Character Analysis of The Things They Carried

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Critical Analysis of The Things They Carried
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is an autobiography written in fiction format while attempting to reflect the experiences of soldiers in the Vietnam War. It is not often that novels that feature the theme of war delve into the experiences of the soldiers but tend to revolve around the events surrounding the war itself. As much as The Things They Carried revolves around fiction, Tim O’Brien effectively delivers his message by focusing more on the experiences of the soldiers which can be translated to those of the author. In essence, the accounts of the novel with regards to the aforementioned experiences making the novel an effective memoir.
The Things They Carried efficacy as a memoir is reflected in the sense that the author attempts to focus more on the characters’ thoughts and emotions as shaped by their war experiences. The novel provides a succinct account of events while attempting to focus on the rueful and anguished reflections that occur in the event of war. One major theme that can be derived from the text is that of the elusiveness of meaning. O’Brien analyzes the characters’ experiences from the perspective of their attempt to derive meaning from war when he narrates that “it is difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen” (67). While reading the book, one could establish that the author’s focus extends beyond the horror of war while focusing on intrinsic human feelings such as courage and fear.

The effectiveness of the novel as a memoir is further enhanced by the author’s approach to present his message through the use of symbolism. While this is not easy to discern, it can be noted that the novel’s title is explicitly explained when the O’Brien narrates that the soldiers carried artifacts to war. The title The Things They Carried is more of a statement that refers to the emotional baggage as well as the experience of the soldiers in war. For instance, it can be noted that the experience of war results in an adaptation to the repulsive nature of war to the extent that one would seem to derive pleasure from killing (Bonney 2). O’Brien is concerned more with such experiences that the actual events surrounding the war.
Conclusively, therefore, it is fair to argue that The Things They Carried despite not being a straightforward memoir manages to explicitly highlight the characters’ experiences and those of the author’s as well. The relevance of the novel is seen in the sense that it captures the emotional burden and personality changes that people go through when in turmoil or in war.
Works Cited
Bonney, Sarah. “Morality and Pleasure in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.” Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism, vol. 9, no. 1, 2016, pp. 1–10., scholarsarchive.byu.edu/criterion/vol9/iss1/4.
O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990.