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Style In The Things They Carried

Make a Stance Against War: Style in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”
There is certainly no shortage of war-related fiction in the world, but   author Tim O’Brien’s brilliant story collection “The Things They Carried” quickly sets itself apart as one of the best. The opening story with the same name as its title, is gripping and powerful. The faithful use of details and an innovative writing style allow O’Brien to shine a light on the experiences of the men who were afraid to show fearfulness towards the war in Vietnam. In doing so, O’Brien is creatively taking a stand against war.
O’Brien pulls the reader into the realism of his novel by starting the title story with a long list of items American soldiers in Vietnam carried   with their weights:
The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the necessities or near necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water. Together these items weighed between 15 and 20 pounds, depending upon a man’s habits or rate of metabolism. (p. 380)
O’Brien uses the different items carried in the backpacks to humanize and individualize the soldiers. By listing their various belongings, he helps the reader to identify with the characters. These facts are combined with the intangible and the psychological: “They all carried ghosts”(p.384); “They
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shared the weight of memory”(p.390); “They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die” (p. 390). Ironically, the juxtaposition of the mundane and the serious suggests the desperation of the situation that the men faced, one that could place comic books on the same level as food. And, in its entirety, the catalogue describes the fighting machine of the United States and is indicative of a...