Tim O'Brien Response

Response to Tim O’Brien

Of the many short stories from Tim O’Brien’s book “The Things They Carried”, I chose to respond to the first one. This is also called, “The Things They Carried”.  I really enjoyed reading this story because it started out talking about actual material things the soldiers carried and then towards the end “The Things They Carried” symbolized the emotions each of them carried. O’Brien’s story spoke of how to deal with the emotions they were harboring men carried things to take their thoughts somewhere else while in the middle of the war. I can imagine that if I had to deal with the stress of the possibility of losing my life on a daily basis, I would try to find ways to let my mind take me somewhere else, if even for a minute. Dreaming about family or the life that used to be would be a good way of keeping a person holding on during this traumatic situation. It is amazing that these people do not go insane from the things that they have to see. Watching people die right in front of their eyes and realizing that could just as easily have been them.

The reading of war we have been doing has given me a different understanding of the men and women that come back from war. It has always been easier for me to ignore the fact that we are in a war because the idea that there are so many people suffering depresses me. I know that is a very selfish thing for me to say. Reading these stories has just made me want to pray for these people every night.  

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