Critical Analysis of Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried"

"The Things They Carried" is not an anti-war short story as much as I might like it to be. Tim O'Brien writes his books to tell his version of "truth." That is what he is about. While "The Things They Carried" contains very graphic descriptions of the things that go on during war time, those things are real.

Soldiers carry both deadly weapons like assault rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers into war. They also carry very everyday, common items like gum, candy, sewing kits, etc. into war. This is O'Brien's way of making these soldiers real to the rest of us because, in effect, these soldiers are us. But the story itself is meant to show us the other things that soldiers carry into war, like memorieis, and love and grief. Jimmy Cross dreams of a girl named Martha. Henry Dobbins carries extra rations. They also carry the "secret of cowardice" (O'Brien). They ''carried the soldier's greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to" (O'Brien). They are ordinary people who must do terrible and heinous things in the name of war.

O'Brien uses these short images of all the things these boys carries in order to create pictures for the reader. The reader feels that he/she is slowly getting to know these boys by looking at all the things they carried. For example, Jimmy Cross carries the physical letters and photos of Martha in order to let us understand his love and longing for her. The artifacts that they carry tend to speak for themselves. He makes us really feel for Lieutenant Jimmy Cross because he also carries the lives of all these men in his hands.

Because his focus is to help the reader understand the characters better, I do not believe the sentiment is anti-war. The sentiment is more like war is atrocious, but it happens. However, the "players" or soldiers in war are mere human beings who have feelings and emotional baggage just like the rest of us. It's just that they are forced to do these atrocious things in the name of war.

Works Cited

O' Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried