Brien (same name as the author) narrates most of the stories.

In “The Things They Carried,” the Alpha Company is mobilized to fight in the Vietnam War. The soldiers carry goods necessary to their survival as well personal items. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carries letters and photos from a female friend named Martha , and spends most of his time mooning over her. The first casualty for the company is Ted Lavender , shot dead while relieving himself. Cross blames himself for the death because he thinks he was too busy thinking about Martha to properly take care of his troops. He burns her letters and photographs and decides to be a better leader.

In “Love,” Jimmy goes to visit the narrator, Tim O’Brien, in his home in Massachusetts after the war. Cross relates that he bumped into Martha after she got home, and that he still loves her although she doesn’t love him back. He has never forgiven himself for Lavender’s death, but pleads with O’Brien to portray him as a great leader if the writer ever writes about their experiences.

“Spin” is made up of a collection of recollections of the ordinary things soldiers do when they are at war, such as playing chess games. O’Brien compares the war to a Ping-Pong ball, saying that one can spin it in many different directions. He is now a 43-year-old writer who only writes war stories. His daughter thinks he should find a happier topic, but O’Brien keeps replaying the gruesome war scenes over and over in his mind.

In “On The Rainy River,” O’Brien describes the decision of whether or not to go to war after receiving his draft card. He had just graduated college and planned to go to Harvard for graduate school. He was split between the instinct to run, and the instinct to do what everyone expected: go to war. He took the car up to the Canadian border, and a friendly hotel owner rowed him along a river right up to Canada. In the end he couldn’t bring himself to jump out of the boat. He cried in the boat, paid Elroy for the room, and drove home. It is a hard story for O’Brien to tell, he writes, because it shows that he was a coward and that he made the wrong choice.

In “Enemies,” two members of the company, Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen , get into a fistfight over a missing penknife. Jensen wins the fight and breaks Strunk’s nose. Jensen borrows a pistol and uses it to break his own nose. Then he asks Strunk if they are “square.” Strunk says yes and laughs at his new friend -- because he was the one who had stolen Jensen’s knife in the first place. In “Friends,” Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk make a pact that if either were seriously injured or crippled, the other would find a way to kill him. In October Lee Strunk steps on a mortar and loses his leg as a result of the accident. He is terrified, because he thinks Jensen will kill him. Later the men find out that Strunk has died, which seems to relieve Jensen of a big burden.

In “How to Tell a True War Story,” Curt Lemon steps on a mortar and is killed. O’Brien has to go up into a tree to pick out his remains, and one of the other men makes a bad pun on “lemon tree,” similar to many other morbid jokes the soldiers make throughout the book After Lemon's death, Rat Kiley writes his sister a long letter to which she never responds. Rat dismisses her as a “dumb cooze.” O’Brien says this is a true story because such stories are unsentimental, seem too crazy to believe, or else never end. Another “true” story O’Brien tells is about a water buffalo the company tortured after Lemon died. It seems incomprehensible, so it must be true, he writes.

After Curt Lemon was killed, and O’Brien describes having a hard time mourning him in “The Dentist.” Lemon was a macho guy, but one day a dentist came in on a helicopter to check up on the men’s teeth. Lemon was so afraid that when it was his turn he passed out in the dentist’s chair. Then he was so ashamed that he woke up the dentist in the middle of the night, insisted that he had a toothache, and made the dentist remove a perfectly good tooth.

O’Brien retells a story that he first heard from Rat Kiley in “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong.” Before joining up with Alpha, Kiley was stationed at a medical detachment near the village of Tra Bong along with a special force called the Green Berets. A young man named Mark Fossie imported in his American girlfriend. Fossie got upset when she didn't return to their quarters one night. It turns out she wasn’t cheating on him, but was on ambush duty with the Green Berets. Later, Fossie finds her in the Green Beret encampment wearing a necklace made of human tongues. In the end, she becomes a killer and disappears into the mountains by herself.

Henry Dobbins keeps his girlfriends’ stockings wrapped around his neck for good luck, and credits them with the fact that he never gets shot. Then, in “Stockings,” his girlfriend says she wants to break up. He continues to wear the stockings around his neck all the same. In “Church,” the company sets up camp at a pagoda where a few monks still remain. The monks especially like Henry Dobbins, who talks about possibly joining the order and gives the monks some chocolate and peaches as a parting gift.

In “The Man I Killed,” Tim O’Brien surveys the man he killed, repeating the same details over and over: He has thin, arched eyebrows, like a woman; he is thin, with a concave chest, like a scholar. O’Brien imagines that the man was always afraid to go to war, was possibly in love, was possibly a scholar. Kiowa tries to get O’Brien to stop staring at the corpse, with no success.

In “Ambush” O’Brien’s nine-year-old daughter, Kathleen , asks her father if he has ever killed anyone. Of course not, O’Brien tells her; he thinks when she is a grown-up she will understand better. In “Style,” his company enters a burnt-down compound full of dead bodies, and the only living person they find is a young girl, dancing. Azar thinks she is performing some strange rite. Dobbins thinks she is dancing because she likes to dance.

In “Speaking of Courage,” Norman Bowker returns to his hometown after the war is over. His best friend is dead and his ex-girlfriend has married someone else, so he has no one to talk to about why he failed to get a Silver Star medal for courage. He imagines a conversation with his father about the subject; the reason he didn’t get the medal was that he let his comrade Kiowa die in a shit field after Kiowa was shot. Bowker stops for a burger, drives around his hometown lake, and stops to admire the sunset. In 1975, writes O’Brien in “Notes,” he received a letter from Bowker telling the story that he retells in “Speaking of Courage.” O’Brien wants to emphasize that he made up the part about Bowker failing to save Kiowa and worrying about why he didn’t get the Silver Star. The letter shook O’Brien, who had congratulated himself on adjusting so well, transitioning straight from Vietnam to Harvard. In 1978, Bowker hanged himself.

All 18 soldiers in the company search for Kiowa’s body in the shit field in “In the Field.” Bowker eventually locates Kiowa’s body. Cross mentally rehearses different letters he might write to Kiowa’s father; perhaps he will take responsibility for the death, perhaps not. Instead of writing the letter to Kiowa’s father, he decides, he’ll play golf. In “Good Form,” O’Brien, the 43-year-old writer/narrator, says that “story truth”, i.e. what happens in the story, is more important than “happening truth,” i.e. what happened in reality. A few months after writing “In the Field,” O’Brien returns to Vietnam with his daughter, Kathleen, who is ten. In “Field Trip,” she doesn’t understand what the war was about, nor why her father insists on traveling to a funny-smelling place (the shit field). O’Brien buries a pair of Kiowa’s moccasins where his friend died, and tries to say goodbye.

O’Brien blames Bobby Jorgenson , a young medic who replaced Rat Kiley with the company, for almost letting him die of shock after getting shot. In “The Ghost Soldiers,” O’Brien enlists Azar’s help to get revenge on Jorgenson. They make noises outside Jorgenson’s encampment to make him think he is being attacked. Jorgenson is terrified, but then he figures out it's just O’Brien, and the two say they are “even.” “Night Life” is the account, culled secondhand from another soldier, of how Rat Kiley went beserk and had to leave the company. The strain of the war was too much for him and he shot himself in the foot to be discharged from the army.

In “The Lives of the Dead” O’Brien writes that the purpose of stories is to save lives. He had been in love with a nine-year-old, Linda , when he was also nine. They went on a date, and then she died of a brain tumor. Afterwards, he made dates with her in his dreams, and they went ice-skating together. The purpose of stories, writes O’Brien, is to make people like Linda or the soldiers killed in Vietnam live again.

The Things They Carried Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Things They Carried is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

is this a war story, per se? if so who is the main character, and why?

This particular story is more about sexual longing than war. Mark Fossie seems to be the main character who wants to import his girlfriend.

What is it that Jimmy cross carries with him? What do they represent?

Jimmy always carries letters from Martha. His identity and hopes for the future are part of those letters.

How does Tim kill his first enemy

I think with a grenade.

Study Guide for The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried study guide contains a biography of Tim O'Brien, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Things They Carried
• Character List

Essays for The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.

• Rationalizing the Fear Within
• Physical and Psychological Burdens
• Role of Kathleen and Linda in The Things They Carried
• Let’s Communicate: It’s Not About War
• Turning Over a New Leaf: Facing the Pressures of Society

Lesson Plan for The Things They Carried

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Things They Carried
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Things They Carried Bibliography

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Emotional Burden in O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” Essay (Critical Writing)

Introduction, the things they carried, works cited.

The Things They Carried is a fictional chef-d’oeuvre by Tim O’Brien, which catalogs among other things, the different things that soldiers carried to the Vietnam War. These soldiers carried emotional and physical burdens viz. guilt, fear, love, pocketknives, M-16 rifles among other things. O’Brien explores the theme of emotional burdens artistically and at some point, comically. Obrien notes, “They carried the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing-these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. They carried shameful memories…cowardice…they carried the soldier’s fear (20). Even though the things they carried were meant to help them fight the enemy, in the end, the intangible things (emotional burdens) turned out to fight the soldiers, killing them from within.

The emotional burdens as explored by O’Brien came in different forms and each soldier had a special burden that underscored his woes. The emotional burden of guilt surfaces immediately after the story starts. Jimmy Cross, a lieutenant enlisted to take care of the other soldiers is the victim of the guilt burden. Jimmy witnessed as a bullet broke open Lavender’s skull, an incident that plunged him into emotional turmoil. Given the fact that he was the one in charge of the other soldiers’ well-being, he felt he could have done something to prevent Lavender’s death. Unfortunately, he could do nothing at that point; Lavender was dead and gone for good. Jimmy became emotionally troubled because instead of concentrating on the security and well-being of fellow soldiers he could only think of Martha. Consequently, Lavender died due to his lack of concentration or so he thought. A person charged with the responsibility of taking care of his fellow soldiers should be focused to achieve his objective. Unfortunately, Jimmy could not live up to this duty and when Lavender died before his eyes, he realized how careless he had been in executing his duties. All these feelings culminated into guilt feelings, an emotional burden that he had to bear so long as the war continued. What a terrible emotional baggage for one to carry! To cover his guilt, Jimmy embarked on a journey to become the best lieutenant. However, for this to happen, he had to sacrifice some emotions like love for Martha, his college crush. The issue of Jimmy’s love for Martha ushers in the next emotional burden viz. love.

Cross sincerely loved Martha and no matter how hard he tried to subdue these feelings, they resurfaced with time. This emotional burden weighed so heavily on him that at times he lost focus on the war. O’Brien observes, “He loved her so much…though painful, he wondered who had been with her that afternoon” (8). Time and space stood between Jimmy and the love of her life. If only he could roll time back, he would spend some quality time by her side. Unfortunately, these were only fantasies and as the adage asserts, fantasy never mimics reality. The death of Lavender unveiled this truth to Jimmy and he had to shed this emotional baggage at whatever cost. Though painful, Jimmy decided to forget Martha completely, and focus on the war. As a way of tearing down this emotional baggage, he resolved to burn all love letters, photographs, and anything else that reminded him of Martha. Forgetting a lover is not an easy task, it takes more than a willing heart, it takes absolute resolve and this comes with its emotional upheavals. Emotionally, Cross was a torn person, full of sorrows and heavy laden with emotional burdens. To release his feelings, he could only cry throughout the night under the cover of the darkness. Just like any other person, soldiers have emotions; they crave for love, acceptance, and warmth. Regrettably, war robs them of these elemental things in a human’s life. O’Brien deliberately explores Jimmy’s case to show the emotional burdens that the soldiers brought along together with the things they carried (Kaplan 63). Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is not alone in this predicament, as aforementioned, every soldier had his fair share of emotional baggage, as shown by the few soldiers O’Brien chose to use in The Things They Carried.

Family ties are usually very strong and separating someone from his/her family amounts to emotional torture; something that the soldiers had to live with. For instance, Kiowa, “…carried an illustrated New Testament that had been presented to him by his father…” (O’Brien 3). Nothing could remind Kiowa of his dad like that treasured bible; every time he saw the bible, he would remember his beloved father. Apart from this, Kiowa carried the memories of his grandfather by preserving that ‘old hunting tomahawk.’ Even though physically burdened by things like the M-16 rifle, these treasured assortments carried memories of Kiowa’s family, memories of his almost lost family, something that burdened him emotionally. Henry Dobbins on his part carried a pair of pantyhose and he would poke his noses into the paper containing the panties from time to time. Not that Henry Dobbins loved his girlfriend’s panties; no, he missed her and this burdened him emotionally. Regrettably, the closest he would come to his girlfriend was through feeling the smell of her panties, a pathetic way to find warmth and love. Apart from emotions of love and loneliness, fear was part of these soldiers.

On the battlefield, anyone could die and this inevitable fact burdened the soldiers emotionally. Just like Lavender and others who died in the course of the war, anybody else would die at any time and this uncertainty amounted to emotional torture. O’Brien posits, “Imagination was a killer” (10), to emphasize the burden of fear that these soldiers carried around. The imagination of being the next victim to die emotionally burdened these soldiers. To cope with these torturing emotions, they had to dehumanize every human trait in them. Unfortunately, psychologically they became changed forever. O’Brien concludes, “you start clean and you get dirty and then afterward it is never the same” (114). Even to date, the majority of the surviving soldiers have exhibited some psychological disorders at one point in their lives. The psychological rip off that these soldiers underwent narrows down to emotional baggage; baggage, which they knew not, the day of its relief.

In conclusion, the soldiers that went to the Vietnam War carried burdens that were more than the physical burdens; they carried emotional burdens of memories of their families coupled with the fear of not knowing when death would strike. For sure, the intangible things that they carried had real weight, to some extent, heavier than the physical burdens. Jimmy Cross carried the guilt of letting Lavender die while engrossed in thoughts of his ever-elusive lover, Martha. Kiowa carried the emotional burden of his father and grandfather and the possibility of not seeing them once again weighed heavily on him. Collectively, these soldiers experienced different forms of emotional torture, which boiled down to emotional burdens as O’Brien explores in his fictional masterpiece, The Things They Carried.

Kaplan, Steven. Understanding Tim O’Brien . Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995. Print.

O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. Print.

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