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Summary Of The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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Throughout the book The Things They Carried, author Tim O’Brien shares a variety of short story-like stories that draw the reader into the Vietnam War. More closely in his short story titled “On the Rainy River”, O’Brien dives deeper into the thoughts and actions of a character version of himself. In the story, Tim O’Brien, the character, receives a draft notice for the Vietnam War. This is important because Tim O’Brien, the author, further develops the character O’Brien by allowing the reader to enter into this thoughts and feelings. Instead of the reader assuming how O’Brien feels upon receiving the draft notice, he/she finds out first-hand how he truly feels. It is evident that O’Brien is not happy about the notice because he exemplifies a defense mechanism where he begins to blame others for the reason he was drafted. First off, O’Brien is confused on why the war started and why he, an anti-war liberal, was drafted. He states, “ Who started it, and when, and why? What really happened to the USS Maddox on that dark night in the Gulf of Tonkin? Was Ho Chi Minh a Communist stooge, or a nationalist survivor, or both, or neither? What about the Geneva Accords? What …show more content…

During the Vietnam war, the United States bombed the city leaving everlasting damage. Standing United States president at the time, Richard Nixon, bombed the city in hopes of creating enough damage to the civilian’s infrastructure so that Vietnam leaders would negotiate peace. Artist Andy Warhol, an anti-war artist, designed the button. The button had “Bomb Hanoi” printed on it and worn throughout the Vietnam War in the United States by pro-war conservatives (“Hanoi”). In the story, O’Brien states that he is an anti-war liberal and wonders why the pro-war conservative that wears this button isn’t drafted. O’Brien does not think it is fair he is drafted to fight in a war that he doesn’t support while the man who does believe in the war is

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