The Vietnam War was a long grueling battle where there was no winner or a definite conclusion. Tim O’Brien wrote the novel The Things They Carried in order to help express his feelings about the Vietnam War with the world, however he did not provide a conclusion to the Vietnam War to the reader. For example in the chapter “Speaking of Courage” the reader learns about a fellow veteran O’Brien knows named Norman Bowker sends a letter to O’Brien hoping to have a story written about him. Bowker did not have closure from the war, instead he took his own life because he could not cope with life back in America. Also, O’Brien’s daughter Kathleen makes the point “some dumb thing happens a long time ago and you can’t ever forget it” when talking to
