The Things They Carried

The book "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien is an interesting combination of a memoir, vignettes, and historical fiction. The part of the novel that stood out at first was the style of prose that O'Brien uses. It is very clean and concise without the clutter of complicated syntax and large words. This is done intentionally to place the reader in the minds of the soldiers, showing their honest thoughts and emotions. The narrator of the novel is revealed to be O'Brien himself on page 36 so I assume that there are autobiographical aspects in it drawn from his Vietnam war experiences. What struck a cord with me was the way that O'Brien was able to sculpt other stories around his core experience in Vietnam and the network of emotion connecting them all. He openly admits his youthful naivete in the short story "On the Rainy River". This story was particularly powerful when I read it, because O'Brien actually reaches out to the reader by using the pronoun "you". When he is contemplating whether or not to jump off of Elroy's boat and swim to Canadian soil, he states, "What would you do? Would you jump? Would you feel pity for yourself?". With this question, O'Brien beckons the reader to think through the moral dilemma that he was working through at the time and truly place oneself in his situation. The way that O'Brien conveys the different emotions that he felt in Vietnam and what he observed in his fellow platoon mates is so incredibly believable and accessible to digest. So far, I really do enjoy the novel and I'm glad that I've chosen this to write my paper on.