Love In The Things They Carried, By Tim O Brien

In The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, many of the characters’ thoughts stay centered around love. The Things They Carried is a collection of short stories based upon Tim O’Brien’s time in the Vietnam War. Throughout his writing, Tim explains the ups and downs of war, the feelings he and the other men felt, and the situations they found themselves in. He gives a very in depth look specifically on the idea of love during a time of war. The Things They Carried demonstrates the power love has over the thoughts and actions of the people in its stories. This can be seen in the dedication of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross to his crush Martha back in America; the way Tim O’Brien tries to make his war stories less graphic for his daughter so as not to scare her; and Henry Dobbins carrying the pantyhose of his girlfriend around his neck on missions. The

In Tim’s case, it was a different type of love, the love for a daughter. As a young child, Tim’s daughter often asked him about his experiences in war. Since she was so young, he did not want to scare her with the horrific circumstances he had lived through in Vietnam, so he tried to censor it in a way that it was safe for a child’s ears. “When she was nine, my daughter Kathleen asked if I had ever killed anyone. [...] ‘You keep writing war stories,’ [...] ‘so I guess you must’ve killed somebody.’ [...] I did what seemed right, which was to say, ‘Of course not,’ [...] Someday, I hope, she’ll ask again” (O’Brien 125). Since Tim loved his daughter, he did not want to scare her with the realities of the events he had to fight through, so he did his best to make it less scary for her. His love influenced him to shelter his daughter, which was in his mind, the right course of action. Love was one of Tim’s most powerful motivators, both with his daughter, and with his fellow soldiers. He took care of the people around him in the best way he knew possible out of