The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
A haunting reflection on memory, guilt, and the stories we tell to survive trauma.
I first read The Things They Carried for a high school class, and it became one of my favorite required readings. Because my dad served in the Marines, I had been drawn to military-themed books from a young age but O’Brien strips away the romanticized image of war that many people hold, earning a Pulitzer Prize nomination along the way.
The novel opens in the jungles of Vietnam, introducing a platoon of American soldiers. Each character is described through the items they carry, from weapons and gear to personal mementos, giving insight into their personalities and what matters to them. The narrator, a fictionalized version of O’Brien himself, describes moments of fear, confusion, boredom, and occasional playfulness among the soldiers.
Rather than following a strict timeline, the novel jumps between missions, memories, and moments before and after the war. What slowly comes together is a picture of the heavy psychological weight soldiers carry, long after the physical war ends.
O’Brien also highlights how different the Vietnam War was from earlier conflicts like World War II, which many viewed as morally justified. In Vietnam, soldiers faced vague goals, brutal conditions, and widespread opposition to the war back home. Most were drafted teenagers — the average age was around 19 — sent halfway across the world into an unfamiliar jungle. Drug use and reckless behavior often became coping mechanisms for stress, fear, and monotony.
Ultimately, the “things they carry” aren’t just physical. They’re guilt, grief, shame, and memory. Many soldiers struggle with what they did — or didn’t do — and those experiences permanently alter their sense of innocence and identity.
The novel has a unique but intentional style. Its episodic, almost fragmented structure mirrors the disorientation of combat, showing how traumatic events can make you question your own memories. While some readers may struggle with its lack of a traditional narrative, the writing fits the theme. The chapters stand well on their own, almost short-story-like, so it’s not a long or difficult read.
I’ve reread The Things They Carried twice since that first assignment. Like All Quiet on the Western Front and Catch-22, it reminds readers that war isn’t just strategy or statistics. It’s human, and its consequences follow people long after the fighting stops.
