Summary Of Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried is a fictional novel inspired by events that took place during the Vietnam War. The story takes place in Vietnam during the war and follows the characters Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, and Ted Lavender as they navigate the war. The story was written in 1990 and although the Vietnam war took place from 1955 to 1975, the story focuses on the character from 1969 to 1971. The setting is described as cold and wet when it talks about how “each carried a green plastic poncho that could be used as a raincoat or groundsheet or makeshift tent”. The writer talks about a cold and wet setting to get people to imagine what it was like for the soldiers, shivering in the rain and fighting in the trenches as they fill with water. The writer

He often talks about a girl named Martha who wrote him letters and although they were not romantic letters, he wanted them to be. This obsession with Martha was distracting and Cross considered this distraction to be the cause of Ted Lavender’s death, this is shown when Cross burns the letters and pictures of Martha. Ted Lavender is characterized by physical appearance, thoughts, and feelings. He contributes to the stereotype that soldiers need to do drugs to help numb the pain of war when the author states that “Ted Lavender carried 6 or 7 ounces of premium dope, which for him was a necessity”. This was a necessity for him because he needed it so he didn’t think about the war.
The story The Things They Carried goes back and forth between Cross’s obsession with Martha even though they only met once in college and the events that lead up to the death of the soldier Ted Lavender. It also covers the list of things that the soldiers carry. Whether it be letters, pictures, bandages, dope, or even emotions, every soldier carries something. The story has a traditional plot structure with an exposition, a rising action, a climax, a falling action, and a