The Things They Carried: Use of Realism in Book About Vietnam

In the short story, “The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien, the author uses realism in order to describe the reality of the war in Vietnam. This story is unlike many stories in that the men cannot escape the realities of war. The author successfully describes the soldier’s physical realities and their emotional realities.

Not only does he introduce the reader to many of the soldiers, he also presents the reader with an unimagined world that is war. He describes dozens of objects that the men carry. He discusses their weapons and essential gear for survival, and also their desires and personal items. In doing so, the author creates a sense of reality for the reader.

The author emphasizes how Lt. Cross carries a small and light load of gear and weapon compared to his men. This is important to add to the realism, because during war the officer’s duties would be lighter. Despite this, Lt. Cross carried one of the heaviest things of all, which is the responsibility of his men.

The author builds on this realism by proving that during times of war many man could not focus, which is shown through Lt. Cross’s imagination. He was often distracted from doing his job because of his obsession with Martha, a girl back home. Even in some of the most stressful situations, the author shows Lt. Cross lose his concentration and let his imagination about Martha prevent him from doing his job successfully.

Unlike most war novels, the author’s realism is shown on how he creates Lt. Cross to not be a perfect, heroic, officer. In most war stories, the author often makes the main character appear to be a great hero or warrior. In this story, the author did not intend for this story to be a heroic tale or have a happy end. He simply wanted to create a picture of what the war in Vietnam was really like.

In Short Stories for Students by Rena Korb, A critic, by the name of Thomas Myers, states that ” O’Brien, like other writers of the war, must find forms outside “the well-worn contours and conventions of the traditional war.
Eventually, the lieutenant’s lack of focus contributes to the death of one of his men. It’s at this point where the author makes Lt. Cross realize that he cannot escape the realities of war. For his sake and for his men, he commits himself to no longer getting distracted by his imagination.

This is evident when the author writes in The Seagull Reader Short Stories on page 223: “He was realistic about it. There was that new hardness in his stomach. No more fantasies, he told himself. Henceforth, when he thought about Martha, it would be only to think that she belonged elsewhere. He would shut down the daydreams.

This was not Mount Sebastian, it was another world, where there were no pretty poems or midterm exams, a place where men died because of carelessness and gross stupidity. Kiowa was right. Boom-down, and you were dead, never partly dead.

This quote shows that being in war at Vietnam was a serious matter, and if Lt. Cross didn’t start to take it seriously, he would cause harm to himself and the rest of his soliders. The author effectively transitions the way Lt. Cross acts towards reality by describing all of the objectives that Lt. Cross will be committed to.

Another specific example where the author uses realism is when he describes the weapons that are carried by the men. He says, “As a big man, therefore a machine gunner, Henry Dobbins carried the M-60, which weighed twenty-three pounds unloaded, but which was almost always loaded.”

This quote shows how real their surroundings are. Not only does the author describe his gun as being heavy unloaded, he says that it’s almost always loaded, which shows the constant danger the men are in. This sentence, taking from page 219 from The Seagull Reader Stories, is important to a reader who is not familiar with the war in Vietnam because it shows the reality of the story.

Another way the author shows the realism of the story is by using Martha to represent fantasy. To Lt. Cross, she lives in a world of peace, and is no way involved with the war. She doesn’t even mention the war to him, only telling him to take care of himself. After Lavender dies, Lt. Cross takes all the guilt, and realizes he must no longer live in fantasy and carry out his job as an officer.

In the short story “The Things They Carried”, the author uses numerous examples showing how the war in Vietnam was a reality. By describing what weapons the men carry, and what they carry inside of their imagination, the author can prove that war is real.