The Things They Carried (Essay Sample)

Name:
University:
Course:
Tutor:
Date:
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED By Tim O’Brien
"The Things they Carried" is a novel that entails a collection of short stories based on America soldiers. The book discusses the various issues, challenges and problems that begot the American soldiers during the Vietnam War. According to Butler, many of the characters that are discussed in the novel are semi autobiographical and often do share various similarities and traits with characters from the author’s memoir, "If I die in combat zone, Box me and ship me home.”
"The Things they Carried" is perceived to be one of the best novels that received critical acclaim regarding the Vietnam War. The book holds prominent piece of the war and is recognized worldwide. The novel is a set of interconnected short stories that explains the stories of Alpha company men during the entire period of the Vietnam War. Harcourt argues that the book deals with ambiguous and surreal nature of the war, the alienation and exploitation of the Vietnam War vet and the essence of communicating certain essential truths in the society.
Tim O’Brien, who is the author of the book served as a foot soldier in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1970, before attaining his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at the Macalester University in St Paul. Most of the author’s books often deal with the Vietnam War directly or indirectly. Butler argues that "The Things they Carried" is one of his most famous novels. The book was published in 1990 and won the National Book Critical Award as well as the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger award.
Tim O’Brien’s novel is a challenging and a unique book that emerges from a very complex variety of poetic traditions. According to Harcourt, the author presents to the audience the various aspects the Vietnam War in combination with his biography. Additionally, the author complicates his presentation and makes the book more interesting by creating a fictional character in the stories who uses his name. Therefore, in order to fully understand the book, it is essential to remember that the literally work by the author is fictional and not a non-fictional historical happening or account.
In the Book, Tim is presented as a middle-aged Vietnam War veteran and also a writer, who takes into account various happenings of the war at grassroots. The novel is based on the Author’s memories of the past and his life in the Veteran service. The author processes thehistory and various happenings in his life during his veteran service and presents them in a logical manner, giving a big picture of the Vietnam War (Harcourt).
Through a sequence of closely linked short stories and autobiographies, the author illuminates the behavioral traits of the men who he served with during the war and literally draws a complete meaning of war from his mediation on his relationship with fellow soldiers as well as the impact of the war to the society at large. In his book, Tim discusses Lt. Cross as a very inexperienced, and less equipped leader of the Alpha Company. This is drawn from his relationship with Lt. Cross before, during and after the war. Based on the novel, the two (Lt. Cross and Tim) spends quality time together meditating the various events that had occurred as well as remembering their friends and colleagues who survived the war.
In the introduction part of the book, Tim comprehensively discusses the key characters featured in the by detailing what they carry, ranging from tangible things like grenade, lice and canteens to personal attitude and emotions of fear as well as the love that they carry for themselves, their families and the entire society at large. After the introduction of the book, the narrator of the story is identified as "Mr. Tim O’Brien" ’ who was middle-aged veteran and a writer during the Vietnam War.
In the novel, Tim O’Brien relates the various stories to his personal life. In one of the stories, the author discloses how he was secretly planning to flee to Canada, away from the Vietnam War in order to avoid the draft. "Tim O’Brien" literarily spends his first summer in a meatpacking factory before resuming his work at the Alpha Company. He left unusually early from work one day and drove towards Canada, fleeing from the war. On his way, he decides to rest at a fishing lodge and device his escape plan. The lodge owner aided him in confronting the issue of fleeing from the draft by touring with him along the Canadian border. Based on a review by Shmoop University, the societal pressure and notion of duty, obligation and courage changed his mind and instead of continuing with his journey to Canada, he decides to go back home and face the challenges with his fellow veterans. Throughout the novel, O'Brien confesses that he once considered failure as a possible outcome of the war that he didn’t believe in or he was not sure whether the Veterans will win.
Throughout the novel, the author expresses various fears that begot him during the war and exposes various other techniques that he used as a survival tactic (Shmoop University). As a narrator, the author analyses, describes and comments on why various stories are told and the reason as to why. For instance, the author tells the sad story of Curt Lemin’s death and goes on to analyze, critique and discuss the various elements of truth in the story. Based on the novel, if a given story affects the audience emotions in a more personalized manner, then the emotional part is literally the truth of that particular story.
O’Brien tests variety of ideas by relating various stories that the soldiers and other people told in Vietnam such as soldier who took her girlfriend with him to Vietnam during the war, then started getting terrified as the war intensified and the girl got transfixed in the rampant civil war and in the end, never returned home. According to the author, the soldiers who heard the story often doubted about the truth of it but were in one way or another drawn into the story. In this regard, the author insists that showing factual accuracy is less important to truth as compared to emotional involvement, which is very essential.
The novel is built on recurring memories of O’Brien and his interrelation with other veterans during the war. One of the most emphasized stories by the author was the demise of his close friend, Kiowa, which occurred in a battlefield. O’Brien describes Kiowa as soft-spoken Native American, a close friend whom he had strong connection with. Based on a review by Houghton et al, the context of his friend’s death is used to stage various vignettes of the Novel; "Filed trip, "Speaking of courage”, and "In the field”. In each of these stories, Tim O’Brien clearly recalls snippets of memory of how he lost his close friend and uses them to build and indictment regarding the consequences of the war.
Further, a short story is presented in the book by the fictional ‘O’Brien’ that he wrote about Veterans and Vietnam comrades such as Norman Bowker. The fictional O’Brien comprehensively describes Norman’s difficulty in adjusting to the civilian life after his return from the war. The author himself recalls slipping back wit...