A Brief Review Of The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Tim O’Brien’s short story, The Things They Carried, is a Vietnam War veterans auto fictional tale of his experience in Vietnam. The story sets out to give a surreal look at the Vietnam War’s effects on the soldiers who fought it, and give some insight into a war that is still debated to this day. For me, the major themes I saw in the story were about the burden each soldier held, and how each soldier had their own way to try and escape the horrors they faced. The major, unifying theme of the story was about the burdens each soldier carried with them through their time in Vietnam. However, the burdens each man carries varies from their SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) gear such as canteens, ammunition, and helmets, to personal items such as comic books, photographs, or even dope. But most of those personal items, such as their lucky pantyhose, drugs, and Bibles, are there to serve as escapism from the burden the war has placed on each of them. Which leads into the second most important theme of the story, which is how each man tried find their own pocket of escapism from a terrible situation.

As for our main character, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, he held onto the love letters he received from a girl named Martha. He obsessed over these letters hoping one day he would finally see her and learn if she is truly a virgin. As for the men in the rest of the company, they obsessed over items such as drugs, comic books, and religion to provide some form of escape from the war in their free-time. Other examples of escapism in the story include randomly firing their weapons into the night sky, chucking their gear into the jungle, and daydreaming of home when on guard