An analysis of Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”, short stories on the Vietnam War.
The paper introduces “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, a collection of stories all involving the heavy emotional burden soldiers carry into the Vietnam War. It discusses how the book reads more like the memories of an old man, not ordered by chronology, but rather by the experiences of pain, tragedy and death that overcome a person in the moment. This paper explores O’Brien’s description of the soldiers’ lives before, during and after the Vietnam War, as well as examines the real things that these soldiers carried with them into battle.
“When the soldiers return home after the Vietnam War, life doesn’t get much better for them. Instead of a hero’s welcome they are met with ignorance and indifference, thereby making them feel alienated from routine life. A classic example of this is what Norman Bowker experiences upon his return. Norman found it difficult to think of life after the Vietnam War as relevant. Anyone who had not experienced the Vietnam War first-hand could not possibly understand its vulgarity or empathize with the soldiers who lived the war. Also, people back home were not interested in knowing about the Vietnam War. “[The town] had no memory, therefore no guilt….It did not know shit about shit, and did not care to know.” (O’Brien, 1999, 143).”