Tim O’Brien’s Story “The Things They Carried” Essay

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Tim O Brien’s story The Things They Carried opens a soldier’s perspective of the Vietnam War. The story’s main idea emphasizes how small things such as personal belongings could become an object of emotional attachment through deep inner meaning. The soldiers were allowed to “hump” small objects as a reminder of the world that they left behind (O’Brien, 1990, p.1139). The objects represented a thread that connected the soldiers in the depressing war setting to the real world that still exists somewhere. I understand how long combats could affect the human mind to the point of giving up and losing moral stability. I felt sad that people had to face such events and desperately hold on to their fading memories. The story is similar to An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge because of the war context and fictional elements, as The Things They Carried presents a mix of fictional and real-life events. However, there were enough real details in the story for me to understand that there are no possible outcomes that could justify soldiers’ suffering.

I once saw a young woman in a café, that placed her bag on the seat near her. With a heavy sigh, she put her phone aside on the table and looked at her bag. A keychain was attached to one of the bag’s shoulder straps from the inner side of the bag, with a fun plushy colorful cartoon character. The colorful character seemed odd and unfitting to the woman’s minimalistic clothing with muted neutral tones of green and grey. The woman pulled the keychain toy closer and delicately stroked the plush fibers. The keychain toy appeared worn out, with a couple of dark spots, and some parts of the material missing. Besides the toy, the woman’s bag contained a notebook and several folders with papers with graphics and tables sticking out. It was clear that the woman was a mother who took a break for a coffee to recollect her thoughts after a stressful day at work. Looking at the funny keychain reminded her of her daughter and her family and calmed the woman’s nerves.

Reference

O’Brien, T. (1990). The Things They Carried. In R. Bausch and R.V. Cassil (Eds.), The Norton anthology of short fiction (8th ed, pp. 1138-1150). W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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