FYEC Journal Reaction to Tim O’Brien
The Things They Carried

In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”, my initial reaction is to say that O’Brien is a highly skilled liar. This book, which revolves around the experiences of several characters involved in the War in Vietnam, reflects on the affect of the war on different people. Like the title implies, the stories included in this book discuss the different things soldiers carried into war, both literally and figuratively. Furthermore, the book discusses the things soldiers carried away from the war, such as their experiences, fears, memories, and nightmares. Beyond telling compelling accounts of the War in Vietnam, O’Brien proves as an ideal example of a successful storyteller. For example, in the chapter “How to Tell A True War Story” O’Brien reflects on war stories:
“In any war story, but especially a true one, it’s difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen. What seems to happen becomes its own happening and has to be told that way. The angles of vision are skewed…Then afterward, when you go to tell about it, there is always that surreal seeming ness, which makes the story seem untrue, but which in fact represents the hard and exact truth as it seemed.”
This example illustrates O’Brien’s intense understanding of storytelling. Throughout the remainder of the novel, he continues to reiterate that story telling is commonly untruthful. This untruthfulness seems extremely ironic in this book, because each story speaks with such vitality and life that a lie seems the opposite of what O’Brien is telling.