The Things They Carried Study Guide
The Things They Carried: Chapter Summaries
The Things They Carried: Themes
The Things They Carried: Characters
The Things They Carried: Analysis
The Things They Carried: Quotes
The Things They Carried: Critical Essays
The Things They Carried: Questions & Answers
The Things They Carried: Introduction
The Things They Carried: Biography of Tim O’Brien
Introduction to The Things They Carried
The Things They Carried is a novel by Tim O’Brien, inspired by O’Brien’s experiences while deployed during the Vietnam War. Published in 1990, the novel is made up of a series of interconnected short stories that focus on the lives and, in some cases, deaths of the members of a fictional American platoon called the Alpha Company. O’Brien positions himself as the narrator and central character, and he blends factual events with fictional ones in an effort to convey the emotional truths that a straightforward recounting of events cannot.
The Things They Carried was met with widespread acclaim, and it received numerous awards and nominations, including a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize. Its unique blend of fact and fiction, described by O’Brien as “story truth” and “happening truth,” has sparked discussions about the value of fiction in expressing emotional and subjective experiences. The Things They Carried is often compared to O’Brien’s first novel, If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, a more straightforward autobiography. Both works explore themes surrounding the meaning of courage, conviction versus duty, and the emotional weight of war, but it is the metafictional leanings of The Things They Carried that have cemented its place within the American literary conscience.
A Brief Biography of Tim O’Brien
Tim O’Brien (born 1946) is an American writer and teacher, best known for his writings about and criticism of the Vietnam War. He was born in Minnesota and later studied political science at Macalester College. Shortly after graduating in 1968, O’Brien was drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. Many of his later writings, including his memoir If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, were based on his wartime experiences. Almost all of O’Brien’s works are explicitly critical of the war, from its inception to the methods employed by the US Government throughout its duration. They also often focus on the notion of war stories and verisimilitude, or the relationship between reality and fiction. His best-known work, the 1990 novel The Things They Carried, explicitly blends documented facts, anecdotal stories, and fiction. O’Brien does so in order to make the case that sometimes a fabricated story is more capable of expressing an emotional or personal truth than an objective recounting of events.
Frequently Asked Questions about The Things They Carried
The Things They Carried
What did Tim O'Brien carry in The Things They Carried?
In "The Things They Carried," Tim O'Brien—who is the author and, in fictionalized form, the narrator—relates the physical objects and emotional baggage carried by Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat...
The Things They Carried
Is The Things They Carried a true story?
The Things They Carried is classified as fiction, though it contains a considerable amount of autobiographical material. How much of it is actually fictional is a difficult question, and this is...
The Things They Carried
What is the overall message of The Things They Carried?
Tim O'Brien, who presents a fictionalized version of himself in The Things They Carried, might well resist the idea that the book has one overall message. It is arguable that he resists the idea...
The Things They Carried
Why did Rat Kiley shoot himself?
In situations of conflict, it's common for soldiers to give themselves injuries in order to avoid fighting. Such injuries are intended to be serious enough to get the soldier transferred out of a...
The Things They Carried
Why does Rat Kiley hug O'Brien?
Rat Kiley hugs O'Brien in the story "The Ghost Soldiers." Strictly speaking, Rat Kiley does not exactly hug O'Brien, but he does nearly hug him, and for someone like Rat, that is pretty unusual. As...
The Things They Carried
Why does O'Brien lie to his daughter?
In "The Man I Killed," Tim O'Brien, who portrays a fictionalized version of himself, describes the dead body of a Vietnamese soldier in great detail and writes about his own sensations after...
The Things They Carried
What does Jimmy ask Tim to do when he writes the story?
In "Love," the second short story in The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien describes a reunion with Jimmy Cross years after they have returned from Vietnam. The two men spend some time reminiscing,...
The Things They Carried
Why does O'Brien include the story about Linda?
In Tim O'Brien's collection of post–Vietnam War short stories, The Things They Carried, the narrator, a fictional version of the author, first mentions Linda in the fourth story of the collection,...
The Things They Carried
Why did Azar kill the puppy?
Ted Lavender adopts an orphan puppy. He carries it around in his rucksack and feeds it with a plastic spoon. But the bond that develops between Ted and his puppy ends when Azar straps the poor...
The Things They Carried
Why is Curt Lemon afraid of the dentist?
"The Dentist" centers around Curt Lemon. O'Brien and Curt are working together in an area of operations in the South China Sea colloquially known as the "Rocket Pocket." At first, it seems like a...
The Things They Carried
Why does Rat Kiley carry M&Ms?
As with all kinds of candy, M&Ms does not have any medical properties but can have what is called a placebo effect. This means that they can make people feel better without in any way affecting...
The Things They Carried
Why did Tim O'Brien go to war?
Tim O'Brien, who portrays a fictionalized version of himself in The Things They Carried, discusses why he went to war in the story "On the Rainy River." He says that a month after graduating from...
The Things They Carried
Why does Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo?
At the beginning of "How to Tell a True War Story," Rat Kiley writes to the sister of his friend, Curt Lemon, who has just been killed in Vietnam. Kiley writes at length about what a fantastic...
The Things They Carried
How does O'Brien kill the Vietnamese man?
In The Things They Carried, two consecutive short stories, "The Man I Killed" and "Ambush," describe Tim O'Brien's killing of a young Vietnamese soldier. O'Brien, who portrays a fictionalized...
The Things They Carried
What does everyone carry in The Things They Carried?
In "The Things They Carried," the first story in the collection of the same title, Tim O'Brien talks about the objects literally carried by his fellow soldiers in Vietnam, their metaphorical...
The Things They Carried
What is ironic about Kiowa's death?
One striking thing about the men of Alpha Company is the way they handle the deaths of their comrades. For the most part, they try to make light of the situation. They do this not because they're...
The Things They Carried
What does Rat Kiley carry emotionally?
Bob "Rat" Kiley is the medic of Alpha Company, the platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War in Tim O'Brien's 1990 short story collection, The Things They Carried. The narrator—a fictional...
The Things They Carried
What could Jimmy never forgive himself for?
In The Things They Carried, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is depicted as a young man amongst other young men, his thoughts mainly occupied with Martha, a girl he loves who does not return his...
The Things They Carried
Why did Ted Lavender carry tranquilizers?
Like a lot of soldiers serving on the front line in Vietnam, Ted Lavender takes drugs in order to help him deal with the horrors of war. As O'Brien makes it clear from the outset, Ted is scared of...
The Things They Carried
Why is The Things They Carried banned?
The Things They Carried tends to get challenged or even removed from school libraries due to its mature content. Taking place during the Vietnam War, the book chronicles the experiences of young...
