The Things They Carried Summary
Tim O'Brien

"the Things They Carried" - Tim O'brien - 1986 Introduction Tim O'Brien wrote the short story "The Things They Carried" in 1985. It was published in the Augus... Read more

Below, Kaplan examines the emphasis on ambiguity behind O'Brien's narrative technique in The Things They Carried, noting the relation between "real truth" and uncertainty. ... Read more

In the favorable review below, Eder relates O'Brien's memories of war to the actual writing of The Things They Carried. Why is he still writing about the Vietnam War, Tim O'Brien&... Read more

In the following review of The Things They Carried, Loose examines some elements of what constitutes a "true war story" in O'Brien's fiction. For nearly two decades Tim O&#... Read more

In the following essay, King asserts that in “How to Tell a True War Story” O'Brien “lures readers into a debate over fact and fiction that ultimately privileges the latter... Read more

In the following essay, Volkmer compares and contrasts The Things They Carried and Robin Moore's The Green Berets, focusing on the way both authors treat the truth about the Vietnam War. Robin ... Read more

In the following essay, McDonough utilizes “the tragedy of Hector” from the Iliad to glean insight into The Things They Carried. “The war, like Hector's own war, was silly ... Read more

In the following essay, Heberle provides a thematic and stylistic analysis of The Things They Carried and locates the book within O'Brien's oeuvre. Recirculated Trauma, Endless Fiction A... Read more

In the following review, Streitfeld examines O'Brien's revisions to the paperback edition of The Things They Carried. In the hardcover edition of Tim O'Brien's The Things T... Read more

In the following essay, Smith examines the representations of masculinity and femininity in five of the stories in The Things They Carried. Tim O'Brien's 1990 book of interlocked stories... Read more

In the following essay, Chen asserts that “exile as a fluid and inescapable experience resulting from immersion in the moral ambiguity of the Vietnam War infects all aspects of the stories ... Read more

In the following essay, Campbell finds similarities between the The Things They Carried and the war stories of Ambrose Bierce. There is a certain brotherhood of warriors, a commonality of experience, ... Read more

The Things They Carried is a novel about the Vietnam War and how it affected the people involved. The author, Tim O'Brien, accurately depicts the emotional stress as well as the physical stress that ... Read more

"All that crap about how if we had a pussy for president there wouldn't be no more wars. Pure garbage. You got to get rid of that sexist attitude." The role of women in the book The Things They C... Read more

Jimmy Cross- He is a very nice and sensitive guy, The Lieutenant. He is in love with Martha, a girl in New Jersey who is not in love with him; he is obsessed with her knee. He thinks about Martha so m... Read more

In the book Things They Carried Tim O'Brien describes the circumstances surrounding the Vietnam War, but more importantly he introduces us to his fellow companions and the burdens he carried with them... Read more

The title signifies baggage -- emotional as well as physical. Many carted along a lot of emotional baggage such as: dread, guilt, being broken hearted, and being without companionship, memories, rel... Read more

Courage is often hard to define, but even harder to demonstrate. In the dictionary, courage is defined as mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. For... Read more

War alters, corrupts, and destroys. Both Bao Ninh's novel, The Sorrow of War, and Tim O'Brien's novel, The Things They Carried, explore the affects of the infamous Vietnam War on the soldiers engaged... Read more

Andre Kratzer Professor Huston English II, 151 - 80 7 March 2005 The Things They Carried The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, is a generalization of his own experiences in Vietnam although t... Read more

"Rockets like Rain" was a story about soldiers caught in the confusion of the Vietnam War. There are a lot of apparent themes that are dealt with when writing a story about war, especially about deat... Read more

Conformity to fact or actuality is the dictionary definition of the word "truth." However, in the book The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, the fictional character, Tim O'Brien has a definition u... Read more

For a 21-year-old I believe that O'Brien had a very complex theory of courage, for him to realize the problems of man and what he had to do to escape this unjust war is amazing. Whereas then he felt ... Read more

David Buchheit 2/23/05 Telling a War Story With the twentieth century came many wars and thousands of books about them. A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo and The Things they Carried by Tim O'Brien ... Read more

Speaking of Courage by Stacy A. Padula 2001 Tim O'Brien's The Things they Carried put both my logic and emotions to great test. As it is a novel composed of war stories, one may automatically assu... Read more

Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is a novel about the Vietnam War and how it affected the people involved. The author accurately depicts the emotional and physical stresses that are accompanied b... Read more

The Things They Carried Book Notes is a free study guide on The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Browse the summary below:   Author Biography / Context of the Work   One-Page Plot Sum... Read more