- Jun 16, 2022
- 5 min read

The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien

Historical Background

If it was not evident as you read the book “The Things They Carried,” a predominant amount of the book takes place while Tim O’Brien fights in the Vietnam War. War is not only a crucial factor for which the book was written but it also ceases the glorification of battle. The characters of the novel were in the war roughly around 1967 to 1971. However, the Vietnam war took place in the years 1955 to 1975. Much like the author, the public also strongly disagreed with the war which led to both peaceful and violent protests to bring the troops home. The reason for this strong hatred is because it defied people’s moral beliefs and killed various innocent people, like those who perished in the My Lai Massacre.

The United States allied with the French “eventually financially supporting France’s war against the Minh supporters” (Colella). The involvement of the United States began when two U.S. destroyers were torpedoed by North Vietnam. This is followed by congress approving Lyndon B. Johnson to “take all necessary action to repel attacks against the United State Forces” (Britannica 2020). This was a method for the president to conduct a war without officially declaring it. Shortly after, Marine troops were deployed to the headquarters of Da Nang in March of 1965. The United States' involvement increased with over a million Americans having been deployed by 1967. Subsequently, after several years of combat, the United States withdrew its troops in March of 1973. In summary, this war was initially fought to protect and support the French but was later fought to “prevent Vietnam from becoming a communistic foothold” (Colella). This goal was not carried out and was eventually seen as impossible. This led to many poignant citizens due to the estimated 60,000 men who perished in service.

A reference to the soldier's lack of reasons for fighting the war can be portrayed as they are lost in Vietnam's terrain. The tragedies and horrific outcomes of war not only scared the countries who partook in the war but also the bodacious people who undertook it. The vivid images of the war are what O’Brien genuinely wants us to see. He would like us to be in his shoes constantly revisiting memories of the atrocities he endured during the Vietnam war. O'Brien successfully does this by conveying the post-war experiences of Rat Kiley and Norman Bowker. Both committed suicide after their memories of the war overtook them. Yet again, this mentions how this horrific battle not only impacted these characters but thousands more. Tim O’Brien does mentions that he took a “field trip” to Vietnam where he revisited all the combat areas in search of closure. He notices that the land does not feel as menacing or huge as he can recall from his memory. However, “coming home for most soldiers was not as they expected” says Wowwk as he greeted people with peace signs, but they returned abysmal gestures. The veteran services and country treated them with contempt because they had not victoriously won the war.

Author Biography

William Timothy O’Brien, or better known as Tim O’Brien, is an American Novelist. He was born an only child in Austin Minnesota on October 1st, 1946 (During the post-World War II baby boom era). He was raised in Worthington, Minnesota by Ava O’Brien, a second-grade teacher, and William O’Brien, who both served and met in the navy during World War II. Tim was an intelligent kid growing up. Before he got drafted in 1968, he graduated Summa Cum Laude from Macalester College in 1968 and worked a summer job at a meat packing plant. He was part of Phi Beta Kappa, he was the president of his student body, and got a full ride scholarship for grad studies in Harvard. He thought that he was too good and too intelligent for the war. He told himself that he wasn't cut out to be a soldier because he hated camping outside, hated the boy scouts, did not like authority, and was queasy at the sight of blood. In his novel, “The Things They Carried”, we are told of when he attempted to flee to Canada to avoid the draft, but did not because he felt peer pressure from his community to fulfill his patriotic duty. He served in Vietnam from 1969-1970. After his tour, O’Brien resumed his schooling at Harvard, studying political and government science. In 1974, he briefly worked for the New York Times, and later began publishing periodically his works in other mediums like The New Yorker and Playboy. Tim first published his work in 1973, which was a book called “If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home”, this book was a memoir of his years in Vietnam. He published more of his works soon after like, Northern Lights (1975), Going After Cacciato (1978) which is a fantastical novel that earned O’Brien the 1979 National Book Award in fiction, Nuclear Age (1985), then a short story of the first vignette or chapter of “The Things They Carried” was published in 1987. This Vignette received much recognition like the 1987 National Magazine Award in Fiction and its selection in the 1987 Best American Short Stories competition. O’Brien published the full novel of “The Things They Carried” in 1990, which was loved everywhere and received awards like the 1990 Chicago Tribune Heartland Award in fiction and the Melcher Award, France's Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger in 1992. It also obtained much recognition through its selection by The New York Times as one of the year's ten best novels, and by its finalist position in the Pulitzer Prize. Tim also wrote Lake of the Woods (1994), which won the James Fenimore Cooper Prize and was selected as the best novel of 1994 by Time magazine. Tim O’Brien’s most recent novel “Tomcat in Love” was published in 1998 and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. In 2001 he married his wife Meredith Beaker, they had their first son Timmy in 2003, and their last son Tad in 2005. Tim O’Brien has lived a shocking life. Through his works, his audiences have been provided with a first-hand experience of various tragedies from the Vietnam War and its effects.

Photos:

Vietnamese citizens being treated violently by the American soldiers.

Chaos caused in Vietnam by the American soldiers.

American soldier utilizes a weapon called a flamethrower to burn the Vietnamese soldiers and villages to make sure they were dead, since they would most likely play dead during the battlefield.

Americans used a helicopter called “chinooks” to lift heavy supplies like ammo, medicine, and multiple soldiers to battle.

Videos:

Tim O’Brien’s interview. “The things they carried”.

Ryan Magee:

Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried explained in short summaries.

Course Heroes on YouTube:

Analysis and summary of “The Things They Carried”.

Minute Book Reports YouTube:

Rapid escalation of the Vietnam war during John F Kennedy’s administration.

Encyclopedia Britannica:

Dang Thuy Tram’s diary. A Vietnamese doctor who shared her selfless acts during the Vietnam War.

Encyclopedia Britannica:

U.S. President Richard M. Nixon agrees to end the Vietnamese war.

Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.:

Newspapers:

Themes

Shame is motivation

Tim O’Brien is motivated to go to war by the fear he felt of being shamed by his community for being a coward.

Storytelling

Tim O’Brien was able to convey his own war experiences through the novel. Storytelling helped O’Brien provide the reader with a chance to experience emotions that you wouldn’t normally feel unless you endured war.

The power of friendship

Friendship in a war is crucial because soldiers support each other in a way that others might not be able to do it . Kiowa, a friend of O’Brien, was able to guide Tim O’Brien out of his distress after killing an innocent man on the battlefield.

War is pointless and unnecessary

The characters in the story do not have a clear understanding as to why they are being sent to war. War is pointless, and there is not a reason as to why the American soldiers are fighting.

The power that death holds

Death is a major part of the book. Storytelling is the only way to keep those who are dead, alive. No one is death until they are forgotten. Many of the soldiers and people who were related to the characters were kept alive by their stories in the book.

Passages of Choice

Amanda Silveyra's Paragraph:

Andy Rodriguez's Paragraph:

In this paragraph the reader is shown the authors personal view of him receiving his draft letter. It is shown that Tim does not see himself being a soldier because he did not have the qualities necessary. This allows insight for the reader to see how in the time of the war, many freshly turned eighteen-year olds were stripped from their home to become something that they were not. In O’Brien’s story this doubt of being a soldier can be contrasted with the rest of the book where he is fighting war, killing men, and getting his hands dirty. War is shown to be unfair, which can be represented in this story when Tim, president of his student body and student with a scholarship to Harvard, is informed that he must leave his home and fight in a war that he did not believe in. Not only does this paragraph add a sense of understanding to how cruel war can be to young adults, but it also shows how Tim feels about war. It is revealed that he thinks that war should be fought for the people who support the war, and not by intelligent individuals who have bright futures ahead of them. He is shown referencing soldiers fighting in Vietnam to “dumb jimbos” or as “back-to-the-stone-age hawks”. In the grand picture of the book, the paragraph adds depth to the story by allowing the reader to acknowledge, while they are reading, that the spoilers shown could have been valedictorians, brothers, or sons, but lost the chance to live their lives fully because the government took that chance away from them.

Mia Cruz's Paragraph:

Darkness forces the soldiers to become frightened. In the dark, those who were dead will rise from the death and appear as ghosts. But only in the dark is where this ghosts are capable of scaring people because in the daylight nobody can be scared. The darkness makes the people think because there is nothing to get distracted from. They are isolated with only their thoughts being a companion. The brain eventually pushes the people to become cowards because they create imaginary creatures that only come out in the dark when there is no one around. Things that might seem impossible to exist in the daylight become true in the dark. The brain plays tricks on people, it gives life to the people who are dead.

Arian Garcias' Paragraph:

Music: