The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried

Introduction

Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a book written about the Vietnam War. The narrator, who also happens to be the author, was a soldier under the alpha company. He, like his fellow soldiers, participated in the war-making his record of events trustworthy. He was also able to interact with his fellow soldiers who shared their personal experiences during and after the war. However, the narrator could not possibly remember every single detail of what happened during the war, especially with the long time-lapse. For that reason, he added other false aspects to make the story flow. These aspects of imaginations may confuse a reader who intends to collect facts about the Vietnam War.

Tim O’ Brien narrates about what transpired in the Vietnam War. From his perspective, it was a valid account. The author was in an excellent position to keep a record of what happened because he was in the war, and he spends much time with his fellow soldiers; some of them confided in him. It made him have access to a lot of knowledge. The motive to write the things they carried must have been as a result of several reasons. One of them is to enlighten the writers on what happened during the war. Secondly, he was using his skills as a writer to handle the grief, guilt, and sorrow that haunts him even after the war by trying to telling the world what happened to release the guilt.

Despite the great attempt by the writer to capture every small detail of whatever happened, it is impossible to have made such precise descriptions. For example, when the narrator takes about the protective charms that were carried by different soldiers, he takes time to precisely describe the thumb that was given to Norman Bowker by Mitchell Sanders[1]. O’Brien takes time to describe a corpse from which Benvell got his protective charm. He captured the age of the boy, the location where he was lying, and his exact dressing code at the time his body. In another event, the author killed a man in the war. He hardly knew him. However, he goes on to give every minute details of the man as he knew him all his life. It is possible that the author only used his imaginations to make elaborate descriptions, which were not the actual account. He made up some things to make the writer entertained. The exaggeration could impact negatively on the validity of the information.

During the narration, the author introduces Mitchell Sanders, who was a resident storyteller at the alpha company. He told a mythical story of six men who used to hear voices in the jungle[2]. After the story, Sanders confessed to having made up a few things in the story to make it more interesting for the soldiers. It might have been helpful at that time to keep the concentration of the soldiers and the readers. However, it might be dangerous to a reader who seeks to find facts about the mythical story. It is difficult to tell which part of the story is right and which one was made up. It leaves the reader with uncertainties.

The writer was also biased to some extent. During the recruitment process to join the soldiers to fight in the Vietnam War, he talked about having no alternative but joining the military force. In a real sense, he had a choice of flying to Canada instead of joining the military. He did not choose to join the army because he was patriotic; neither did he feel the need to fight the enemy. He did not like being part of soldiers who made irrational decisions. He decided to join the army because of fear. He feared what his family and community at large would think if he failed to participate. On another occasion, O’Brien is reluctant to state whether or not he was responsible for the death of a man outside Mykhan. However, his guilt indicated he might have had something to do with the man’s death. This form of biasness by the writer, especially when it comes to the reasons why he made particular decisions or silence on whether or not he was responsible for given actions interferes with the validity of the writer’s account of records.

The time-lapse between the occurrence of the Vietnam War and the time the author wrote the thing they carried affected the information conveyed in the book. Time made the author forget some events that occurred or a section of those events. It could be the reason why he invited much in imagination to build up his story. Replacing real events with the author’s fantasies affects the authenticity of the information. However, the time enabled the writer to gather more info, especially on the effects of the Vietnam War on the soldiers after they had left the battlefield. The author was able to meet with LT. Cross, who was the team leader of the alpha company. He documented the encounter in his book, where he narrates how the lieutenant felt guilty and responsible for the death of Lavender[3]. The author received a seventeen-page letter from Norman Bowker, who narrated how drove around a homeland lake because he had no one to talk to help relieve himself from the sorrows and guilt. It is, therefore, evident that time played a proper role that enabled the author to gather more information about the war.

Tim O’ Brien’s experience in Vietnam is much of a fearful man who was initially reluctant to join the war but had no option because he could not stand the victimization. The book talks about his memories and what his colleagues encountered during and after the war. A narrator is a rational man. In other cases, he states part of his experiences where he acts and behaves horrifically, just like his fellow soldiers, when a man died outside My Khan, O’Brien, by the memories of how the corpse looked like[4]. The memories made the author feel guilty and fear at the same time. In the man I killed, O’Brien is fearful and is afraid to narrate the story. He hides behind the third person who was able to explain what transpired explicitly. He distances himself from the narration and does not give any personal option regarding the event. This technique of writing helps the reader to have another form of experience where the narrator’s thoughts are brought forth by another person.

Other characters in the story had a significant impact on O’Brien’s experience in Vietnam. Kathleen, who is the author’s daughter, made the author have a different feeling about the war. He often thought about how he was going to tell her daughter about the events that transpired during the war, especially in the man I killed. Later, when they came back from the war, ‘realized how insignificant those events were to her daughter. When he then took her to Vietnam to see the battlefield, his daughter did not see much apart from the stink and the fact that the land looked strange[5]. bThis helped the narrator to slow down in terms of taking the events too seriously.

Linda is another character that helped shape the author’s experience in Vietnam and after the war. She was O’ Brein’s first love. Sadly she died of a brain tumor while she was in fifth grade. It became the author’s first encounter with death’s cruelty[6]. After the burial, O’Brien would daydream and fantasize about Linda being alive. The imagination helped him cope with sorrow. The author used the same technique to deal with his pains during and after the Vietnam War. He used storytelling as a tool to divert his brain from the reality of guilt and sorrow. It is the main reason why he letter ventured into writing stories about the war.

O’Brien is indeed an excellent writer who work is very rich in imagination that helps that writer visualize what was happening during the war. Being a soldier at war makes him reliable. He was also able to present his narration through the eyes of other characters making is evidence more detailed. From the book, he had several interactions with his fellow soldiers during and after the war that made him collect more information. All that makes his work a primary historical source despite the few challenges associated with his writing technique, time-lapse, and personal desire to leave out some information.

Bibliography

O’Brien, Tim. The things they carried. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

[1] O’Brien, Tim. The things they carried. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

[2] O’Brien, Tim. The things they carried. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

[3] O’Brien, Tim. The things they carried. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

[4] O’Brien, Tim. The things they carried. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

[5] O’Brien, Tim. The things they carried. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

[6]. O’Brien, Tim. The things they carried. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.