Is A Platoon Of Young American Soldiers In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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Tim O’Brien, in his novel The Things They Carried, provides a first-hand account of the experiences of a platoon of young American soldiers in the Vietnam War. Through the stories he tells, O’Brien is able to relate to the reader the atmospheres of the situations that the soldiers were placed in. He also emphasizes the roles of both the physical and mental “things” that he and every other soldier carried on their missions throughout the war. Many of the physical objects that the soldiers kept with them either served a vital purpose to their survival or an emotional purpose to help remind them of the things they loved. For instance, Rat Kiley is the platoon’s medic and therefore carries a first aid kit along with comic books and M&Ms “for especially