Tim O'Brien's Intentions

What is true and what is not in Tim Obrien’s The Things They Carried? Readers will most likely never be able to answer this question. Writing the story was a way for O’Brien to process the war. Well, we think that it was a way for him to process the war. Throughout the book, readers are constantly questioning the reality of the events that are occurring. So while the narrator named O’Brien remarks the writing made his transition back into mainstream society at Harvard University easier, readers are never sure if it is actually the author O’Brien’s opinion and experience, or if it is the experience and opinion of the fictional O’Brien. Truth or lie, O’Brien has achieved his goal in writing The Things They Carried. Civilians are better able to understand a soldier’s experience during Vietnam (although those who never experienced it first hand will ever be able to fully understand). In an interview with PBS’s Jeffrey Brown, O’Brien explains that he wanted to readers to actively participate in the story of the Vietnam war more than if they just watched a newscast or read a news article. He wanted readers to feel the story in their hearts, stomachs, and throats, not just be able to regurgitate facts. Personally, I think he achieved his goal. O’Brien even admits that he uses his name as the name of one of his characters to make the story feel more real. He wants readers to understand the horrors of the Vietnam war because even though a story may not have been true to O’Brien personally, it can be true to every soldier in the Vietnam war. It captures the emotions they felt and allows readers some insight in the emotional toil of the war. While The Things They Carried was originally intended for an audience of 25 years and older, O’Brien now thinks it really is for the younger generation. It serves as a warning for us: violence doesn’t solve everything. So The Things They Carried isn’t just a book written to give readers a headache trying to discern between fiction and reality, it is a book that is trying to capture every soldier’s Vietnam experience in order for those who never experienced it to understand the suffering of those who did.  

Link to article: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics-jan-june10-obrien_04-28/