The Things They Carried (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Tim O’Brien
- First Published: 1986
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The late 1960's
- Setting: Vietnam
- Principal Characters: First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, Martha, Kiowa, Ted Lavender
- Genres: Psychological fiction
- Subjects: 1960’s
- Locales: United States
The Story
A platoon of seventeen American foot soldiers is on the march in the booby-trapped swamps and hills of Vietnam. They have been ordered to set ambushes, execute night patrols, and search out and destroy the massive tunnel complexes south of Chu Lai constructed by Viet Cong guerrillas. Young and frightened, most of the Americans are ill prepared emotionally for the stresses of war. The story does not follow a traditional linear plot but instead offers fragments of their experience, including seemingly unending lists of gear and personal effects that they carry with...
[The entire page is 1534 words long]
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