English Composition I
14 April 2012 Tim O’Brien Readers familiar with details from O’Brien personal life find in this novel “links” between his art and his life. The New York Times selected the book The Things They Caried as one of the best works of war fiction for the year, and Chicago Tribute awarded the novel its Heartland Prize. According to O'Brien, in using these interrelated sections of facts, story, confession, commentary, and narration of other people's experiences, he forced himself to invent a new form that blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction, short story and novel, memory and imagination. Tim O’Brien, who describes himself as “strict realist”, who dismisses critics labels of “surrealist” or “magical realist”, but admit, that he is “war writer”. Tim O’Brien uses a mixture of facts and fictions (truth and reality) to reveal the complexities of war.

Tim O’Brien mixes truth and fiction in his stories. O’Brien explores the way stories are told throughout his work . In his stories he demonstrate the way truth always seems to be around the next story. Tim O’Brien himself revised his stories. In his novel are revision, after revision of what could happened, what might have happened, what did happened and what did not happened. The things they carried as a complete work is different from reading the stories. O’Brien calls the book simply “A Work of Fiction”

One of the main characters Rat Kiley, often tells stories, and it is hard to know whether they happened or not, but he claims is absolutely and completely true. Rat is a nineteen year old medic and Tim Rat is a good medic and he takes care of the other men even when he is frightened for his own life. Rat is a story teller and nobody ever knows, if the story is true of half true, but everybody admires him because he has a sense of humor. He finally shoots himself because he can't take being in Vietnam anymore. Another soldier Mitchell Sanders says that the story , about a medic who bring his girlfriend over to Vietnam from Ohio – couldn't possibly be true. In second part of the book author is bringing on the scene a girl, which is girlfriend of soldier Sanders. Hard to believe, that any women, not part of the army crew would be able to access army camp, but I guess at least she brought some excitement in the camp with all male soldiers.

”Is it a thinly veiled nonfiction war autobiography of soldier-author Tim O’Brien as told through the words of forty-three-old soldier-author who also happens to be named “Tim O’Brien”? Character named Tim O’Brien, who shares with the author not only his name but also his age and his profession. The stories, produced a sort of double vision; that fourty-three year old writer, considering the Vietnam War from his distance, and the impression of a young soldier who finds himself in the middle of war he doesn’t believe in for reasons he does not understand. His stories show the harsh reality of war. Tim O’Brien’s fiction has changed the way readers think about the Vietnam War, about truth, about storytelling itself. Powerfully concrete, subtle in details, his novel and stories examine deeply what it means to be alive and what it means to make difficult choice in crisis situation. His angles shapes reality. Each time the readers returns to reread the stories , the angles shift, and a new set of perspective opens. How elusive and unreliable memories of such horrors can be “The things they carried” O’Brien also use memory and most particularly traumatic memory as an important theme in his work. He leads the reader on a journey of discovery, one in which the story becomes cleaner as it goes along.

“The soldiers combat experience in Vietnam seems similar to what the men and women are going through now in Afghanistan and Iraq. Young and frightened Americans are prepared emotionally for the stress of war. What the soldiers “carry” this days in war is not much difference, then what they carried in Vietnam war. They have the same eyes with fear, same camouflage uniform with heavy equipment, same heavy leather boots for all kind of weather. He demonstrate the way truth always seems to be just around the next story. O’Brien explores the way stories are told throughout his work, he demonstrate how the mind sifts through the jetsam and flotsam of past experience and past knowledge to piece together a coherent narrative. O'Brien has captured the realistic language of the soldiers in war. Love, hate, beauty, ugliness, wonder, disgust, understanding, or confusion, all of those we can hear in soldiers language, army language, throughout young soldiers. Ted Levender has always carried tranquilizer and top-grade marijuana to numb himself against his own terror, but his obsessive fear and caution do not help him. The first man to die in their army comp. He was most of the time afraid, and took drugs to calm his nerves, until he was so high in the sky that he hardly even knew he is still at war. He was killed suddenly and without warning. One moment he was walking toward the group, and the next he was on the ground.

Tim O’Brien describe him as a sensitive, dreamy Lieutenant. He would rather be back in New Jersey with Martha, a girl he loves, but she does not love him back. He knows she never will, and this tortures him, and distracts him from his concentration to his army duty. When a man dies and Cross thinks he could have prevented it if he hadn't been thinking about Martha, he abruptly decides that he has to learn to think only of his job in the field. He never forgives himself for forgetting his responsibility to his men. Still, after the war he continues to love Martha, who never marries and remains mysterious and distant. Tim O’Brien story’s are not in chronological orders. Rather, the random observation of one character after another alternates with a deliberates litany of weights and masses, the things they carry. O’Brien uses the Vietnam War as a means to explore courage, memory, truth and the art of storytelling in these books. Courage, and its reverse, cowardice, are important themes through O’Brien work. He reach the conclusion that he found himself in the infantry not because he was brave but rather because he lacked the courage. Author believes readers should judge all the stories in the Things They Carried. Readers will also find that author is able to combine realistic details, narrative playfulness a seriousness of subject matter and shifting viewpoints. Tim O’Brien’s style is fragmentary, close at time to pure stream of consciousness. His language is largely flat and understand , except where it is salted with slang, military jargon, and obscene black humor O’Brien is able to combine realistic details, narrative playfulness a seriousness of subject matter, and shifting viewpoints in a form and content that challenge readers and lead to insight about the elusiveness of truth and power of feelings. His stories also become glimpses into the soul of the narrator and author.

The Things They Carried is a collection of twenty-two stories, or chapters. All focus on the Alpha Company and the fate of its soldiers after they return home to America. A character named Tim O’Brien (same name as the author) narrates most of the stories. In “The Things They Carried,” is mobilized to fight in the Vietnam War. The soldiers carry goods necessary to their survival as well personal items. “Spin” is made up of a collection of recollections of the ordinary things soldiers do when they are at war, such as playing chess games. In “On The Rainy River,” O’Brien describes the decision of whether or not to go to war after receiving his draft card. He had just graduated college and planned to go to Harvard for graduate school. He was split between the instinct to run, and the instinct to do what everyone expected: go to war

Works Cited Whey was just lying together, so to speak, Mary Ann and these six grungy weirded-out Green Berets. Tim, O’Brien. “Things They Caried”, New York: Random House, 1993. 84. Print.

She wore a bush hat and filthy fatigues; she carried the standard M-16 automatic assaults rifle” Tim, O’Brien. “Things They Caried” ,New York: Random House, 1993. 102. Print.

Is it a thinly veiled nonfiction war autobiography of soldier-author Tim O’Brien as told through the words of forty-three-old soldier author who also happens to be named “Tim O’Brien”?
John, McMurtrie. “Interview with Tim O’Brien.” San Francisco Chronicle (10/1/2007 to present) 04 Apr. 2010: GF7. Newspaper Source. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.

O’Brien also use memory and most particularly traumatic memory as an important theme in his work. He leads the reader on a journey of discovery, one in which the story becomes cleaner as it goes along.
McCARTHY,Joanne. “The things They Carried” Masterplots II:Short story Series, Revised Edition (2004): 1-2. Literary Reference Center. Web. 23 Feb. 2012

“The things They Caried”, he demonstrate the way truth always seems to be just around the next story
O’Gorman, Farrell. “The Things They Carried As Composite Novel”. War, Literature, And The Arts: An International Journal Of The Humanities 10.2 (1998): 289-309. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 20 Feb. 2012

O’Brien uses the Vietnam War as a means to explore courage, memory, truth and the art of storytelling in these books. Courage, and its reverse, cowardice, are important themes through O’Brien work. He reach the conclusion that he found himself in the infantry not because he was brave but rather because he lacked the courage. Author believes readers should judge all the stories in the Things They Carried. Readers will also find that author is able to combine realistic details, narrative playfulness a seriousness of subject matter and shifting viewpoints.
Herzog, Tobey C. “Tim O’Brien (1946-).” Columbia Companion To The Twentieth-Century American Sort Story (2000): 409-413. Literary Reference Center. Web. 20 Feb. 2012
O'Brien has captured the realistic language of the soldiers in war
McCARTHY,Joanne. “The things They Carried” Masterplots II:Short story Series, Revised Edition (2004): 2-3. Literary Reference Center. Web. 23 Feb. 20

O’Brien explores the way stories are told throughout his work . In his stories he demonstrate the way truth always seems to be around the next story. Tim O’Brien himself revised his stories. In his novel are revision, after revision of what could happened, what might have happened, what did happened and what did not happened. The things they carried as a complete work is different from reading the stories individually. O’Brien calls the book simply “A Work of Fiction
O’Gorman, Farrell. “The Things They Carried As Composite Novel”. War, Literature, And The Arts: An International Journal Of The Humanities 10.2 (1998): 269-270. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 20 Feb. 2012