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The Things They Carried Thesis Statements and Essay Topics

Below you will find four outstanding thesis statements / paper topics for “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brian can be used as essay starters. All four incorporate at least one of the themes found in “The Things They Carried” and are broad enough so that it will be easy to find textual support, yet narrow enough to provide a focused clear thesis statement. These thesis statements offer a short summary of “The Things They Carried” in terms of different elements that could be important in an essay. You are, of course, free to add your own analysis and understanding of the plot or themes to them. Using the essay topics below in conjunction with the list of  important quotes from “The Things They Carried”  on our quotes page, you should have no trouble connecting with the text and writing an excellent essay.

Topic #1: The things they carried

There is a list given for each soldier of the items he carried. Some of the items can be physically touched. Other items can only be felt or described. For each soldier, the items and emotions he carries are significant. Describe how the choice of items relates to each character. Include arguments where applicable about how the items affect others and each soldier’s survival. Determine which items hold the most value.

 Topic #2: Kiowa

Kiowa is one of the many soldiers who is killed. His death is described in three of the stories. Explore the reasons why Kiowa’s death stands out to so many of the other soldiers. Why is it that so many of them claim responsibility and guilt for his loss of life? Illustrate what actions could have been taken to avoid Kiowa’s death and the guilt on the minds of so many soldiers.

Topic #3: Common themes

Although the stories are written and compiled by O’Brien and are labeled as fiction, O’Brien draws on his own experiences during the Vietnam War and the experiences of others. Many of the stories share common themes such as love, loss, regret of things left behind and left undone, violence, and dissatisfaction. The soldiers that survive come home severely changed by their experiences. Trace a common thread throughout the stories and relay how it is significant.

Topic #4: Controversy surrounding the Vietnam War

There was much controversy surrounding the Vietnam War. Soldiers were sent to kill the bad guys, only to learn that they were often firing on women and children. Throughout the stories, the soldiers reveal how disillusioned they became during and after the time they spent fighting. Choose one or two of the stories and examine the disillusionment that is described. What elements and events contribute to this disappointment in the military and the United States.

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Essays on The Things They Carried

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

An Analysis of Martha's Role in "The Things They Carried"

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Exploring The Tragic Fate of Ted Lavender: a Character Analysis

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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” by Tim O’Brien: Analysis

Published in 1990, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a semi-autobiographical novel that draws on the author’s experiences in the Vietnam War.

Introduction: “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

Table of Contents

Published in 1990, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is a semi-autobiographical novel that draws on the author’s experiences in the Vietnam War. The story follows a platoon of American soldiers grappling with the physical and emotional challenges of war. Through evocative descriptions of the soldiers’ gear and internal struggles, O’Brien crafts a haunting and introspective narrative that delves into the complexities of human nature under duress. Hailed as a classic of contemporary American literature, “The Things They Carried” is lauded for its poignant portrayal of war’s human cost and its innovative blurring of factual and fictional elements.

Main Events in “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

• Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his platoon carry various physical and emotional burdens as they navigate the realities of war in Vietnam.
• Cross obsesses over his unrequited love for Martha, a college student back home, and realizes he needs to focus on his duties as a leader.
• The platoon comes under enemy fire and suffers casualties, including Ted Lavender, a young soldier who had been heavily medicated to cope with the stress of war.
• The platoon burns down a village and kills a water buffalo, further revealing the moral ambiguity and psychological toll of war.
• O’Brien introduces the concept of “story truth,” exploring the role of memory and imagination in shaping individual and collective experiences of war.
• Kiowa, one of Cross’s closest companions, is killed in action, and the soldiers are forced to grapple with the fragility of life and the weight of loss.
• O’Brien reflects on the power of storytelling to convey emotional truths and provide a sense of catharsis for those who have experienced trauma.
• The soldiers participate in a night patrol and encounter a young Vietnamese soldier, further highlighting the complexities and human costs of war.
• The platoon is sent on a mission to retrieve the body of a soldier who has been killed, prompting reflections on the value and meaning of sacrifice.
• The story ends with Cross burning the letters and photographs he had carried with him, symbolizing his commitment to moving on and living in the present.

Literary Devices in “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

• Allusion : A reference to a well-known person, place, event, or literary work. Example: The title “The Things They Carried” alludes to the physical and emotional burdens borne by soldiers, resonating with the broader literary theme of characters facing hardship.
• Ambiguity : The presence of multiple meanings or interpretations within a text. Example: Whether the killing of the baby water buffalo was an act of cruelty or mercy is left ambiguous, highlighting the moral complexities of war.
• Foreshadowing : A hint or clue about what will happen later in the story. Example: Ted Lavender’s unnecessary death, so early in the narrative, subtly foreshadows the tragedies awaiting other members of the platoon.
• Hyperbole : An exaggeration used for emphasis or effect. Example: Describing the soldiers’ load as “humping…at least 20 pounds” doesn’t refer to literal weight but conveys the overwhelming burdens they bear.
• Imagery : Descriptive language that appeals to the senses, creating a vivid mental picture. Example: O’Brien’s evocative details of the Vietnamese landscape (“sun-filled paddies…tall, swaying grass”) transport the reader into the soldiers’ environment.
• Irony : A situation that is the opposite of what is expected, often for humorous or poignant effect. Example: Jimmy Cross’s preoccupation with his unrequited love for Martha ironically distracts him from the deadly serious reality of leading his men.
• Metaphor : A comparison between two things without using “like” or “as.” Example: O’Brien compares the emotional weight the soldiers carry to literal objects like “clamshells on their backs.”
• Motif : A recurring element or image that contributes to the overall theme. Example: The recurring descriptions of the physical things the soldiers carry highlight the theme of how war’s burdens extend far beyond mere equipment.
• Onomatopoeia : The use of words that sound like what they describe. Example: O’Brien uses “whoosh” and “whap” to mimic the sounds of gunfire, bringing the reader closer to the battlefield experience.
• Personification : Giving human qualities to non-human things. Example: O’Brien refers to the land itself as “the enemy,” making war an overwhelming, inescapable force.
• Repetition : Repeating a word, phrase, or sentence for emphasis. Example: The repetitive listing of everything the soldiers carry emphasizes the overwhelming nature of their combined physical and emotional burdens.
• Simile : A comparison using “like” or “as.” Example: The soldiers’ movement through a field is likened to “the wind against wheat,” highlighting their vulnerability.
• Symbolism : The use of objects, images, or actions to represent abstract ideas. Example: The young Vietnamese soldier killed on the trail symbolizes the human cost of war on both sides of the conflict.
• Tone : The author’s attitude towards the subject matter. Example: O’Brien’s tone shifts between wistful, melancholy, and starkly realistic, mirroring the soldiers’ emotional experiences.
• Verisimilitude : The appearance of being true or real. Example: O’Brien’s blending of actual events with invented stories creates a sense of verisimilitude, making the emotional impact of the narrative even more powerful.

Characterization in “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

Absolutely! Here’s a characterization analysis for some of the key figures in “The Things They Carried,” along with specific supporting references from the story:

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross

• Conflict: Torn between his duty as a leader and his obsessive love for Martha, a girl back home who represents an idealized escape (“letters were full of love” – ‘Love’).
• Motivation: Desperately seeks a sense of normalcy and control amidst the chaos of war, clinging to the illusion of Martha as a lifeline.
• Evolution: The death of Ted Lavender forces him to confront his misplaced priorities (“He hated himself” – ‘Love’). His burning of Martha’s letters symbolizes a shift towards commitment to the present and his responsibility to his men.

Tim O’Brien (the narrator)

• Meta-character: O’Brien blurs the lines between the author and a fictionalized version of himself within the narrative.
• Role: Serves as both a participant in the events and a reflective storyteller examining the nature of memory and truth (“And in the end, really, there’s nothing much to say about a true war story…” – ‘Good Form’).
• Motivation: Seeks to process his own war trauma through storytelling, exploring the emotional truths often obscured in factual accounts.
• Morality and Compassion: Represents a grounding force of decency amidst war’s dehumanizing effects. (“Kiowa, who was a devout Baptist, carried an illustrated New Testament…” – ‘The Things They Carried’).
• Symbolic Death: His sinking into the ‘muck’ after a mortar attack exemplifies the senseless loss of innocence in war.
• Impact: Kiowa’s death leaves a void in the platoon, symbolizing the erosion of compassion and morality necessary for survival in conflict.

Norman Bowker

• Invisible Wounds: Embodies the lingering psychological trauma of war even after returning home. His lack of tangible injuries underscores this. (“…the ache in his heart was worse than any belly wound” – ‘Speaking of Courage’).
• Cyclic Narrative: His story, told in ‘Speaking of Courage’, highlights the suffocating impact of unprocessed trauma.
• Symbolism: His eventual suicide tragically emphasizes what can happen when the ‘weight’ of memory and experience becomes unbearable.
• Medic’s Perspective: Rat offers a glimpse into the physical and emotional toll of treating horrific injuries (“…Rat Kiley was crying” – ‘Friends’).
• Dark Humor: His tendency towards exaggeration and grim jokes serves as a coping mechanism for the relentless suffering he witnesses.
• Breaking Point: The shooting of his own foot, while self-inflicted, signifies the psychological breaking point a medic can reach in the war’s intensity.

Additional Notes:

• Nuance: O’Brien depicts his characters with complexity; no one is purely “good” or “bad.” They are humanized by their flaws and moments of vulnerability.
• The Power of What’s Carried: Each soldier’s physical and emotional burdens define their experiences. These burdens are often unique, leading to both camaraderie and a sense of isolation.

Major Themes in “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

Writing Style in “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

• Blurring Fact and Fiction: O’Brien merges personal experiences with invented elements, challenging the notion of absolute truth in war narratives. This creates his unique notion of “story-truth” ( ‘How to Tell a True War Story’).
• Visceral and Introspective: O’Brien combines vivid descriptions of the war’s physical realities with reflections on soldiers’ inner emotional turmoil, creating a deeply affecting portrayal of their experiences.
• Repetition: Repeated phrases and descriptions, like the listing of the things the soldiers carry, emphasize both the physical weight and the psychological toll of war.
• Imagery: O’Brien’s powerful sensory descriptions bring the Vietnamese landscape, the soldiers’ equipment, and moments of violence to life, immersing the reader in the story’s world.
• Metaphor and Symbolism: Comparisons like intangible burdens to “humps” and “clamshells” ( ‘The Things They Carried’) deepen the portrayal of the soldiers’ emotional weight. Objects like Kiowa’s New Testament symbolize hope and faith amidst despair.
• Honesty and Authenticity: Despite his fictionalizations, O’Brien aims to convey the emotional core of war’s impact, admitting the impossibility of a purely objective account (‘Good Form’).

Literary Theories and Interpretation of “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

Questions and Thesis Statements about “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

Question 1: How does O’Brien’s blurring of fact and fiction impact the reader’s understanding of war and its emotional consequences?

• Thesis Statement: In “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien’s blending of personal experience with invented elements destabilizes traditional war narratives, emphasizing the subjective nature of memory and highlighting the emotional resonance of “story-truth” over factual accounts.

Question 2: How does the motif of physical burdens symbolize the psychological toll of war in “The Things They Carried”?

• Thesis Statement: O’Brien’s detailed catalogs of the soldiers’ equipment evolve into powerful metaphors for intangible burdens like fear, grief, and guilt, demonstrating the interwoven nature of physical and psychological hardship faced by soldiers in combat.

Question 3: In what ways does O’Brien challenge traditional notions of heroism in his portrayal of the soldiers in “The Things They Carried”?

• Thesis Statement: “The Things They Carried” subverts conventional depictions of battlefield valor by emphasizing the quiet courage of endurance, the moral complexities of survival, and the vulnerability hidden within the facade of stoic soldiers.

Question 4: How does “The Things They Carried” function as a form of trauma narrative, and what does it reveal about the lasting psychological impact of war?

• Thesis Statement: Through fragmented narratives, metafictional reflections, and depictions of the soldiers’ coping mechanisms, “The Things They Carried” reveals the profound and often unresolved legacy of trauma carried by those who have experienced the horrors of war.

Question 5: To what extent does O’Brien’s portrayal of the Vietnamese people and culture in “The Things They Carried” perpetuate or challenge colonialist perspectives?

• Thesis Statement: “The Things They Carried” offers a limited and often stereotyped view of the Vietnamese experience. A postcolonial analysis examines how this portrayal reinforces or subverts power dynamics and contributes to the otherizing of the Vietnamese people in the American war narrative.

Short Question-Answer “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

Suggested Readings: “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

Scholarly articles.

• Bar-Yosef, Eitan. “War and Truth: ‘The Things They Carried’ from the Postmodern/Trauma Perspective.” Style , vol. 35, no. 4, 2001, pp. 645-664.
• Briggum, Sue, et al. “‘You’d Have to Carry a List’: Tim O’Brien and the Vietnam War Story.” Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal , vol. 46, no. 4, 2013, pp. 147-62.
• Heberle, Mark A. A Trauma Artist: Tim O’Brien and the Fiction of Vietnam . University of Iowa Press,‌ 2001.
• Calloway, Catherine. Tim O’Brien and the Vietnam War: Rewriting the World . Twayne, 1996.
• McDaniel, Tim. The Limits of a Vietnam War Literature: Stories by Tim O’Brien . Susquehanna University Press, 1996.
• Searle, William. Tim O’Brien . Twayne Publishers, 1991.
• SparkNotes: “The Things They Carried” Summary & Analysis. [invalid URL removed]
• LitCharts: “The Things They Carried” https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-things-they-carried
• The Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University: Tim O’Brien collection (includes manuscript drafts, letters, and other archival materials relating to the author and his work). [invalid URL removed]

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Ransom Center Magazine

June 20, 2017 - John Young

The textual “truth” behind Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried

Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts , Research + Teaching Tagged With: Fellowships , fiction , Field Trip , history , Houghton Mifflin , literature , Macalester Today , magazine , McCall’s , memoir , On the Rainy River , Playboy , soldier , The Things They Carried , Tim O'Brien , truth , Vietnam , war

Tim O’Brien’s  The Things They Carried is a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling. The book depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O’Brien, who survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer. The Harry Ransom Center holds the author’s archive .

Two of the most poignant stories in The Things They Carried are “On the Rainy River” and “Field Trip.” “Rainy River” portrays a young O’Brien, weeks removed from his college graduation, leaving his home in Worthington, Minnesota, for a fishing outpost on the Canadian border, agonizing over whether to report for Army induction or to live as a draft dodger. In “Field Trip,” O’Brien returns to Vietnam many years after his tour of duty as a foot soldier and radio operator, now with his ten-year-old daughter, Kathleen, as he seeks some measure of peace from the traumatic memories of a close comrade’s death. Because these stories are removed from the daily realities of the war, they tend to be more accessible to O’Brien’s audience. But in the original version of Things , readers would have turned the page to discover that neither of these stories is “true.”

Throughout The Things They Carried , O’Brien famously distinguishes between “happening-truth,” or an accurate and verifiable account of historical events, and “story truth,” or readers’ genuine experience of the story, even if the details are invented. The book blurs the lines between fiction and truth even further in its dedication to a group of soldiers who turn out to be fictional characters throughout the rest of the book, and in the appearance of “Tim O’Brien” in several stories, a figure who seems very similar to, but not quite identical with, the author. Many readers, and most of my students over many years of teaching the book, take the circumstances of “Rainy River” and “Field Trip” to be at least more or less true (in the conventional sense): they assume that O’Brien made some sort of trip away from his family while deciding whether to honor his draft notice, even if not precisely the one portrayed here, and that O’Brien and his daughter went back to Vietnam years after the war, even if, again, the “real” version of that event differs from its fictional representation. (That is, they take these stories to be relatively conventional instances of fiction based on episodes from the author’s life, even if contained within a much more complex metafictional narrative.)

In fact, while O’Brien did agonize about serving in a war he vehemently opposed, he never made any trip like the one in “Rainy River;” his worries played out entirely in Worthington. And, while O’Brien did return to Vietnam in 1994, accompanied by his then girlfriend—this trip is the subject of his well-known piece for The New York Times Magazine , “The Vietnam in Me”—his daughter did not go with him, because he had no children. In the typescript for the book that O’Brien sent to Houghton Mifflin, the chapter titled “Good Form,” which discusses O’Brien’s interactions with the (ostensibly real) veteran Norman Bowker, also included a long passage disavowing any happening-truth in “Rainy River” or “Field Trip,” or in various other events in the book, such as O’Brien’s empathetic imagination of the Vietnamese life he has ended by shooting an enemy soldier on patrol, or a postwar visit from his former company commander, Jimmy Cross. Here is a portion of that early version (I have retained the cross-throughs as they appear in the copy at the Harry Ransom Center):

I don’t have a daughter named Kathleen. I don’t have a daughter. I don’t have children. To my knowledge, at least, I never killed anyone. Jimmy Cross never visited me at my house in Massachusetts, because of course Jimmy Cross does not exist in the world of objects, and never did. He’s purely invented, like Martha, and like Kiowa or Mitchell Sanders and all the others. I never ran way to the Rainy River. I wanted to—badly—but I didn’t .

I came across this typescript during a month-long fellowship at the Ransom Center, poring through as many of O’Brien’s papers as I could, and have written about it more extensively in How to Revise a True War Story: Tim O’Brien’s Process of Textual Production (University of Iowa Press, 2017). Ever since my first encounter with this aspect of O’Brien’s papers, I have been fascinated by the question of how readers would interact differently with the book if passages like this one (and another deleted chapter, “The Real Mary Anne,” which takes the opposite tack of insisting that the heroine of “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” was, against the odds, an actual person) had been retained. Or, to put that counterfactual question another way: how might O’Brien’s real readers have responded to the version(s) of The Things They Carried that could have been published, but weren’t? We can start to think through those questions by looking back further than the typescript, to the magazine versions of several chapters that appeared before the book.

O’Brien’s Magazine Readers

While the relationship between fiction and truth is questioned elsewhere in The Things They Carried for readers to at least reasonably doubt the veracity of stories like “Rainy River” and “Field Trip,” some of O’Brien’s original readers would have had no such contextual cues, as they found these stories in magazines. “Rainy River” appeared first in two periodicals: Macalester Today , O’Brien’s college alumni magazine, and Playboy , which paid $5,000, the largest magazine check of O’Brien’s career to that point. Macalester Today heightens the sense of autobiographical reality with its subheading, “A writer remembers the summer of 1968, when he found himself in desperate trouble. A month after graduating from Macalester, he was drafted to serve in Vietnam.” But O’Brien’s own introduction to the story immediately undercuts this impression, as he explains his choice to use a character who shares his name but is otherwise “almost entirely invented”: “Personally, I can’t see that it matters in the least—what counts is the artifact, the work itself—but nonetheless, with this book in particular, people seem interested in knowing what’s ‘real’ and what isn’t. As with all fiction, the answer is simple: if you believe it, it’s real; if you don’t, it isn’t.” O’Brien here deftly sidesteps the question of what’s “real,” at least as most of his readers would understand it, or why they might be especially concerned about such issues with this book, for an answer that bleeds into his more developed sense of “story truth” in the book. But given the context of an alumni magazine, we might easily assume readers who are at least relatively predisposed to take the events in “Rainy River” as closer to “real” than they are, based not only on the question of whether they “believe it,” but also on the types of stories one expects to find in this venue.

“Field Trip” appeared in the August 1990 issue of McCall’s , part of the magazine’s “Summer Fiction Special,” with a readership presumably attuned to the father-daughter relationship as much as the memories of wartime trauma. Indeed, the pull quote on the story’s first page highlights O’Brien’s supposed daughter as if she were the story’s central consciousness: “Kathleen was only ten, but her father wanted her to understand Vietnam, the place where he’d lost so much, and to witness what it was he’d find there.” McCall’s readers, had they encountered a version of the book with the passage above from “Good Form” intact, might have been especially surprised, even dismayed, to discover Kathleen’s fictionality. Of course, that’s often the point in The Things They Carried , as in the famous ending of “How to Tell a True War Story,” when the reader learns that the savage killing of a baby water buffalo was an overtly fictional episode. Identifying with O’Brien as a father, and/or with his young daughter’s attempt to make sense of a war she doesn’t understand, only to have the fictional rug pulled out, seems on its surface like the same kind of effect that the book goes to considerable lengths to create in its other chapters.

So, why did O’Brien remove these elements of The Things They Carried ? That is, why did he render the narrative less overtly metafictional, and how does this revision impact readers of the editions actually published? Part of the answer is that O’Brien’s editor at Houghton Mifflin, Camille Hykes, felt the collection would be stronger without its tricks exposed quite so much. “Why should the magician pull up his sleeve & tell us—Look, this is where the birds come from—when really, deep down, we knew it anyway?” she wrote to O’Brien. And O’Brien himself clearly decided this version of the book would more subtly, and more effectively, generate its metafictional effects.

But I’m not so sure. Much of the real power of The Things They Carried , for me, comes precisely from the process of building emotional investments in its characters, and then rebuilding those relationships on different terms once we have been told, in no uncertain terms, that the “people” we have come to care about don’t “exist in the world of objects.” We probably knew it all along, as Hykes suggests, but the best magic tricks, after all, are the ones where you know it’s an illusion but still can’t quite figure out what’s really “true.”

John K. Young is a professor of English at Marshall University and author of Black Writers, White Publishers (2006); Publishing Blackness , co-edited with George Hutchinson (2013), and How to Revise a True War Story (2017). His fellowship at the Ransom Center was supported by the Norman Mailer Endowed Fund.

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The Things They Carried

Is this a good thesis statement.

In the novel, The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, delinqency is an epitome of an emotional burden in which Tim O'Brien used to divulge how it affected the main characters, LT Jimmy Cross, Tim O'Brien, and Norman Bowker. 

We do not usually deal with the writing aspect of your papers on this forum. Still, your thesis sounds good though you should check your grammar. 

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Analysis of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried

Analysis of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on February 9, 2022

In The Things They Carried (1990), Tim O’Brien’s collection of short stories, the reader must take care to remember that the Tim O’Brien who appears as a character is not the same Tim O’Brien who wrote the book. This can be an especially difficult task, considering that the fictional O’Brien and the real, in-the-flesh O’Brien share many of the same characteristics and experiences: many, but not all, and that’s exactly the point.

In the story “Field Trip,” the fictional O’Brien’s astute nine-year-old daughter accuses him of obsessing over the past: “You know something? Sometimes you’re pretty weird. . . . Some dumb thing happens a long time ago and you can’t ever forget it” (183). Kathleen is right. Neither the fictional O’Brien nor the real one can seem to stop thinking and writing about the war in Vietnam. Much of O’Brien’s published work is about the Vietnam conflict, from his memoir If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home (1975) and his National Book Award Winner Going after Cacciato (1978) to his later novel, In the Lake of the Woods (1994). Rather than express his views on the war in the political arena or as a journalist, O’Brien chooses to write war stories. O’Brien’s decision is, in part, driven by his desire to create for his readers a truthful narration of the war.

In the title story, “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien introduces the men whose stories compose the book. The title refers to things carried by a common Vietnam War grunt—nylon-covered flak jackets, steel helmets, extra rations—as well as the emotional burdens these men carry—the responsibility for fellow soldiers’ lives, ghosts of the war. Interspersed between the stories are O’Brien’s notes about writing, in which he emphasizes that true war stories are “never moral” (68) but instead should make the reader believe. What really happened during the war, O’Brien claims, is not as important as writing a story that makes the reader feel the experience of what the war was really like. And O’Brien’s collection attempts to do just that: By anecdotally sharing the experiences of the platoon of men who served together, O’Brien reconstructs the Vietnam War experience and in so doing redresses what he sees as some of the failings there.

Tim O’Brien (Aaron Cain, WFIU)

Vietnam’s presence haunts the pages of The Things They Carried . The political world O’Brien explores in his literature is a uniquely post–Vietnam War world, and The Things They Carried , O’Brien’s self-proclaimed “best book” (Herzog 104), explores this world through its form and content. Its lack of a linear plotline and its blend of fact and fiction reflect the reality of America’s military entanglement in Vietnam and the ambivalence of the men serving there. According to O’Brien, the form of the book “mirror[s] the soldier’s chaotic psychological landscape and the political, moral, and military disorder related to America’s Vietnam experience” ( Herzog 79).

O’Brien is able to retain control of and give meaning to his experience in Vietnam by dissociating from his actual experience—his “happening truth”—and creating a “story truth” that attempts to explain to and recapture for his readers the Vietnam War experience. According to O’Brien, story truth is dedicated to making “the stomach believe” (quoted in Herzog xi). The fictional O’Brien is then an effort by the writer to rewrite his service experience in a way that that creates some kind of truth both for him and for his readers. That O’Brien’s book discusses the writing process in as much depth as it discusses the war in Vietnam demonstrates how important a role writing and rewriting have in the substance of his narrative. Moreover, in rewriting his experience in a way that invests it with meaning, O’Brien’s narrative serves as the actualization of the potentially redemptive aspects of the service experience in Vietnam. This is not to say that The Things They Carried seeks to validate either America’s objectives and/or its actions in Vietnam or O’Brien and the other men’s behavior there. However, O’Brien does attempt to rewrite the narrative of his experience, however fictionally, to give it “story truth” and resonance.

O’Brien is cautious to not write a didactic book; he claims his objectives are to present the reader with a story for interpretation. The subjectivity of the act of interpretation and the writing of narratives become an important part of what O’Brien seeks to demonstrate through the collection. His stories share not only his perspective on the events but also what his characters repeatedly talk about in the stories—the “moral.” Yet O’Brien refuses to deliver one true moral in his stories; they are as varied as the ambiguities and experiences of the war in Vietnam. Eric James Schroeder makes a crucial observation about The Things They Carried : that “moral ambivalence” permeates the book, suggesting “that whereas a moral order does exist, the text itself cannot decode it; the reader must find it for himself” (Searle 122). The Things They Carried sets its characters on the same mission, whose result they never reveal to the reader, who is once again left to decipher the “story truth” O’Brien presents in the book.

O’Brien’s last story, “The Lives of the Dead,” begins with an anecdote about Lt. Jimmy (the Cross) Cross, Lemon, Kiowa, and the other men but finishes with a memory of O’Brien’s youth and a young girl, Linda, with whom he was friends. The story cuts back and forth between the two narratives. Linda died at nine years old of cancer, and O’Brien explains the power of storytelling in bringing her back to life for his comfort. A story, O’Brien writes, can make the “dead seem not quite so dead” (238). In the story of Linda, O’Brien is at his most obvious; writing is restorative, even regenerative (Linda grows back her hair and looks more alive than ever in his stories). By juxtaposing Linda’s narrative with that of the platoon, O’Brien emphasizes the restorative and regenerative effects he sees his writing as having for the Vietnam War experience.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Anderson, David L. The Columbia Guide to the Vietnam War. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Brown, T. Louise. War and Aftermath in Vietnam. London: Routledge, 1991. Herzog, Tobey C. Tim O’Brien. New York: Twayne, 1997. Jason, Philip K. Fourteen Landing Zones: Approaches to Vietnam War Literature. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991. Naparsteck, Martin, and Tim O’Brien. “An Interview with Tim O’Brien.” Contemporary Literature 32, no. 1 (Spring 1991): 1–11. O’Brien, Tim. Going after Cacciato. New York: Broadway Books, 1999. ———. If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home. New York: Broadway Books, 1999. ———. In the Lake of the Woods. Boston: Houghton Miffl in, 2006. ———. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway Books, 1998. Schroeder, Eric James. Vietnam, We’ve All Been There: Interviews with American Writers. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1993. Searle, William J., ed. Search and Clear: Critical Responses to Selected Literature and Films of the Vietnam War. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1988.

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Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” Essay (Critical Writing)

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Tim O’Brien’s collection of short stories “The Things They Carried” is often being referred to as such that contains a strong anti-war message. However, we can only agree with such point of view to a certain extent, because author does not describe the concept of war as being wicked in its essence, but rather as something that helps people affected by it to realize their true selves. During the time of war, the artificial notions of Christian morality that are being instilled into soldiers, when they were growing up, loose their value, within a matter of an instant.

This appears to be the main motif of O’Brien’s book and it is readers’ existential mode that prompts them to look at “The Things They Carried” as literary piece that promotes an anti-war sentiment or as something, which actually glorifies violence, as an essential component of manhood. In his book, O’Briens does describe the horrors of war, but it cannot escape our attention that he only discuses these horrors within a context of how civilian population is being affected by hostilities.

The sight of soldiers executing their duties at the frontline does not appear as utterly unnatural to the author. For example, when Ted Lavender gets shot in the head, while being high as a kite from smoking marijuana, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross refers to this incident as being beneficial to Lavender, because it did rid him of his drug addiction once and for all. This shows that, despite the fact that “The Things They Carried” cannot be discussed as truly autobiographical account of one’s war experiences, author does know how it feels dealing with the prospect of being shot on daily basis. At the frontline, the value of individual’s life is being adjusted to its actual worth.

The classical anti-war novels and movies portray soldier’s death in terms of universal tragedy, because the pacifism, as ideology, has its roots in Liberalism, which sanctifies one’s life as something that has value in itself. O’Brien’s book, on the other had, does not promote such philosophy.

While reading “The Things They Carried”, we get to look at soldier’s death in the line of duty as something quite natural. It is only when we get to read about civilians being tortured and killed, which strikes us as something truly horrible. This is because, during the time of war, civilians become war’s objects, whereas soldiers remain war’s subjects – they give and accept death as part of their work. O’Brien seems to be well aware of this fact, which is why “The Things They Carried” can be referred to as anything but pacifist in its essence.

As it is being revealed in the book, the only reason why O’Brien decided not to escape to Canada, in order to avoid draft, is that he realized that, had he acted otherwise, he would have to be dealing with the feeling of guilt for the rest of his life. Apparently, author was perfectly aware that there could be no justification for man’s cowardly behavior, regardless of circumstances.

Even though he thought of Vietnam War as such that did not make any sense, O’Brien did not consider it being a good excuse for acting like a lowly coward. Even though that author does not say it openly in his book, it appears that he considers his time in Vietnam as the most meaningful part of his life, because it was in Vietnam, where he learnt how to appreciate life’s precious moments. It is only while walking on the thin edge between life and death that one gets to experience the full spectrum of existential emotions.

According to O’Brien’s book, those soldiers that were afraid of loosing their lives more then others were the ones to be killed first. Such observation does correspond to the objective reality. It also entitles military valor with rational properties. This is the reason why we cannot talk about “The Things They Carried” as book that promotes cowardice, which is the most important feature of what we refer to as anti-war literature.

O’Brien describes war as ugly business, but he is far from suggesting that one’s willingness to avoid serving its country at any cost represents a highly moral deed, unlike those Liberals who consider themselves being fully qualified of discussing “war horrors”, despite the fact that they have never been at the frontline in the first place. Thus, we cannot say that “The Things They Carried” as the classical example of anti-war literature, because it clearly lacks pacifist pathos.

Bibliography

O’Brien, Tim “The Things They Carried”. New York: Broadway Publishing, 1998.

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