Analysis Of Tim O 'Brien's Novel The Things They Carried'

In Tim O'Brien's novel, The Things They Carried, starts off with a lineup of items that each soldier must "hump," meaning to carry, during the Vietnam War. He lists and explains the necessities, various weapons, ammunition, grenades, claymores, helmets, flak jackets, can openers, C-rations, insect repellent, cigarettes, jungle boots, medical supplies, photographs, letter, as well as personal items, memories, histories, emotions, and most importantly their own lives. On top of everything, O'Brien reveals that the soldiers also carried with them were their stories: “stories for joining the past to the future"1, stories that can animate bodies and “make the dead talk,"2 “a true war story that is never about war,"3 and “stories that are strange, improbable and that last forever, that swirl back and forth across the border between trivia and bedlam, the mad and the mundane."4 The novel gives an in depth view of the war through the soldiers eyes being in Vietnam while the textbook, Give Me Liberty by Eric Foner, observes the war from afar through the eyes of the government and the civilians in the United States. The Things They Carried is not about the Vietnam War itself, but the experiences that soldiers faced while fighting the war, the culture of being a soldier, and the way the Vietnam war transforms a solder that American civilians cannot understand.

The United States reason for their involvement in the war was the aim to prevent a Communist takeover of South Vietnam. The domino theory believed by the U.S. Government, if one state falls to Communism, then other states in the region would precede. The U.S. refused to let that happen, as a result the Americans participation in the war kept growing. O'Brien narrates his experienc...

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...hout the whole novel Rat was always seen as a brave soldier and nothing less. If Rat could give in to the weaknesses of war then, what's stopping other brave soldiers from going insane with him. In the beginning of the book O'Brien talks about the weaknesses that no soldier wants to experience. “They sneered at sick call. They spoke bitterly about guys who had found release by shooting off their own toes or fingers... It was fierce, mocking talk, with only a trace of envy or awe, but even so the image played it self out behind their eyes.”18 If soldiers showed weakness they would be criticized by not just soldiers, but the people in America watching them. Because reputation means a great deal to soldiers, it is hard to believe that a great guy, such as Rat Kiley could fall. People in America would not understand the challenges of war that soldiers had to withstand.