FREE ESSAY ON "THE THINGS THEY CARRIED"

"THE THINGS THEY CARRIED"

Nickolas Kreger Kreger 1 
Mr. Wakoson
English II
21 September 2000
ATTENTION TO DETAIL
"The things they carried," is a fictional story of a group of soldiers in the Vietnam
War. The story is so realistic that one might forget that it is fiction.
This fictional story seems real because of the attention to detail in what the people
carried, what they thought, and how they spoke.
Tim O'Brien was in the Vietnam War and used his knowledge of a soldier's equipment, Army
acronyms and short hand for these when listing the many burdens of the soldiers. His
attention to detail is remarkable. In the second paragraph he even gave the history of
"several hotel-sized bars of soap that he'd stolen on R&R in Sydney, Australia. (O'Brien
78) He also lists the weights of most of the items carried by the men such as "the PRC-25
radio, a killer at 26 pounds". (O'Brien 79) O'Brien also lists the soldiers personal
effects and the reasons why they carried them. The adversity and originality of their
belongings helps to establish their personality and to make them seem like real people.
Kiowa, a devout Baptist carried an illustrated New Testament that had been presented to
him by his father, who taught Sunday school in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (O'Brien 78)
These physical objects help to add very realistic detail to the story
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Another thing that contributed to the sense of reality are how the thoughts and attitudes
of the soldiers are revealed in the process of telling the story. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross
is one of the most realistic characters because much of what he thought is written down.
We know of the his love for Martha and some of the odd things he did to express his love
for her such as how "he would sometimes taste the envelope flaps knowing her tongue had
been there." (O'Brien 78) and he would imagine romantic camping trips, and walks along
the beach with her. These details made him seem like a real person with real feelings and
problems. The soldiers' attitudes and beliefs were also worked into the storyline. As a
hedge against bad times, however, Kiowa carried his grandmother's distrust of the white
man, his grandfather's hunting hatchet." (O'Brien 78)
The soldier's speech also helps to cement the story into reality, simply by it's
vulgarity and indifference. Throughout the story the soldiers' use obscene and odd
language to describe things. Kiowa describes Ted Lavenders' death by saying "the poor
bastard just flat-*censored* fell. Boom. Down. Nothing Else." (O'Brien 80) Their attempts
at humor also helped to make it seem more real to life. Kiowa also related Ted Lavender's
death to someone by saying "A pisser, you know? Still zipping himself up. Zapped while
zipping.". (O'Brien 84) O'Brien also used words that were mainly used only in that time
period such as: "wiggy" (86), "I'm goofed " (87) and "Roger-dodger" (86). The soldiers in
that time period did talk like that and used that lingo, which contributes to the
authenticity of the story.
Someone who was reading this story for the first time or even the second or third time,
who was not aware that this is fiction would be hard pressed to tell whether
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that story is fiction or non-fiction, because of Tim O'Brien's attention to detail in
describing the burdens, thoughts, and speech of the characters in the story.