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. tally to Harris, only a few novels have found a way to clarify, with any lasting impression the meaning the war had for the soldiers who served there. He believes that OBriens work moves beyond the typical war story filled with fighting and battle and instead spends his time examining courage and fear. Harris believes that this is done with sensitivity and insight and by questioning the graphic symbol that imagination plays in helping to form our memories and our own versions of the truth (1). The Things They Carried is a collection of interwoven stories, and while it is a work of fiction dealing with the similar 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 stories unified by c haracters and theme. At the same time, he also believes that while it is not a novel, all of the stories cohere and it is still a worthy piece of fiction. Harris goes on to presuppose 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 line up War Story which states, If you do not care 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 talking dirty (2). Without the gore, the excited ride that OBrien takes his reader would not have the impact and the reader would not understand the value of the journey OBrien has taken. Harris gives several examples of how OBrien meshes together the physical situations as healthy as the emotional baggage of the platoon. In the title story, OBrien juxtaposes the items that soldiers carry gum, candy, sewing kits, assault rifles, machine guns, grenades. Along with these physical items, the soldiers carry the weight of grief, terror, love and shame. OBrien spends the password dissecting courage and cowardice, moving beyond literal descriptions.