The novel, The Things They Carried, starts off by author Tim O’Brien introducing us to many characters however, this very unique author novel explores most, if not all experiences of many American troops in the Vietnam War and what they went through daily during the war. This literary masterwork of Brien, in which was published in 1990, vividly portrays the psychological and emotional toll that troops bear while serving in the armed forces while also illuminating the complexity of war and its profound effects on people during that period.
Initially, he uses many vivid and detailed storytelling skills in order to delve into the lives of the soldiers, revealing their fears/worries, hopes, and struggles. Additionally, to the real loads of guilt, anxiety, and trauma, he also highlights the weight of the material possessions they are required to carry, such as guns, ammo, and personal items. The intricate nature of war and its significant psychological effects are also a few very interesting topics he covered in his novel. O'Brien also acknowledges that combat stories might be both factual and made up, blurring the border between fact and fiction. In order to deal with the horrors of war and to depict the reality of human experience, he examines the power of narrative itself. Showing a very interesting /moving and thought-provoking
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meaning that In order to integrate and make meaning of painful situations, O'Brien highlights the value of narrative. He gives an example of how making stories can be both an escape from and a means of confronting the atrocities of war. For instance, when O’Brien mentioned, “Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story" (p. 36). This confirm that the central idea of this novel is how storytelling can really have a tremendous influence on how we actually see the real