The Things They Carried Essay Examples

March 28, 1990

Tim O'Brien

Collection of interconnected short stories

Historical Fiction

Norman Bowker, Rat Kiley, Henry Dobbins, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, Tim O'Brien

Ambiguous morality;Social Obligation, Storytelling and Memory, Shame and Guilt, Loneliness and isolation, the dead young Vietnamese soldier; Kathleen; Linda

The primary theme in the novel is the burdens we all carry. Physical and emotional burdens; fear of shame as motivation; the subjection of truth to storytelling