Memories and Stories

From the first paragraph of The Things They Carried, I was intrigued. Author Tim O'Brien begins with a third-person point of view, exploring each of the soldiers' personalities and quirks, keeping his tone and style of writing casual. O'Brien then switches to first-person point of view, giving some more insight of his feelings towards the Vietnam War and all the different experiences he encountered. Each chapter details an event that O'Brien either was present for or heard about through a friend. As he writes, he also explains how the reader must be cautious when listening to war stories because they aren't always completely true. He adds in some of his own twists to more deeply engrave the story into the reader's mind.

The last few chapters of the novel sparked my emotions the most. The soldiers form such strong bonds while out fighting together and become like brothers. Yet when they are separated for a period of time, they fall apart, and O'Brien described that he felt betrayed when he was no longer in battle with everyone else. O'Brien is hurt by the loss of kinship he once had. He also talks about how much the war had changed his outlook on life. His prior, quiet life "had somehow been crushed under the weight of the simple daily realities" (227), leaving him feeling much darker and crueler. The rather luxurious life back in America was so different than the war-stricken life in Vietnam.

In order for the soldiers to cope with the atrocities of the war and attempt to keep themselves sane, they used humor as an outlet. They didn't want to think of their dead comrades as actually dead. Rather, they would pretend they were still alive, imagining their voices and faces as they were before, talk to each other as if they were still sitting amongst them. O'Brien wanted to preserve all he had gone through in the war and preserve the lost lives of his fellow soldiers, even if it meant adding in his own details, anything to keep his memories alive. His use of pathos helps the reader to connect with his stories and better understand the hardships the soldiers had to endure.