Neilson and O'brian...

Jim Neilson wrote a convincing article about O'brians novel, "The Things They Carried" that further convinces me of the idea that this novel imphasizes an untruth. This essay, at one point, quotes Timothy Lomperis saying that "The facts, in Vietnam, make us all liars". O'Brian seems to be following the whole Postmodern theme that we have been learing about all year. By that, I mean that "The Things They Carried" is almost like a lie. The stories are supposed to be real life experiences yet they did not really happen. True, Vietnam was probably like this but we cannot know for sure. The audience is told a story and expected to believe it. If we believe everything we read, then anything can be true. Although these events may not have actually taken place, we are inclined to think they actually occured. This can also go back to the way we were all raised. We grow up hearing stories and thinking they are true. It is all we ever learned.

Neilson also talks about the way O'Brian writes like he is attempting to exhibit the horrors of the war. By graphically describing every single story, O'Brian is making the event more real for the audience. Its almost like people have to be able to imagine something before they can believe it. Neilson suggests that O'Brian goes back to certain events just to make us realize how awful it was. This creates a sense of hopelessness that can relate the stories to us in a more believeable way. Everybody has felt despair so by telling stories full of it, O'Brian can make us more sympathetic the the characters even if they never literally existed....they did exist in spirit.

I feel like Neilson is not exactly impressed with O'Brian. Its as though he respects his ability to write, yet he feels that O'Brian is very limited in his perception of the war which, in response, limits his audience. O'Brian talks about American hardships, but none of the other side. He almost belittles the Vietnamese suffering by ignoring it. We believe what we read and, according to Neilson, this book does not provide us with the whole story. We are only concerned with the American side and this makes the whole war seem very one-sided. The facts are clearly not present in this novel but we are only concerned with O'Brians side because his illusions are the only things we have read about.

The things they carried...themes

The Things They Carried is a collection of stories about the Vietnam War. It seems to me that the stories are all unique yet similar. I think a good theme is that life never works out the way you expect and yes I know that is terribly overstated but this is just a rough draft.

First of all, the whole book is arranged somewhat irregularly and I dont mean that in a bad way! I just mean the the boook is put together like a collection or stories as opposed to the traditional style of having chapters. I'm not toosure at the moment what this is sopposed to accomplish. Perhaps it is a way to make each and every story unique or slightly more personal...at least as personal as a war story can be.

Secondly, sice the book is called the things they carried, one would assume that all things being carried would be tangible and real. And the characters do literally carry things like guns and other necessities. However, "For the most part they [carry] themselves with poise, a kind of dignity"(19). Althought the literal translation woult be things or odjects, this storyu also talks about troubles and emotions that the soldiers feel. We cannot take the names literally because each heading carries a deeper meaning.

Furthermore, we find that Lee Strunk and Dave Jenson, at first, do not like eachother. This is established in the story "Enemies". They clearly did not get along because Jenson "wrapped an arn around Strunk's neck and pinned him down and kept hitting him on the nose"(62). The last thing one would expect is for these two, so-called "enemies" to become friends yet by the next story...they gave become friends. And close friends at that! The two were not automatically great friends "but they did learn to trust each other"(65). The fact that the two could go from absomlutely hating each other to watching each others back proves that things change. Thisgs are not always as they seem.

The Things They carried an intersting book mainly due to all the contradictory messages. The book inclodes a story called "Love", yet it is a book of war stories. These two terms completely contradict each other. However, maybe the war and that fighting help the soldiers actually discover what love is.