Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried Flashcards
“Men killed, and died…”
“Men killed, and died, because they were afraid not to… to avoid the blush of dishonour”
“By telling stories you objectify…”
“By telling stories you objectify your own experience, you separate it from yourself”
Recite some of the things they carried
“Pockets of Kool Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits”
… “a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried… they all carried ghosts… the weight of memory”
- parataxis
O’Brien is creating an equivalence between common place objects and the lives of the soldiers
- perhaps reflecting the devaluation of human life during wars
“It was not a war for stories, nor for talk of valour…”
“It was not a war for stories, nor for talk of valour, nobody in town wanted to know about the terrible stink. They wanted good intentions and good deeds”
How does O’Brien engage with metafiction?
Many characters are semi autobiographical and share similarities with figures from his memoirs describing his experience in Vietnam
He uses real place names and writes himself into the narrative as the protagonist, blurring fiction with non fiction
