The Things They Carried American Literature Theme

American literature; the literature written or produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. There are many books that resemble this style of writing, but one of the best is The Things They Carried by Tim O’brien. This book is a spitting image of what American Literature should be and is. Of course, American literature has some standards and traits that specify it as American literature. Like common themes, for example. A theme is the subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person 's thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic. It becomes common once it’s used throughout many of the same type of books. The Things They Carried resembles many common themes of American literature, including grief, friendship, love, and death. These four themes are very common among many American …show more content…
In The Things They Carried, a few characters love. It’s a recurring theme in a few chapters. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross came to the war with a picture of this girl. Her name was Martha and he was in love. He loved Martha more than he loved his men and that became an issue. He thought about her all of the time, even though he never had a chance. She never loved him back, but he could never fully grasp that concept. Eventually, he ended up daydreaming too much and Lavender died because of it. In the novel, O’brien talks about his life when he was nine. This is Timmy. He fell in love with another nine year old girl, in his class, named Linda. They become very fond of each other, and O’brien even pushes that it’s true love they share. The two lovebirds, go out on a date, with his parents, to the movies. They have an amazing time. Eventually it is revealed that Linda has cancer. She dies, not too much later. This destroys Tim and he copes with it by making up stories about her. Love is very alive in this story, but it doesn’t usually seem to end up well. No one ever said themes had to be