The Things They Carried

In The Things They Carried, O' Brien shows how important it is to take the memories that are buried inside of you and carry them to the surface. This is critical so your story can grip others and make them aware; but, also, because you are finally able to find an outlet for the events you may have not fully come to terms with. Writing a story allows an author to analyze and truly figure out what they got out of or who they became because of tribulation they got through, such as war.
The process of story writing and telling has the capacity to take a situation that makes you uncomfortable and possibly make you more at ease with it. O' Brien states:
I'm forty-three years old, and a writer now, still dreaming Linda alive in exactly the same way... she's mostly made up, with a new identity and a new name, like the man who never was. Her real name doesn't matter... I loved her and then she died. And yet right her, in the spell of memory and imagination, I can still see her as if through ice, as if I'm gazing into some other world, a place where there are no brain tumors and no funeral homes, where there are no bodies at all... I'm young and happy. I'll never die. I'm skimming across the surface of my own history, moving fast, riding the melt beneath the blades, doing loops and spins, and when I take a high leap into the dark and come down thirty years later, I realize it is as Tim trying to save Timmy's life with a story. (245-246)
This passage, although lengthy, seems to sum up why retelling stories, however true or not, is so critical for some people (maybe all). This outlet is not limited to writers; it is meant for everyone whoever opens their mouth and says they have something to tell. O' Brien says, "in the spell of memory and imagination..." he recreates the person he was once in love with. He is able to make her alive and therefore he can remember her life and pass it on. As well as passing other people's lives on and making them important, he also will continue to live on in his own novels, even after he has passed. Therefore he has, so to say, "left his footprints" in this world and to many, including myself, that is extremely crucial.


O' Brien uses techniques in his writing such as strong language and symbolism to more effectively represent his theme and make a more lasting impression on the reader. In one death, specifically (Kiowa's) he retells it and makes it known that his location of death was a "shit field". He does not censor himself for the sake of the readers but allows the true nature of the location to come alive. Also the "shit field" is symbolic in that the war in which they were fighting had come to such measures as to have them fight in such conditions. Irony also comes into play here because the field was an actual place where sewage went therefore the name fits it well. The fact that Kiowa's death occured here also, indirectly highlights how good of a man Kiowa was. He died in the exact opposite manner in which he should have. For example, if Kiowa was an evil man, it may have been more accepted that he died in this manner. But Kiowa was a "fine human being, a devout Baptist" (163) which is more powerful to the reader when they find out how he died. The war takes honest people away in such horrific events and there is really no need for it.

Lastly, I believe O'Brien would look at this story (if he had not written it) as a true war story because it evokes feeling in the reader. He states himself that, "I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth... What stories can do...is make things present. I can look at things I never looked at... I can make myself feel" (180). In light of this quote that O'Brien said, I believe he would take this story and recognize it for its truth. Timmy (or Tim)'s story reinvents the war in a way the reader can see, touch, hear, smell, and, ultimately, be there themselves (even though they never have been or will be). It creates this utter hopelessness and brings to life events that may have happened to someone, some where. It does not matter if it is 100% true; it matters if somebody can sit down and read it and say "Wow. I can relate." or just lets someone feel something they would never have to feel in actuality.