The Things They Carried Ryan L

In "The Things They Carried", Tim O'Brien conveys the feelings, burdens and emotions of the common soldier in the Vietnam War. For example, he recognizes the soldiers craving for innocence and their weight of guilt. Furthermore, O'Brien reveals how the truly courageous people acted. In addition, through inserting himself into the story, O'Brien discusses what a true war story is.
In the opening of the novel, O'Brien recalls what each soldier is carrying, "the necessities" he claims repeatedly, such as chewing gum, candy and packets of Kool-aid. Such items as these which contrast with the weapons allow one to begin to get an understanding for the age of these boys. Also, he continuously, mentions the weight of each item. O'Brien does this in order to stress the immense weight placed on the soldiers, not only physical, but emotional as well. For example, Jimmy Cross repeatedly fantasizes about Martha, and questions her virginity, not for pure sexual means, but her emotional virginity. Cross fantasizes about her virginity, because he is craving innocence, the innocence that was robbed from him and all the other boys who served in Vietnam. This same theme is relived through Mary Anne. For example, during Rat Kiley's story, he discusses Mary Anne, "Just a child, blond and innocent, but then weren't they all" (100). Clearly, not all of the soldiers were blond; however, being blond implies naivety, and innocence. In addition, throughout the chapter, O'Brien harps on her clothes, most importantly, her culottes. This is important, because these were primarily for younger girls, and they signify her innocence before the war. At the end of the novel, O'Brien writes about his childhood love Linda. Not only does she represent this innocence, she represents a connection between love and death, much like Mary Anne. He loved Linda, and she had died, while Mary Anne was loved, but she relished death and her proximity to it. Also in "The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong", O'Brien stresses how Rat tends to "rev up the facts" (85), and he recognizes the utter unimportance of validity of a true war story.
In the chapter "How to Tell a True War Story", O'Brien lists criteria for a true story, such as: a true war story is never moral, a true war story embarrasses you, it is difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen, it cannot be believed, and there is often no point. In addition, a true war story does not have to be fact, it can be made up. In effect, a true war story must convey the feeling of the war, rather than being true. A story could have actually happened and still be false, according to O'Brien. For example, this entire novel is a book of fiction meant to convey the war. O'Brien inserts himself into the novel in order to make it more true to the reader. Not only does he insert a character named Tim O'Brien, he also inserts his voice into that of the characters, most notably Mitchell Sanders. For example, Sanders argues against Rat, "Against human nature. This elaborate story, you can't say, Hey, by the way, I don't know the ending. I mean, you got certain obligations" (107). Here Sanders is conveying O'Brien's rules for a true war story. In addition, notice what O'Brien the author does in order to deceive the reader in the dedication. He dedicates the novel to the men of Alpha Company, even though they do not exist. Throughout the novel he attempts to deceive the reader into thinking it is true; however, in the chapter "Good Form" he confesses that it is all made up, "It's time to be blunt. I'm forty-three years old, true, and I'm a writer now, and a long time ago I walked through Quang Ngai Province as a foot soldier. Almost everything else is invented" (171). This entire chapter is devoted to explaining this entire novel is made up, but it is still a true war story.
In addition to inserting himself into the story, O'Brien refers to time as a circle concept rather than linear, in order to help people understand that the war is ongoing, and that the soldiers are reliving it some way or another. What is meant by this is traditionally we view time as a linear thing for example a time line, has a beginning and an end, whereas a circle is ongoing. Notice the chapter "Spin", not only is the name symbolic of a circle, several times in the chapter O'Brien references time as a circle. For example he refers to it as being another dimension, "The bad stuff never stops happening: it lives in its own dimension, replaying itself over and over" (31). More clearly, he refers to time as a rotary, "The memory-traffic feeds into a rotary up on your head, where it goes in circles for a while then pretty soon imagination flows in" (33). References such as this occur over and over again throughout the novel. By being circular, time repeats itself, allowing the soldiers to relive the war. For O'Brien, this is done through his writing.
Also, O'Brien recognizes what a true war hero is. In contrast to the common thought, O'Brien argues the true hero, or the true courage, is one who rejects the war. For example, when discussing his failed attempt at escaping the draft O'Brien rationalizes, "I was a coward. I went to war" (58). Clearly, O'Brien is arguing it is more heroic to run from the fighting, then to submit to it. In addition throughout the novel, he reasons that the men killed not for glory or heroics, but rather, they killed because they were afraid not to. They were afraid of being considered a coward. Furthermore, in the final chapter, O'Brien the character refuses to shake the hand of a dead body and Kiowa comforts him, "just keep saying no. Should've done it myself. Takes guts, I know that" (215). The true heroes according to O'Brien were those who reject the war, despite being thought a coward.