Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

The Things they Carried is a semi-autobiographical historical fiction novel by Tim O’Brien. The narrator begins the chapter entitled “How to tell a True War Story” with a disclaimer stating that the story is, in fact, true. However, the complex relationship between an experience in the war and storytelling creates the basis for the underlying question: how do you tell whether a war story is legitimate or falsified? It is hard to say. O”Brien tells us what a true war story is, but his requirements give room for interpretation- a true war story is “never moral” (65), “cannot be believed” (68), “never seemed to end” (72), “[does] not generalize” (74), and is “instinctive” (74). A story, if told well, has the ability to shape and sway listeners’ opinions and perceptions; distorting them from what is real and true, ugly and beautiful. In the beginning of “How to tell a True War Story”, we are told of the death of Curt Lemon. O’Brien describes the scene as beautiful. When reading the account, readers almost don’t realize that it is about …show more content…
O”Brien lists his requirements for what constitutes a true war story. These themes are not only present in one single vignette, but throughout the novel. For example, Mary Anne falls in love with the culture of Vietnam. This gives a parallel to the description of Curt Lemon’s death as a thing of beauty, because she sees beauty in even the most unattractive places. In addition, O’Brien’s stories also show that the war creates a sense of ambiguous morality- blurring boundaries between right and wrong. In moments of pain and weakness, it is dealt with by means of irony. Mitchell Sanders ironically claims “there’s a moral here” on several occasions, each time stressing the actual immorality of the specific situation (13, 19). These examples give supporting evidence to the claim that The Things They Carried collectively forms a true war