The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried

Introduction

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the story “The things they carried”. This story has been written by Tim O'Brien. In this story the author has defined that in order to protect his reputation a person faces different physical conditions and fears.

Discussion

This story has initiated in 1968. This story is a depiction of Infantry Platoon fighting which have taken place in the Vietnam jungles. These were the modern days in which the warriors were facilitated with all the equipments beyond imagination. These weapons were mainly the can openers, flak jackets, pocketknives and helmets. In this story the author has described the feelings of the men who might die. He claimed that they were holding the tangible weights with shameful memories. They all were full with the cowardice. They were performing shameful acts and had no embarrassment for this. This is a groundbreaking story which has been written on the concepts of war, redemptive power, memory and imagination. In this story, the author has written the story of Alpha Company who has initiated his tour in Vietnam in order to become the writer at any age of forty-three. The writer has used the themes of war and peace courage and fear, and fact and fiction (Bonn 1994). This story had been very successful and won the different awards including France's prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger. The story has also achieved the honor of being finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In this story the author has described that these people were not carrying the grief, fear and sadness. They were carrying the illustrated Bibles, weapons, love letters and malaria tablets with them. They were carrying the destructive weapons which are beyond the imagination of any common man. This story has come out to be a classic work of American literature. The story is actually a depiction of the feelings and story of men at war describing the limits and capacity of human arts. In this story the author has listed the physical objects which were carried by the soldiers. He further identified that these soldiers were carrying the burden of tension between reality and fantasy. He has further argued that the main reason behind the emotional burden of soldiers was their young age and lack of experience (William 1989). Most of the soldiers in Vietnam War were from the age of late teens and early twenties. They were mainly the students, children and boyfriends. From the beginning of story, O'Brien has presented the details regarding the experience of a scared man. He said that the things which they were carrying were guilt and cowardice. They were going through the loss of their friend Lavender.

As per O'Brien, these soldiers were carrying the physical and emotional stuff with them. They were mainly carrying the military goods and different personal items including special ponchos, provisions and ammunition. They were carrying this because they thought that they might die. O'Brien further discussed that along with ...