The Things They Carried
Tim O’Brien
The Things Writers Carry
Preliminary thoughts
 Memory can be highly unreliable. Our
remembered truths may be completely
different from the remembered truths of
those who grew up in the very same
house.
 Humor is the writer’s armor against hard
emotions – and therefore, in the case of
memoir, one more distortion of the truth.
The Things Writers Carry
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From author Toni Morrison:
“The act of imagination is bound
up with memory. They
straightened out the Mississippi
River in places to make room for
houses and live-able acreage.
Occasionally, the river floods
these places. ‘Floods’ is the word
they use, but it’s not flooding, it’s
remembering. Remembering
where it used to be. All water has
a perfect memory and is forever
trying to get back where it was.”
The Things Writers Carry
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Writers are like that: remembering where we
were, what valley we ran through, what the
banks were like, the light that was there and the
route back to our original place. It is emotional
memory: the rush of our imagination is the
flooding.
All of us live with a life history in our mind. We
are storytelling creatures. The crux is how well
we tell our stories and how well we recognize
that there is no true history.
The Things They Carried
Themes
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Physical and
emotional burdens
Fear of shame as
motivation
Subjection of truth
to storytelling
The Things They Carried
Storytelling
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Fact and fiction is blurred:
The objective truth of a
war story is less
important than the act of
telling the story itself.
Technical facts around
any one event are less
important than the
subjective truth of what
the war meant to the
soldiers and how it
changed them.
Notes adapted from Jill Collela,Wiley Publishing Inc. New York
2001
The Things They Carried
The book’s different storytellers are designed to relate the “truth of experience.”
O’Brien: Stories contain immense power; tellers and listeners confront past together
and share otherwise unknowable experiences.
By telling stories, O'Brien is able to gain some distance from the harrowing
experience he had in Vietnam. But while stories are a coping mechanism, they are
also blueprints for communicating in life.
“On The Rainy River”
Explores the role of shame in war and
embarrassment as a motivating factor.
 This story is a most obvious example of
O’Brien’s fiction-as-truth: Its point is to
convey an emotional truth, not facts.
 He clearly puts the reader in his position
as a young, naïve person facing a difficult
decision.
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“On the Rainy River”
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How the Vietnam War differed from other wars
Average age of soldier: 19 (WW II: 26)
In Vietnam War, many went to college to avoid war
Men had to explain why they served: not serving was
acceptable
Soldiers served a tour of duty
In combat, there was no safety in the rear – there was no
rear in Vietnam
There was little support for either the soldier or the war
from the general population of the U.S.
Vietnam had not directly threatened the U.S.
“On the Rainy River”
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The war was fought in a country whose history, culture,
religions, and values were quite different from ours
The war’s goal was unclear: There was never a clear
indication that America would do whatever was
necessary to win
The officers in charge were often inexperienced and/or
inconsistent. Fragging occurred
Fighting casualties exceeded those in WW II
Territory was taken, lost, and taken repeatedly
There were no clear combat zones; there was no front
No emotional support was offered returning soldiers
“On the Rainy River”
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All of the soldiers did not return home at the same
time
No war since the Civil War caused such a split in
U.S. public opinion, leading to social unrest and
violence
Vietnam was the first war the U.S. lost
The war was broadcast on TV daily
Drug use was part of the combat scene; problems in
the military included financial corruption, racism, low
morale, theft, murder, and suicide
“The Things They Carried”
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Hand grenades
smoke bombs
M-16 assault rifle (7.5 pounds, unloaded
with 8.5 to 14 pounds of ammunition)
M-16 maintenance gear: 1 pound
Hatchet (7 pounds)
flashlight (2 pounds)
Poncho (2 pounds)
Steel helmet (5 pounds)
Flak jacket (7 pounds)
jungle boots (7 pounds)
M-60 (23 pounds, unloaded: 10-17 pounds of ammo)
PRC-25 radio (26 pounds)
Medic gear: 20 pounds
M-79 grenade launcher: 6 pounds; 50 pounds of ammo
“The Things They Carried”
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C-rations: 2 lbs
P-38 can openers
Pocket knife: 1 lb
Heat tabs
Watch
Dog tags
Insect repellent
Gum/candy
Cigarettes/lighters
salt tablets
Iodine tablets
Kool-Aid packets
Sterno/matches
Sewing kits
2 or 3 canteens of water
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Total: 15 to 20 pounds, depending on the man
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The Things They Carried
The Things They
(and we) Carry
The metaphor of
carrying gives weight
to the idea that the
things we carry —
whether physical or
emotional —enable
us to navigate life’s
inconsistencies.
The Things They Carried
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The notion that people carry heavy emotional
burdens is a universal one: O’Brien switching
between first-person narrative and third-person
throughout the book reflects his belief that by
telling his own story, he is telling the story of
many.
“The Things They Carried” and
“Platoon”
Possible character parallels
TTTC
O’Brien
Lt. Cross
Kiowa
Lavendar
Rat Kiley
Azar
Henry Dobbins
Platoon
Taylor
Lt. Wolfe
King
Gardner
Rhah
Bunny
Big Harold
“Love”
Lt. Cross shows how repression of
painful memories can be essential for
survival.
 The feelings behind the story are the
investment for the reader, rather than
what is truth and fiction.
 In a twist, we don’t know if what Cross
has asked O’Brien to leave out of the
story is in there or not.
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“Love”
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At the end of the “Love” chapter, Jimmy Cross
says, “Don’t mention anything about – ” but is
cut off by O’Brien. What two questions does this
create for the reader about the story and about
O’Brien?
The ambiguous ending reflects veterans’
difficulty in articulating traumatic experiences: a
task storytelling can address.
“Spin”
The unconnected anecdotes here echo
the fragmentation of the war experience.
 War has no winners or losers, unlike
Dobbins and Bowker’s game of checkers.
 O’Brien’s relationship with his daughter,
Kathleen, reveals the importance of
storytelling: to deliver the past into the
future, for giving perspective and
understanding.
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“Spin”
Jot down these important quotes:
As a writer, “You take your material where you
find it, which is in your life, at the intersection of
past and present.”
“Remembering leads to a story, which makes it
forever. That’s what stories are for. Stories are
for joining the past to the future. Stories are for
eternity, when memory is erased, when there is
nothing to remember except the story.”
“Enemies/Friends”
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O’Brien presents a fight within a war: a
microcosm to the macrocosm of Vietnam.
The meaninglessness of the fight: It was over a
stolen jackknife.
This is a metaphor for the meaninglessness the
men feel over the war itself.
This is seen when Strunk laughs when Jensen
breaks his own nose: After all, Strunk thinks
Jensen was justified in his fight with Strunk,
because Strunk does admit he stole Jensen’s
jackknife.
“Enemies/Friends”
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However, the fight is more personal and
emotional than the war: Strunk’s nose is broken
because his “enemy” relentlessly beats him and
crushes his nose.
Strunk loses his leg for no reason other than
where he stepped. He could not have known or
prevented it.
So in the fight between the two men, the enemy
is visible and is physical. Conversely, the war
often lacks a visible opponent.
“How To Tell A True War Story”
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This chapter really blurs the distinction between
truth and fiction. O’Brien immediately brands the
story as true; then he states later that “none of it
happened.”
He doesn’t lie: He changes the definition of
telling the truth.
Lemon’s sister doesn’t get the “truth” of the story
Kiley is telling her: Kiley’s brotherly love for
Lemon.
On one hand, Lemon’s sister doesn’t respond to
Kiley’s letter; on the other hand, her “response”
is that she doesn’t answer Kiley’s letter.
“How to Tell A True War Story”
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According to University of Maryland professor Jill
Colella, who has critiqued the novel, this suggests a
meaning that can be applied to readers and hearers
of stories: that they can “tell” when stories hold a
truth, whether the events of the story actually
occurred, based on certain criteria.
Colella says that according to O’Brien, then, the
truth of a story depends solely on the audience
hearing it told.
If it strikes you as “true,” then it is.
“The Dentist”
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This chapter forces us to reconsider how and why we
honor the memory of war and war heroes. O’Brien finds
it difficult to mourn Lemon’s death, because Lemon did
not “earn that right” when he was alive.
O’Brien sees Lemon as someone who strove for some
false image of machismo; Lemon was still afraid of the
dentist, even after he had his healthy tooth pulled, but he
was more afraid of losing face with his fellow soldiers: an
image he worked hard to maintain.
So the issue for O’Brien: In a war, we tend to mourn
people because they died, not for how they lived.
“Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”
A spooky one with a compelling metaphor:
 This is not truly a story of Mary Anne’s transformation:
It’s more about storytelling and the loss of innocence.
 Many of the soldiers are represented by Mary Anne:
They, too, left America as young and naïve, and like her,
they lost their innocence in Vietnam. Eventually, they all
crossed over into the dark side of the war experience,
and their innocent selves were lost for good.
 The reason why the soldiers listening to the story want
Kiley to “get it right” and to tell them how it ends is twofold: One, endings complete stories and make them
“true.” Secondly, the men want to subconsciously know
how the “story” will end for them.
 Will they, too, go to the dark side and never return?
“Stockings,” “Church”
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In “Stockings,” Dobbins wears his girlfriend’s
panty hose around his neck because they
symbolize love, home – and most of all, some
kind of mojo that comes from both.
Even after his girlfriend breaks up with him,
Dobbins wears the pantyhose to keep this state
of mind, rather than memories of the girl. They
will continue to protect him as long as he
believes in them.
“Stockings,” “Church”
The soldiers have blurred the boundaries
between the war and church: something
Dobbins and Kiowa think is wrong.
 When Dobbins imitates the hand-washing
action, he doesn’t know what it means,
only that he is trying to make amends for
having violated this separation.
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“The Man I Killed”
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O’Brien copes with his feelings about the young
man’s death by taking himself out of the
narration: He focuses on physical characteristics
of the young man, rather than on O’Brien’s own
feelings of guilt.
The reader can only infer what O’Brien is feeling.
He creates an entire identity for the young man –
sharing many similarities with his own life – in
coming to grips with his own mortality.
“Ambush,” “Style”
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Recounts “The Man I Killed” in first person: He is much
more direct about it, in part, for Kathleen’s benefit.
He has a clear memory of the man’s actual death that
only time and distance has allowed to crystallize.
In “Style,” just as in “Church,” the soldiers try to derive
meaning from something they don’t understand; in this
case, the girl’s dancing amid the destruction and human
carnage.
It’s confusing. Dancing is purposeful, graceful, and
meaningful: everything the war is not.
When Azar dances, he may be mocking the girl: Or he
may be trying to derive meaning from the dance (and
hence, the war).
“Speaking of Courage”
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Intricate storytelling structure here: Whereas O’Brien
writes in past tense, separating his current self from the
self that fought in the war, Bowker is unable to use
storytelling as a way to deal with his war trauma.
Bowker has no one to talk to as a way to leave his war
experiences behind him.
Compelling metaphor: The sewage field represents an
unpleasant, meaningless battle that none of the soldiers
can escape; literally Kiowa, and symbolically Bowker,
whose wading into the lake he drives around (and even
tasting it) signals his desire to return to Vietnam to
change the events that ended Kiowa’s life.
(Collela): “Bowker represents the paradox between the
need for emotional truth and the pain many feel in
expressing it.”
“Notes”
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It’s here where we get to the crux of the question,
“What is patriotism?” (page 156).
This is O'Brien's search for authenticity in
storytelling: Most of his writing comes from the
“simple need to talk,” illustrating that his writing
is his chosen form of relief from mental anguish.
As such, his success in dealing with his mental
anguish is directly related to his success as a
storyteller: “By telling stories, you objectify your
own experiences. You separate it from yourself.
You pin down certain truths.”
Bowker has no such avenue for relief.
“In The Field,” “Good Form”
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No one emerges emotionally intact from the
three perspectives of “In The Field.”
Lt. Cross blames himself for not going against
orders and setting up camp in a better spot.
The young, unnamed soldier (Tim?) blames
himself for his carelessness, turning on the
flashlight to show Kiowa a picture of the young
soldier’s girlfriend.
When the men discover Kiowa’s body, they are
overwhelmed by the sense of “bad luck” that
caused his death – bad luck that could have
claimed (and still could claim) any one of them.
“In the Field” “Good Form”
Consider how this same “luck” visited the
Viet Cong soldier “O’Brien” killed in “The
Man I Killed.”
 Reality, randomness, luck, and war
overwhelm all of them.
 “Good Form”: O’Brien distinguishes, again,
the difference between “story truth” and
“happening truth.”
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“Field Trip”
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The scene in the field is the climax of the story.
O’Brien finds a sense of closure through the
physical act of wading into the water and
depositing Kiowa’s moccasins.
Still, he is unable to explain this to his daughter,
Kathleen, who represents the future.
O’Brien’s lingering questions about Vietnam 20
years later: Is it a country, a memory, both, or
neither?
“The Ghost Soldiers”
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This story, and the one that follows (“Night Life”),
both deal with how the night affects people: It is
at night that “O’Brien” holds the most hatred for,
and plots his revenge against, Jorgenson.
It is at night that Vietnam comes alive – not the
country but the war experience.
Part of “O’Brien’s” bitterness is in the
embarrassment of his wound (in the rear end)
and the fact that he almost died, but more in the
loss of his life as a combat soldier. He especially
misses the brotherhood that he is now on the
outside of, looking in.
“The Ghost Soldiers”
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“O’Brien” acts out his need for making war – on
Jorgenson – but in the process alienates
Sanders, while befriending Azar.
The reader realizes now how much “O’Brien”
changed: He is no longer fighting for an ideal but
for pure, raw, revenge.
In the end, “O’Brien” – “trembling…hugging
himself, rocking” has lost his friends, his
memories, and his moral superiority. He is
defeated.
“Night Life”
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This story illustrates the fine emotional and mental
stability line that the soldiers walk.
The change in routine from day to night maneuvers
pushes Kiley over that line and deep into himself, where
he battles visions, terror, and obsession.
O’Brien goes to great lengths to show the impact of the
night routine: dark so thick that it creates an inability to
blink.
When Kiley shoots himself in the foot in order to get out
of there, it’s unclear if he does so because he has gone
crazy or if he does so to prevent himself from going
crazy.
“The Lives of the Dead’
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This is the story that encapsulates the novel’s purpose:
writing in order to make sense of life, especially in
relation to others’ deaths.
Linda is O’Brien’s first love – and his first realization that
fiction can overcome death.
When this beautiful, little child dies, her innocence, and
O’Brien’s, dies with her.
Linda’s visits to O’Brien’s dreams begin a life-long
process of addressing difficulty through imagination and
illusion: an ability he carried with him to Vietnam.
By keeping Linda alive – as well as his Vietnam
comrades – O’Brien is keeping himself alive.
“The Lives of the Dead”
Important quotes from Tim O’Brien:
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“The act of writing is an act of compassion. It entails sympathy for
human frailties, weaknesses, and strengths: sympathy for a human
condition in which we can never be that to which we aspire.
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“Novels are made out of a sense of outrage at the world, the way the
world treats us; the way we treat ourselves; the mistakes we make
ourselves. Books come out of that sort of thing, that tension to make
things better.
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“The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that
others might then dream along with you ... There is the illusion of
aliveness.”
Test Review
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65 total points
15 multiple choice; 8 true or false; 8 matching
questions
4 short-answer questions (9 points); 2 long-answer
questions (25 points total)
Study your notes
Emphasis on O’Brien’s approach to storytelling (its
purpose, its value, etc.)
Know the characters well, especially those in Alpha
Company.
Test Review
Key chapters to review:
 “Speaking of Courage”
 “In the Field”
 “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”
 “Notes”
 “Spin”
 “Lives of the Dead”
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Review
1. A former Alpha Company soldier, ______ committed
suicide by hanging himself.
Norman Bowker
2. Reunited with “O’Brien” after the war, _____ was
still preoccupied with his unrequited love for Martha.
Jimmy Cross
3. __________, a soldier near Song Tra Bong, had not
anticipated the effects of the Vietnam experience on
his girlfriend.
Mark Fossie
Review
4. This character, _________, is the first whom “O’Brien”
could see in his dreams.
Linda
5. This soldier, ________, was “O’Brien’s” confidante,
especially after “O’Brien” killed the unnamed Vietnamese
soldier.
Kiowa
6. As a medic, this soldier experienced a failure and nerve,
but _______ later made amends with “O’Brien.”
Bobby Jorgenson
Review
7. As a talisman, _______ carried his girlfriend’s pantyhose
around his neck.
Henry Dobbins
8. An Alpha Company medic, _________ could not handle
the strain of war and began to hallucinate.
Rat Kiley
Review
9. This character, _________, stole a jackknife from fellow
soldier Dave Jensen.
Lee Strunk
10. While goofing around with Rat Kiley, ______ was killed
by accident.
Curt Lemon
11. This character, ________, believes that “O’Brien”
should forget the war and write about something else.
Kathleen
Review
12. To get revenge on Bobby Jorgenson, “O’Brien” planned
with ____________.
Azar
13. A former Alpha Company soldier, __________ returns
to Vietnam and brings Kiowa’s moccasins with him.
“O’Brien”
14. Because of a pact the two soldiers made, __________
was relieved when he learned that Lee Strunk died from
his battle wounds.
Dave Jensen