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Response To The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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Response to “The Things They Carried” Whether fiction or partial non-fiction, in this short story of the “Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien tries to place the reader in the soldier’s daily life during the war. He did this by introducing the characters not by describing their personalities, but by using the things they carried to give us a picture of that character. Out of respect or confidentiality he prefers not to use specific characteristics of each person, but instead opts to use symbolic representations through what they carried. He uses this method on each character individually and then proceeds to use the same method to describe the platoon or all the characters as a whole. We shall start with Lt. Jimmy Cross, who “was just a kid at …show more content…

This might explain his inability to lead with the upmost assertiveness and confidence. Other that O’Brien telling us that Cross was a lieutenant, we …show more content…

It is mentioned that the things they carried “might provide some measure of safety or security, as did the compass, the maps, the artillery, the ponchos, the dry socks; it might comfort them in time of great fear, as did the letters from home, the photographs of sweethearts, a smooth rock sent by a friend from the Jersey shore” (Wells 2). He tells us that “[t]hey carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture” O’Brien 23). After all they were humans, kids who had been taken from the safety of their homes and sent in to harm’s way. This is probably why O’Brien made this a fictional story. To respect the memories of those who fought with him but also informing us about the things that went on during the war. Using make believe characters and stories allows him to inform us of what the soldiers out there felt like and what type of people they were. O’Brien himself said “Well, I carry the memories or the ghosts of a place called Vietnam, the people of Vietnam, my fellow soldiers. More importantly, I guess, I carry the weight of responsibility and a sense of abiding guilt. I carry joyful memories, too, friends I made and the

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