The Things They Carried

While reading Things They Carried, I could not help but to realize how Tim O’Brien’s war experiences turned into such a phenomenal literary piece. O’Brien states “Often in a true war story there is not even a point, or else the point doesn’t hit you until twenty years later…” meaning that the point of the personal accounts came to him much later in his life. The point may be viewed upon differently in many minds, but, personally, I believe that point of the stories was to represent the experiences that the soldiers carried.

The composition of his war experiences seemed to be written down for the purpose of a diary. He presents many short stories that each serves a specific purpose in telling a certain story in its entirety, whether it was about telling a true war story, or even killing a Vietnamese soldier. By providing, me, the reader with these stories I am able to get a view into the experiences that O’Brien and his platoon encountered during the memorable Vietnam War.

Personally, the title The Things They Carried means literally, the things they carried. By this, I mean the stories and experiences that the Americans took from this war are the things they carry. In the case of the American troops, it was the sight of the death of their friends, such as the death of Curt Lemon, or the heartache from a girl thousands of miles away. These were things they carried during the war, as well as after for eternity.