Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

What is “truth”? In The Things They Carried, the reader has their eyes opened to a new kind of “truth”; a “truth” that is not based on the honesty of events, the “happening-truth”, but the honesty of human nature, the “story-truth.” The novel itself, The Things They Carried, is comprised of many different stories based on the author Tim O’Brien’s service in the Vietnam war. Recalling from memories of his service, Tim O’Brien intricately weaves fact and fiction into his novel to force the reader into a turmoil of emotions by telling “true war stories,” that are not, in fact, war stories. Although many readers believe that “truth” is the act of retelling reality, “truth” is, in O'Brien's reality, the act of portraying emotions; that is why a “true war story” is not about war, but emotions.

The distractions of war, misinterpretation of reality and limited control of fate as a result of the human condition appear throughout the Vietnam War at all times. Tim O’Brien, as a narrator describes the struggles of storytelling during and after the war. The constant struggle to determine reality versus personal perception arises in many aspects of his memory. Some factors of recalling events are uncontrollable such as interference of imagination and uncertainty as a result of the human condition. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the telling of story-truth, rather than happening-truth, is necessary, as no replica can be as genuine as the original.

In the book, The Things They Carried, by Tim O'brien, the title of the first chapter perfectly mimics the name of the book itself. The author talks about the many items soldier’s carried with them into the Vietnam War, as well as the effects they had on his many teammates. Each new chapter, though, gives new insight as to what they carried around with them besides physical objects. Despite palpable things in which they were required to have, young men would find themselves bearing the heavy weight of responsibility and emotional trauma that came with them. In order to cope with these endeavors, soldier’s would also bring with them something to help, whether it was simply the knowledge of God, or a reason for fighting. O’brien’s stories give

Everywhere I go, I carry with me a tangible piece of my past as both a reminder of who I was, as well as who I have become. Although it seems trivial, this item is my beanie. In an effort to reestablish my image as I entered middle school I grew out my hair started to wear a beanie to school every day. After reaching the end of my middle school experience, I cut my hair (mostly out of desperation in the summer heat). Although my hair was gone, the beanie seemed to stick around. I believe this is because it takes me back to a simpler time in my life, but also serves as a reminder of how much I’ve grown and matured since then. I have no regrets, and it is fully my decision to carry this item, but it brings me comfort because of who I was back then versus who I am now. It only weighs a few ounces, and it weighs down my heart about as much as it weighs down my head: not much.

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change” (Mary Shelley, Frankenstein). War can be a drastic change for the life of a person as war can ultimately morph them into a slave of the battlefield. In the book The Things They Carried, Tim O’ Brien describes the experiences of people in the Vietnam War and how they have become changed individuals from their past lives before combat. War pummels you with things that transcend your typical escapades and the more you try to understand them, the more you get sucked into the void of combat. The increased time the characters are in the battlefield, the more they have to think about it, thus shaping who they are. Only time can determine how much war can affect you.

In the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross recalls past stories told by him and from fellow soldiers in his time overseas in Vietnam. Experiences and events soldiers faced in Vietnam can change the way people think, feel, and act.

Tim O'Brien's novel, "The Things They Carried" is based upon a platoon of soldiers in Vietnam, in which as the title hint's at, focuses on the items and more emotional parts of being a soldier. These items range from the essentials of being a solider, ranging from food, water, shovels etc. To the more personal and individualistic items, with examples ranging from the more common, love letters, holding a bible and pictures of loved ones, or to the more "unique" (or odd) items chosen, such as pantyhose, a thumb and even moccasins. Whether or not these items appear weird or generic to us is irrelevant, behind those items is a deep sentimental meaning to that item to that soldier or person, which is exactly what we will be looking into for "The

War changes people and Tim O’ Brien is a great example because in The Things they Carried, the novel observes a struggle to conquer grief and the struggle to deal with death; which shows the human side. The story displays strong sentiment and lets the reader sympathize with the characters, especially Tim O’ Brien. Tim O’ Brien permits the spectators to feel the emotion by writing this fictional story.

The narrator in the book, The Things They Carried, Tim O’ Brien has a very peculiar life. He has been a lot of different things in his life. He worked in a slaughterhouse, served in the army, and hardest of all, raised a family. Tim O’ Brien has also had trials and tribulations. He has tried to leave America, he killed someone, and he still holds burdens of guilt and disappointment to this day.

     Similarly to Cross’ approach to dealing with the death of Lavender, Rat Kiley experiences much difficulty and trauma from the death of his friend Curt Lemon and feels partially responsible. Following Lemon’s death, Kiley went into the mountains and “came across a baby VC water buffalo […]He stepped back and shot it through the right front knee[…]Curt Lemon was dead. Rat Kiley had lost his best friend in the world”(78-79). The frustrations of being a soldier in Vietnam and fighting at times for a cause that has no apparent solution causes the men to have questionable judgment. When it comes to upholding the standards they used to abide by when living in a place free of so much animosity and mortality, the soldiers must first overcome the oppressive weight of the war that confuses their moral views.

Throughout the story “The Things They Carried” the author Tim O’Brien constantly teeter tots on the concept of what is the truth. He contemplates whether it is possible to tell a true war story. Tim creates a story that makes the reader puzzle over what they can perceive as the truth and what is not. I believe that Tim wrote this story to expand upon the purpose of storytelling and to express this thought through a war story. When diving into the chapters “Notes” and “Speaking of Courage” Tim makes a clever use of literature to create a seamless reading that expands the way we understand the content. The seamless fit of the two chapters complement each other and construct a powerful message between them.

Vietnam war veteran and novelist Tim O’Brien, in his piece titled, “The Things They Carried,” portrays personal war stories of a group of soldiers during the Vietnam War to convey how stories and memories can aid in coping with death. The novel was extremely emotional and thought provoking, causing me to question what was real or not, and how these stories were more than just stories. As the novel progressed, it became increasingly clear how, for O’Brien and some of the other soldiers, these stories were not just stories for the them to reminisce on, they were a form of therapy, helping them to live on, even when faced with death and morbid experiences. Through these various stories ranging from the distant past and the present, O’Brien successfully

The Vietnam War was a brutal and an arguably unwarranted part of our American history during the Cold-War Era. In an attempt to contain Communism, American and Vietcong soldiers, whether they wanted to or not, were subjected to horrible antagonistic violence. Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried, retells the traumatizing (and sometimes calm) events of the war from his perspective, hoping to convey the most real feelings and experiences- fictionally. In this work of fiction, O’Brien differentiates between the “happening-truth”- what events took place and “story-truth”- what those events evoke, how those events felt. In this way, story-truth is a different, more humanized understanding of time and of memory. O'Brien's use of story-truth

Truth, it can be a lie living inside a truth or there might be a truth inside something that does not seem true; this is how truth works, you never know what is true and what is not. This is what happens in the book called “The Things They Carried”, by Tim O'Brien. Where truth can be a lie and a lie can be the truth, it is a test for the reader to find out. So this one story in the book shows how it is true, because it embarrasses you, by the way it seems to never end, when there is uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil in the story, and when it is hard to separate what happened from what seemed to happen. These chosen characteristics shall help in proven how this war story is true. O’Brien created a true war story about the shit

The story of Curt and Rat Kiley was a tragic one; O’Brien cleverly uses his storytelling to feel the emotions that Rat was feeling. Riley, like many soldiers, did not have many ways to express his feelings and so Rat expressed his emotions by beating up the baby water buffalo after supper time. It was am impactful scene because it show what Riley was going through after seeing his best