Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried Essay

The Things They Carried

Tim O’Brien gained and lost many things in Vietnam. One of the things he lost was the chance to graduate from Harvard. This could have made for a potentially very successful promising career but at the young age of twenty-one he was drafted to be sent out to the Vietnam War. Tim O’Brien did not like the idea of going to war, however he refused the idea of fleeing to Canada and decided to stay and serve his duty of fighting for his country. When he arrived in Vietnam he got the short end of the stick and ended up fighting on the front lines of the war. During his time there he observed that a majority of the men would do things like carry items or little possessions that made it easier to get by or reminded them of

home. He did however gain what reality in life was like. He also got to see what a beautiful country it was, just a horrible time to be there.
The man lieutenant Jimmy cross was gave a pebble from his beloved girlfriend.

This pebbled turned into a major important item to the story and to lieutenant Cross himself. One of the other things Martha gave him which is important to the story is a volleyball picture of her. He would often be angered over that fact he didn’t know who was looking at her while she was posing like that or who took the picture in general. She was always on his mind and he would often wonder if she was really a virgin or not. The pebble symbolized that him and Martha were still together regardless of the fact they were nearly completely across the world from each other. It would give him hope and something to fight for because as long as he got through the war he would have something to come back too after it. Cross would yell at his men to do things when in reality it was himself he was mad at because he could not step up to the expectations which were held for him. He felt he was responsible for Ted Lavenders death because he was always too busy having fantasies about Martha. He smoked all of Ted’s marijuana and sat next to a foxhole he dug up because and cried because he thought he was the reason Ted Lavender died. Also LT. Cross told his men that he was the reason he was

gone.

I believe that Tim O’Brien casts doubts on some of his stories because even to him he cannot tell if the stories are true or fake because when in stressful traumatizing situations the brain doesn’t work correctly and can distort how to perceive and remember stuff. In my opinion this makes the book quite as bit more interesting. It gives it a more interesting feel when you’re left to ponder on the ideas if what you just read was real or if it was stretched truth or what he believes as true whether it be true or not. I also believe it is fair to readers that Tim O’Brien uses elements from his own life. Blurring the line between fact and fiction will make the stories more interesting and will give you more to imagine and to choose what you want to believe.