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The Things They Carried, By Tim O Brien: An Analysis

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The Things They Carried, By Tim O Brien: An Analysis
Stories allow people to re-experience events. The ability to tell stories is a valued skill that has been being practiced as far back as history dates. Everyone one is unique, and brings up different feelings and emotions to different people. In The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien lives upon narrative tales. Ever since the death of his childhood love, Linda, O’Brien uniquely uses the magic of storytelling in almost every facet of his life. Tim O’Brien ends his book about the Vietnam War with an anecdote about Linda in order to show how his relationship to the dead. Linda helped him emotionally experience and survive Vietnam. Linda is O’Brien’s Anchor, everything he goes through he relates it back to Linda whether it is subconsciously or consciously.
At a young age, Tim O’Brien is inspired by Linda’s death to tell stories, these stories are what allow him to mentally Survive Vietnam, a task not all soldiers are capable of. Recounting on resulting behavior of Linda’s death when he was nine, Tim O’Brien remembers what Timmy did after the young girl’s death: “Lying in bed at night I made up elaborate stories to bring Linda alive...as a nine year …show more content…
Her unfortunate death influences O’Brien to learn the skill of storytelling, which is now crucial to him. All his experiences during the war can be traced back to Linda, she leads him through the shit fields of Vietnam. Although at a brief glance it seems The Things They Carried is about the war, the main theme is really stories. It is these personal versions of countless occurrences that allow one to reach a more profound level of emotion. O’Brien portrays this with war as the medium for insinuating the effects of stories. Stories allow for someone to channel their emotions to a different path when necessary and reach the ultimate peace of mind, a place that is unattainable for
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