Analysis A recurring theme in The Things They Carried is the investigation and problematization of ideas such as courage, heroism, and valor. In this vignette, O’Brien again takes up the notion of memory and makes us question how we honor the memory of war and war heroes. The opening line […]
Read more Summary and Analysis The DentistSummary and Analysis How to Tell a True War Story
O’Brien suggests that Lemon’s sister’s failure to return the letter offers a kind of sad and true moral to the story. Lemon’s death, an accident resulting from a game of catch with a grenade, is described in detail. O’Brien remembers body parts strewn in the jungle trees and thinks about […]
Read more Summary and Analysis How to Tell a True War StorySummary and Analysis Enemies and Friends
Over the next month, Jensen and Strunk begin to pair up on ambushes together and cover each other on patrol. They slowly build up their friendship and trust. They draw up a pact that says if either one of them is badly wounded, that the other would kill him. They […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Enemies and FriendsSummary and Analysis On the Rainy River
He recounts his thoughts on receiving a draft notice, feeling that he was not suited for war because his educational accomplishments and graduate school prospects were too great. O’Brien tells his father that his plan for the summer is to wait and work. He spends his summer working at a […]
Read more Summary and Analysis On the Rainy RiverSummary and Analysis Spin
Analysis O’Brien offers his readers a series of fragmented scenes, like verbal snapshots, as a way to comment on the act of memory (in general) and on the act of remembering the Vietnam War (specifically). He presents the war as an event marked by the disorder of anti-war demonstration and […]
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Analysis This chapter is rich with subtext about Martha that is continued from the preceding chapter. In “The Things They Carried,” Lt. Cross is preoccupied with thoughts of Martha: When checking on Lee Strunk who is searching a tunnel, “suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha. . . […]
Read more Summary and Analysis LoveSummary and Analysis The Things They Carried
The narrator lists things that the soldiers carry with them, both tangible and intangible, such as Lt. Cross’s picture of and feelings for Martha. Other members of the unit are introduced through descriptions of the things they carry, such as Henry Dobbins who carries extra food, Ted Lavender who carries […]
Read more Summary and Analysis The Things They CarriedCharacter List
Kiowa Kiowa symbolizes the wastefulness of war. He is a foot soldier in Alpha Company, a Native American Baptist who always keeps an illustrated New Testament with him. He is O’Brien’s closest friend in Vietnam and is killed in battle when he drowns in a field during a flood. When […]
Read more Character ListAbout The Things They Carried
Readers should note the designations used in this study guide to distinguish between the author, Tim O’Brien, and the fictionalized character, “Tim O’Brien,” who is the main character of the novel. While O’Brien and “O’Brien” share a number of similarities, readers should remember that the work is a novel and […]
Read more About The Things They CarriedBook Summary
Protagonist “Tim O’Brien” is a middle-aged writer and Vietnam War veteran. The primary action of the novel is “O’Brien’s” remembering the past and working and reworking the details of these memories of his service in Vietnam into meaning. Through a series of linked semi-autobiographical stories, “O’Brien” illuminates the characters of […]
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