The Things They Carried By Tim O' Brien

The Things They Carried By Tim O' Brien

Introduction

O'Brien's ability to dream his stories and novels and to make his readers dream them too has made him a major voice in American fiction since the early 1970s and has garnered him substantial recognition. In addition to two short stories from Going After Cacciato that won the prestigious O. Henry Memorial Awards (1976 and 1978), and Going After Cacciato he won the even more prestigious National Book Award in 1979. The story "The Things They Carried" won the National Magazine Award in Fiction (1989), and the novel of that title received the Chicago Tribune's Heartland Prize (1990), the Melcher Award (1991), and the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (1992). The Things They Carried was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize (1990) and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The New York Times recommended it as one of the ten best works of fiction in 1990. Time magazine labeled In the Lake of the Woods (1994) the best work of fiction in 1994, and this same best-selling novel received the 1995 James Fenimore Cooper Prize for the best historical novel. In the Lake of the Woods has been adapted into a made-for-television movie and was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection.

Discussion

As a series of loose stories-or not even that-loose trains of thought, Tim O'Brien takes his audience through a visual conversation of the men he was stationed with. In the first chapter, he tells of the things they carried. The author writes, "The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellant, chewing gum...very few carried underwear...Ted Lavender carried six or seven ounces of premium dope...They carried all ...