Research Paper on "Things They Carried O'Brien"

Research Paper 6 pages (1756 words) Sources: 6

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Things They Carried" (O'Brien)

"the Things They Carried"

Tim O'Brien's 1990 collection of war stories "The Things They Carried" is focused on putting across a realistic image of warfare as seen from a first-person perspective. Even with the fact that the writer obviously wants readers to be severely influenced as a result of reading the book, he does not hesitate to introduce fictional passages in an attempt to make it easier for someone to read the book. It actually appears that O'Brien sees romanticism in a place where most people fail to see it and wants to take advantage of the fact that he is basically writing a historical account. This demonstrates that he considers that it would be impossible for someone to express an objective opinion concerning warfare as long as the respective individual experienced it directly.

While one might be inclined to believe that the writer is not very similar to Tim's character in the book due to the fictional elements in the collection of stories, the reality is that they are actually very similar. "Readers should note and remember that although the actual and fictional O'Briens have some experiences in common, the Things They Carried is a work of fiction and not a non-fiction autobiography" (Colella 1).

O'Brien's affinity for reading played an important role in shaping his character as a young man and in influencing him to want to become a writer later in his life. "The Things They Carried" embodies most of the man's ambitions and is meant to emphasize the fact that it is wrong for society to support the idea of warfare, regardless of the circumstances involved. The collection practically provides readers with the chance to gain a more complex understanding of war as a result of looking at it from the perspective of individuals who actually experienced it. O'Brien brought together a series of elements present in his earlier works in an attempt to paint a vivid picture of warfare.

While there are a series of texts related to warfare and to how people need to get actively involved in denouncing this activity, O'Brien's collection of stories is easily distinguishable from the rest. This writer actually managed to provide a somewhat comic outlook concerning subjects that are serious. This was made possible by the fact that he was focused on detaching himself from the ordinary and getting actively engaged in showing that warfare is practically part of life and part of what humanity is.

The collection's title is actually essential in having readers understand the message that O'Brien wants to put across. Although he experienced warfare firsthand and although he saw the suffering it provoked, he did not hesitate to use a rather trivial title for his stories. The fact that he actually goes through with describing the things that he and his colleagues were carrying can actually influence some readers in thinking that the writer thinks about physical suffering resulting from carrying heavy objects as one of the most important problems associated with warfare.

O'Brien apparently thinks of short stories as being an end themselves and as providing readers with the opportunity to see the bigger picture by being familiarized with characters and situations they see in several stories. This strategy is especially effective, as "the inter-woven stories (some of which are more like commentaries on stories than actual stories) collectively form a dramatic and discursive novel) (Society for the Study of the Short Story).

"The Things They Carried" provides an intriguing view concerning short stories and he actually mastered this form of literature as he devised ideas to fuel his collection. The collection enabled O'Brien to express a series of intense topics and to provide information concerning how fiction can be efficient in accompanying realistic stories. "Writing with humor and sympathy, O'Brien offers his stories as a kind of history of the war because "story-truth is truer sometimes than the happening truth" (203); as O'Brien remarks in one of his commentary chapters, "What stories can do, I guess, is make things present" (204)" (Society for the Study of the Short Story).

One of the principal ideas in O'Brien's short story is related to how most individuals who interact with war end up wanting to run from it. It is very probable that he uses writing as a method to run from his past, as even though he recollects his memories as he writes, he uses humor in an attempt to disguise his feelings. It virtually seems that he is successful as he introduces fiction with the purpose of making events he experienced even more interesting than they are. One might actually tend to believe that his war experiences were tedious and that he experienced little to no actual combat when considering the way he uses fiction.

"On the Rainy River" supports the belief that O'Brien uses his writing as a means to put across the horror he feels with regard to war. "I was drafted to fight a war I hated. I was twenty-one years old. Young, yes, and politically naive, but even so the American war in Vietnam seemed to me wrong. Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons" (O'Brien 38). He starts to think about Canada as a result of his fear and considers that it would be one of the best solutions to being drawn in a war that he has nothing to do with and that he actually considers to be unjust.

O'Brien uses the protagonist in his collection of short stories with the purpose of emphasizing all of the things he wanted from life. Thus character is more courageous in situations when he hesitated and is actually able to fight for its rights when it is provided with the chance to do so. When considering that fiction is what distinguishes the real O'Brien and the one in his book, it becomes clear that the writer wants to forget about warfare and all other experiences related to it as he focuses on trying to be more like the character in his book.

Particular segments of the stories seem confusing at times and it is difficult to determine whether this is actually what O'Brien intended to do. It is likely that he used this technique in an attempt to have his readers understand the true feelings he has for the idea of warfare. The writer constantly returns to the importance of doing everything in one's power in order to protect one's nation, family, and integrity. However, he also relates to how it is pointless to fight in a conflict that one has nothing to do with and with how going through such an experience is going to scar an individual for life.

The character of Rat Riley stands as an example concerning the gruesome effects that warfare can have on a person's mind. This character watches his friend being killed and eventually suffers a mental breakdown as he realizes that it would be impossible for him to ever recover. Even with this, O'Brien does not stray from his path and continues to speak with regard to the war as if it did not actually affect him significantly. From his perspective, he simply documents the real-life events he went through and adds a little bit of fiction in order to turn something that is apparently uninteresting into stories that readers would love to read. One might even think that he does this with the purpose of emphasizing that war is perfectly normal and that there is nothing wrong with a person going to war as long as he or she has the reasons to do so.

O'Brien's true intentions in writing the collection of stories was to entertain readers to such a degree that they would actually be enabled to acknowledge what war actually means. The moment when he speaks about Norman Bowker's suicide reinforces this belief, as the writer expresses little to no interest in the circumstances of his friend's death or on this person's nature in general. Instead, he wants readers to become familiarized with the psychological aspect of the matter, as he intends them to have a higher understanding of what war is. "O'Brien is not so much concerned with bringing the terrible fact of veteran suicide to our attention as he is with dramatizing the weight of the ghosts upon one's memory and with contemplating the power of stories" (Society for the Study of the Short Story).

One of the most intriguing things about O'Brien is that he spends most of his time justifying his intention to write and trying to convince people that he does not necessarily want to speak about the dark nature of warfare. However, all of his efforts materialize in him actually succeeding in providing people with a whole new perspective on fighting. What is even more interesting is that this new amusing and disinterested perspective is more frightening than the one that society is used to encountering in accounts written by individuals who witnessed warfare from… READ MORE

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