The Things They Carried reviewed

Listening to audiobooks is a time-saving and productive habit. And some people value saving time a lot, so they opt for short stories. However, choosing to divide your time by listening to short stories doesn’t need to take away from a feeling of fulfillment. Quite the contrary, many collections of short stories can prod deep into your soul.

One such collection of short stories is The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1990. It’s a moving and equally devastating work about the writer’s own Vietnam experience and an example of how to tell a true war story while also keeping the writing style one would use for a fiction-based novel. So, without further ado, let’s get into discussing The Things They Carried.

An overview of The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

To put it simply, at its core, this book by Tim O’Brien is a collection of stories about the Vietnam war. It falls into a genre floating in a limbo between reality and fiction, with the author himself labeling it as ‘story truth’. It is, in a way, similar to happening-truth, though the author’s distinguishment between the two is shown through his work.

Tim O’Brien also tried his best to steer the story away from the debate and discourse that usually arise from talking about the Vietnam war, or any war for that matter. In fact, the book was largely written as a response to the ignorance and lack of understanding that the people in his small town in Minnesota had in reaction to the events of the war.

O’Brien’s also authored other works dealing with war, including Going After Cacciato (1978), If I Die in a Combat Zone and Box Me Up and Ship Me Home (1973), and In the Lake of the Woods (1994). Despite being known as a Vietnam war writer, he’s also authored works that don’t deal with war topics, such as Tomcat in Love (1998) and Dad’s Maybe Book (2019). Aside from these, he’s also written other books, establishing himself as an acclaimed novelist.

The book, as we’ve mentioned, is a collection of stories, meaning that the stories can also be read as stand-alone pieces, and at the same time, they’re also fragments that make up a larger tale. However, the book can be divided into a few different aspects, and each short story deals with them.

For example, Spin is a series of memories from the war, seemingly unrelated, and it gives a really good idea of the whole book. The other short stories all deal with specific plots and are all captivating on their own.

In the story, Tim O’Brien serves as both the pacifistic protagonist and the typical narrator, trying to explain through words on paper, the reasonings behind why the characters joined the army and participated in the war.

The book received both critical acclaim and negative critique, as well as caused controversy. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. The Things They Carried was also written about by The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. In addition, The Things They Carried found its place on Amazon’s list titled 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime.

Understanding the impact of the Vietnam war and its importance in The Things They Carried

Essentially, this story depicts the psychological intricacies of a young American soldier caught in the literal crossfire of a warzone. And, as we’ve mentioned, Tim O’Brien’s critically acclaimed book was written as a response to the reaction surrounding the Vietnam war and its aftermath. But, it would be insincere and unfair to only talk about the impact it had on America, which is why it is crucial to mention that the vast majority of the death toll was on Vietnam’s side.

Regardless, it’s still fair to state that the American soldiers that returned suffered from various health issues, with the country not doing too much about it. The overall socioeconomic consequences had a profound effect on American society, which also resulted in a cultural revolution of sorts.

All of this, coupled with Tim O’Brien’s own experience with others’ ignorance, was what influenced the book to be written, and even several decades later, this story still represents a testimony of the Vietnam experience.

Main characters

An important part of any book is its characters, and this story-truth collection of tales relies on its characters to a great extent. With this in mind, let’s discuss the characters of The Things They Carried and their roles in the narrative of the story.

Tim O’Brien

Tim O’Brien is the writer’s own character, who serves as both the narrator and active participant in the story, being essentially a character that blurs the distinctions between author and protagonist.

He is a young man with a pacifist attitude who tries to rationalize his own participation in the Vietnam war after hesitantly deciding not to escape to Canada, which is shown in the plot of On the Rainy River.

Identifying as a writer from a young age, he turns to writing about the war and telling stories about it. In the aftermath of the war, his stories deal with the guilt, confusion, and regret over everything that happened and everything he had witnessed. His immense guilt over the deaths of his American comrades, as well as the death of a Vietnamese soldier that he had caused.

Jimmy Cross

Jimmy Cross is one of the other important characters in this cast of young men. He is the platoon leader, the lieutenant of the Alpha Company, leading his comrades and bearing a lot of responsibility. His wandering mind often thinks of Martha, a girl back home who doesn’t return his feelings. He’s also the type of person who, despite being in a position of a leader, doesn’t have the mindset and instead just simply follows orders given to him, even if they clash with his judgment. When his comrades, Ted Lavender and Kiowa, meet their deaths, he blames his aforementioned flaws for it, resulting in a lot of guilt.

Ted Lavender

Ted Lavender is a young and timid grenadier who meets his end with a gunshot to the head. He’s also shown to use tranquilizers as a way to cope with everything. His appearance in the active part of the story is brief. However, his death is shown to have had a notable impact on the Alpha Company, especially Cross, who blames himself for Lavender’s demise.

Norman Bowker

Norman Bowker’s character is marked with deterioration. It’s an embodiment of what war does to a human being, especially after witnessing the death of a comrade. His letter, which he writes to Tim O’Brien, signifies the importance of sharing experiences when it comes to healing from trauma. However, a bit later on, he ends up committing suicide by hanging.

Rat Kiley

Bob Kiley, who’s known as ‘Rat,’ is the unit’s medic, who had previously been stationed in the Chu Lai mountains, where “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” takes place. He’s someone whom O’Brien greatly respects, both for his medical expertise, kindness, and the things he’s been through. However, due to all the stress, he intentionally harms himself in order to leave his position.

Bobby Jorgenson

After Kiley’s departure from his post, Jorgensen replaces him as the medic, albeit doing a less-than-stellar job. Due to his incompetence when treating O’Brien’s wound, the latter gets extremely angry and plots against him with Azar’s help. However, after things are through, he and O’Brien are able to become friends.

Kiowa

Kiowa is Tim O’Brien’s closest friend, a compassionate and rational young man. His presence is almost therapeutic to others, with him often helping others cope with the traumatic reality of taking lives through his own relationship with God. This in particular, makes his death prominently devastating to both O’Brien and the other characters.

Henry Dobbins

Henry is the unit’s machine gunner, who, despite his brutish appearance, has a gentle personality that also clashes with his position in the platoon. He’s superstitious, which ends up in him wearing his girlfriend’s stockings around his neck as some sort of silly amulet of protection.

Mitchell Sanders

Sanders serves as a source of great influence to the narrator. He is likable, devoted, and a justice seeker through and through. Due to these qualities and his prowess for story-telling, O’Brien looks to him as a mentor, despite their story-telling methods clashing with each other.

Azar

Azar is a particularly unstable and mean-spirited young soldier with an inclination for brutality towards both his fellow soldiers and Vietnamese civilians. At one point, he decides to blow up a puppy that Ted Lavender had adopted using a Claymore mine. And, at another wants to take revenge against Bobby Jorgensen too far. In the aftermath of Kiowa’s death, his cruelty, despite not being an excuse for his actions, is shown to be a defense mechanism.

Curt Lemon

Curt Lemon is a childish and careless young man, as well as Kiley’s best friend. His preventable and unfortunate death after stepping on a rigged artillery shell devastates Kiley. It also has an influence on O’Brien, who ends up mourning him despite not getting along with him ideally.

Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk

Both Dave and Lee are minor characters in the whole story, though they are the main characters in the stories appropriately named “Enemies and Friends,” which paints a picture of their relationship.

Kathleen

Kathleen appears as Tim O’Brien’s fictional daughter, who serves as the symbolic naïve outsider to the story and appears in the story only later on when O’Brien’s already a 43-year-old man.

Linda

Linda appears in O’Brien’s first love in his recollections of his past memories. Her death is shown to be an inspiration for his writing, showing the power of keeping memories alive through story-telling.

What to consider when consuming war literature

It’s important to note that are, in fact, many things to consider when consuming war literature: such as whether or not it’s veiled in propaganda, whether it’s purely fiction, based on reality, or a completely accurate documentation of real events.

It’s also crucial to determine for which age a certain piece of war literature is suitable. While less detailed and gory pieces of literature might be suited for older teens, a large majority of war literature isn’t suited for younger audiences and should be treated as mature.

Listen to other wartime audiobooks with Speechify audiobooks

If you’re particularly interested in war literature, Speechify Audiobooks has a significant collection in both English and other languages, and we can recommend you a few to get started.

Beyond Band of Brothers by Dick Winters is a war memoir of the legendary Easy Company that strived to liberate Europe during WWII.

And, The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai brings a different perspective on the Vietnam war and would be a good choice for those who enjoyed The Things They Carried.

Sign up for Speechify Audiobooks and enjoy your first audiobook for free.

FAQ

Why is The Things They Carried controversial?

The book had mainly fallen under controversy for its inappropriate contents, mainly since it genuinely wasn’t appropriate for high-school-aged readers.

What is the main point of The Things They Carried?

The Things They Carried serves to show a point of all the burdens the soldiers carried, both in the midst of it and in the aftermath.

What is the author trying to say in The Things They Carried?

While a large part of war literature can dip into the territory of propaganda, The Things They Carried serves as anti-war commentary, which is what Mr. O’Brien deals with in his other war-related works as well.