Can you provide a literary analysis of The Things They Carried?

The Things They Carried is a book about war, and it is a book about the depths of ourselves—what is unknown and secret to everyone else but carried by ourselves nonetheless. It is also a collection of stories that highlight storytelling in and of itself. O'Brien writes,

By telling stories, you objectify your own experience. You separate it from yourself. You pin down certain truths. You make up others. You start sometimes with an incident that truly happened, like the night in the shit field, and you carry it forward by inventing incidents that did not in fact occur but that nonetheless help to clarify and explain.

The Things They Carried is as much about storytelling and its ability to help us move forward and process—even grieve—as it is about the stories within the book itself. There is a feeling that one has when they read the book, about how we share the stories that most impacted us in some way. There is a question of whether if we recount an event verbatim; will it have the same effect on our listener or reader?

O'Brien argues that storytelling isn't as much an embellishment of truth, but really, the truth that is universal and exists within the story. The truth within the story, real or fiction, is more important than the story itself. There is a part in the book where O'Brien describes the American soldiers shooting baby water buffalo. He then writes that that never actually happened. He then asks the question, "does it matter?"

The Things They Carried as a meditation on storytelling, what is true and real to us, and how we carry what is true in time could make for a great thesis and analysis.

How can I write a close reading literary analysis of ''The Things They Carried''?

“The Things They Carried” by Tim O'Brien is the first chapter or story in a book by the same name, and it expresses the experience of young men fighting in the Vietnam War, their fears and pain and struggles and jokes, everything about their lives. O'Brien does this creatively through anecdotes, vivid imagery, and especially lists. Let's look at this in more detail to help you get started on your essay.

First, let's think about your thesis statement. You might use something like the first sentence of the paragraph above. This story does indeed express the experiences of the young soldiers. It also shows how they respond to those experiences and how they cope with them in many different ways. The author seems to be trying to capture the daily life of these men and their emotional state.

You might also argue, perhaps, that the story is expressing the horrors of war or that it is trying to show how the soldiers hung on to normal life as much as possible even in the midst of these horrors.

In any case, O'Brien uses creative literary elements to accomplish his purpose. Notice the anecdotes he includes, especially about the love of Jimmy Cross for Martha and the death of Ted Lavender. These appear and reappear throughout the story like threads tying the whole together.

Notice, too, how the author uses vivid imagery to bring his characters and his story to life. We can see these men in our imaginations. We hear them speaking. We feel their anxiety when Lee Strunk does not come out of the cave. We watch in horror as Ted Lavender falls dead. O'Brien's language brings all of this to life.

Finally, you should give special attention to the lists. A good portion of this story is made up of lists of the things the soldiers carry. We read about physical objects. We hear about fears and emotions. The author's lists change as the story progresses, moving from the physical to the emotional truth of the soldiers' experiences.