summer reading history things they carried

Mr. Nenopoulos CAI September 2, 2014 The Things They Carried In the following book The Things They Carried by Tim O Brien, the title of this novel suits the story well because of many reasons. This book is written about the American soldiers that served in the Vietnam War. In the beginning of this book O Brien instantly gives us a huge nudge as to why this book titled this by telling us what each soldier carried on their backs during this war. He explains how heavy the equipment they have to carry, and how little they can carry from their actual life. He mentions the tangible items the soldiers brought such as pictures, medicine, bibles, and other tangible sentimental items. O Brien spends the rest of the book writing about the non-tangible items that they carried such as, love, fright, cautiousness, and their dreams. The whole entire book is written off what they carried, each characters actions were explained by what they carried such as Lieutenant Cross who carried a picture of his lover Martha who he thought about every day in order to get through the war. Also Kiowa who carried a bible and distrust for a white man. Ted Lavender carried tranquilizers to stay calm and ended up getting shot because of them. Timmy carried his lost love for Linda and carried his dreams about her to make it through the war. Sure, the weapons they were carrying where heavy but what Tim OBrien is saying through this book is that what we carry in our mind and hearts is far heftier than what we are carrying on our backs. Throughout this novel Tim O Brien writes many shorts stories about his character and the other ones around him. These stories have all affected me and helped me gain insight and respect for the veterans that fought in the Vietnam War. One of the stories that I found most powerful was the story about Timmy when he was younger and met a lost lover with the name of Linda. He starts out the story by talking to Kiowa about a dead soldier that his friends advised him to