Imagination In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Author Steven Kaplan interpretation went as followed. “In his most recent work of fiction, The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien takes the act of trying to reveal and understand the uncertainties about the war one step further, by looking at it through the imagination.” (Kaplan, Steven) Although Tim O’Brien actively served his country by fighting in Vietnam, his character Lt. Cross was a representation of O’Brien in this story. O’Brien gives his readers a combination of Uncertainty mixed with imagination, this enabled the story to have a complex variety of issues to keep his readers engaged in the story. Just like Lt. Cross and his platoon used their imagination as an escape, O’Brien wants his readers to do the same. He wants his readers to understand the concept of escaping while reading his story. Escaping everyday

By doing so, the readers will have a sense of being right there in the story and in return, have a better perception of what is taking place in this short story. Giving evidence that the story is fiction, it also leaves the readers questioning how much of this is accurate. Brilliantly written by O’Brien, this may be the type of response he would like from his readers. In a sense, O’Brien has his reader’s right where he wants them, fully engulfed into the story. As the plot thickens, the mind wonders, quickly thinking how much is accurate. As a result, the imagination is already at work without a given notice just like the platoon and Cross in the story. At this point O’Brien has captured the readers in which belief, anxiety, & anticipation co-exist between the readers and the characters. By doing so, uncertainty has been taken to another level of imagination. In The Things They Carried O’Brien explained “It’s impossible to know “exactly what had happened”. (Kaplan,