Criticisms Of “The Things They Carried” By Tim O'Brien

Criticisms of “the things they carried” by Tim O'Brien

The stories in The Things They Carried are linked by the theme of the writer's experience in Vietnam. They do not follow a linear structure and the novel does not have a single story, although it forms a compact book. War, death, friendship, cowardice, courage, shame, loneliness, sadness, friendship arise and reflect upon them from the perspective of a soldier fighting a war that he does not understand. The minor tangible and intangible objects that soldiers carried with them become important and the association with these objects becomes intense.

In addition the package of 15 kg, the steel helmet, can opener, knives, bombs, anti-mosquito, lighter, water bottles, food rations and various weapons soldiers carried grief, terror, love, longing and all that was permitted, but these intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity. They had tangible weight of their own. In general, they all wore these things inside of themselves holding their faces a mask of composure. This war was like all other wars of past, present and future, because every damn soldier trudging anywhere within the same things. Humanity trampled in brutal circumstances. The book displays horrible and wonderful world as It Is a sad and beautiful world as well. (Bloom, 2005)

Tim O'Brien is building a novel about his experiences in life, war and its psychological impact, but also speaks of literature itself. How, why and what stories soldiers tell to each other. They're worth reading and worth mentioning, he writes about the dead friends and these brave souls live between the pages of his books. Stylistic use of each emotion, feeling and words of the soldiers brings intensity to this novel. The normal gesture that might go unnoticed in the normal life are portrayed beautifully and they bring highlight the importance of these things. This novel is not about the verbosity but rather maximum impact is created with minimum use of words.

There is a gap between truth and propaganda portrayed in this novel is not like a reality shows, but rather it's a necessity. The war stories are not generally clean and clear, or allow moral lessons, but this one is different in a little way. So when we read "The Things They carried the men who fought," by Tim O'Brien, one wonders if the story told was real or not. It is important to know that it is nearest to reality, but a little exaggeration is the always integrated in the war stories because of certain reasons. The book is like a succession of short stories, a series of acts committed by people who are in a situation where fear exists permanently; it does not end even when they feel safe. It is precisely this portrayal of reality in which there is never safe place which makes all these stories true stories. It's about the Vietnam War. We have seen countless movies on it and have read many books as ...