Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: An Analysis

Tim O’Brien’s definition of a true war story is not at all about war but the embarrassment, love, memory and sorrow. In the novel, The Things They Carried, a series of war stories about the Vietnam War, the author Tim O’Brien supplies a definition of a true war story. He states, “This is one story I’ve never told before. Not to anyone. Not my parents, not my brother or sister, not even to my wife. To go into it, I’ve always thought, would only cause embarrassment for all of us,” (O’Brien 37). O’Brien succeeds at telling this war story because in the short story, On the Rainy River, he contemplates escaping the draft by fleeing to Canada or being a man and going to war. He knows that if he flees to Canada, he will be painted as a coward in

O’Brien uses this to show how the war is going to disrupt the life that he wants to live. He uses baseball, hamburgers and the cherry Cokes as reference to things he is going to miss at home if he goes North to Canada or West to war. Even though they are small things in his life that he is going to miss, it shows how even the slightest things in life that are loved, you will miss the

This story is a success because it features components of what O’Brien says is a true war story. This certain short story includes, embarrassment, love, memory, and, shame. This story perfectly depicts the theme of one's conscience versus the society around them. It portrays this theme because it is the perfect example of the fight between what he believe is right and what society believes is wrong and is “unpatriotic” while what he believes is wrong and unworthy of such violence, yet society believes is right. According to O’Brien, in order for war stories to be true they must possess at least some of the elements from his specific definition. This is the list given by O’Brien, embarrassment, unbelievable, never moral, no end, skeptical, no point, not easily understood, the questions one asks, not often about war, love, memory, shame, no clarity, doesn’t generalize war, mysterious, and finally, obscene. This short story includes most of these sixteen attributes which makes, On the Rainy River, a true successful war