The book “The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien is based on multiple short stories all referring to his time during the Vietnam War. The author wanted the reader to perceive his memories from the war and to feel all the emotions that was associated with the word “war”. He described it as: death, love, mystery, adventure, terror, pity, despair, discovery, and longing; All of which I felt and detected while reading the authors short stories. The author also goes on about his stories and makes you consider the question, “What is the purpose of war?” In the authors first short story titled, “The Things They Carried” it talked about what soldiers carry throughout their time during the war. The items ranged from claymores, grenades, Ak-47s, M-16, etc. to toothbrushes, tranquilizers, photographs of
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The story begins with Rat writing a personal and touching letter to the sister of a man who was killed. He receives no response from her, and all efforts were for nothing and then you wonder, “What happens next?” A true war story is never moral. Another man killed Curt Lemon and his story is told. Do we really know that this happened? The author makes a statement about feeling “cheated” if the event never occurred, and we are feeling for no one. At one disturbing part, they had captured a baby buffalo tied it up and Rat shot the animal in areas that would not kill it but hurt it. There is no moral to this, he was upset his friend perished and took it out on an innocent animal. Every detail is vital for a war story, but the war story is never about war. The author wrote, “It’s about sunlight… It’s about the love and memory. It’s about sorrow. It’s about sisters who never write back and people who never listen” (O’Brien). The only truth to any war story was the
The story begins with Rat writing a personal and touching letter to the sister of a man who was killed. He receives no response from her, and all efforts were for nothing and then you wonder, “What happens next?” A true war story is never moral. Another man killed Curt Lemon and his story is told. Do we really know that this happened? The author makes a statement about feeling “cheated” if the event never occurred, and we are feeling for no one. At one disturbing part, they had captured a baby buffalo tied it up and Rat shot the animal in areas that would not kill it but hurt it. There is no moral to this, he was upset his friend perished and took it out on an innocent animal. Every detail is vital for a war story, but the war story is never about war. The author wrote, “It’s about sunlight… It’s about the love and memory. It’s about sorrow. It’s about sisters who never write back and people who never listen” (O’Brien). The only truth to any war story was the