Tim OBriens Things They Carried :: Things They Carried Essays

The Things They Carried In 1990, Tim OBrien released his second novel about Vietnam, and in the late Sunday edition of the New York Times in March, Robert Harris, editor of The Book Review, reviewed OBriens work. According to Harris, only a few novels have instal a way to clarify, with any lasting impression the meaning the contend had for the soldiers who served there. He believes that OBriens work moves beyond the typical warfare story make full with fighting and battle and instead spends his time examining courage and fear. Harris believes that this is done with sensibility and insight and by questioning the role that imagination plays in component to form our memories and our own versions of the truth (1). The Things They Carried is a collection of interwoven stories, and art object it is a work of fiction dealing with the same platoon, Harris believes that it can in no way be considered a novel due to the structure, but rather it is a collection of short stori es unified by characters and theme. At the same time, he also believes that while it is not a novel, only of the stories cohere and it is still a worthy piece of fiction. Harris goes on to read that while there is a lot of gore, as is typical of war stories, OBrien explains why it was necessary through the voice of the text. Harris quotes from the story How to Tell a True War Story which states, If you do not anxiety for obscenity, you dont care for truth if you dont care for the truth, watch how you vote. Send guys to war, they come home lecture dirty (2). Without the gore, the emotional ride that OBrien takes his reader would not have the jolt and the reader would not understand the value of the journey OBrien has taken. Harris gives several examples of how OBrien meshes in concert the fleshly situations as well as the emotional baggage of the platoon. In the title story, OBrien juxtaposes the items that soldiers carry gum, candy, sewing kits, assault rifles, mac hine guns, grenades. Along with these physical items, the soldiers carry the weight of grief, terror, love and shame. OBrien spends the book dissecting courage and cowardice, moving beyond literal descriptions.