The Things They Carried is a work of fiction written by Tim O’Brien. In the beginning of the book, it says “a work of fiction by Tim O’Brien” (1) on the title page. If one was observant, they would have known what genre the book was from the beginning. In the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story”, the author writes “in many cases a true war story cannot be believed” (68). This is because the storytellers falsify certain elements to make the story more believable. The stories O’Brien told in his award winning book may have some dishonest facts, although, the overall plot and content is based off of a true story. The twenty year time interval is important to the stories because it shows that the experience still has a powerful impact on the author. Although numerous stories have a pernicious effect on O’Brien and his friends, he still explains them with passion and remembrance. Furthermore, the author clarifies his tales in a way that the …show more content…
O’Brien said “but in a story, which is a kind of dreaming, the dead sometimes smile and sit up and return to the world” (213). For example, when O’Brien was nine years old, he fell in love with a girl named Linda. She later died of a brain tumor and he began dreaming of her when he fell asleep. Linda was perfectly alive and healthy in his dreams and he realized stories and dreams were the only way to save someone from death. Another example is when Ted Lavender was killed in Vietnam. After O’Brien and a few other men prepared his body for dustoff, Mitchell Sanders laughed and asked Lavender “how’s the war today?” (219). They began recreating a scene between Sanders and Lavender that would have happened if he was alive. O’Brien explained “we could almost see Ten Lavender’s dreamy blue eyes. We could almost hear him” (219). He said “that’s what a story does. The bodies are animated” (219) and in that moment, O’Brien began telling