Ask the Expert Tutor: The Things They Carried
As part of our ‘Ask the Expert Tutor’ series, we will be discussing The Things They Carried, a short story collection by American author Tim O’Brien. The Things They Carried is a commonly studied text in both IB Literature and IB Language & Literature.
To reach the upper levels of the mark band, it is essential that IB Literature and IB Language & Literature students look beyond the text they are studying. By examining the authorial context of a work like The Things They Carried IB Literature and IB Language & Literature students can gain a greater understanding of the author’s perspective and purpose.
Born in Worthington, Minnesota, Tim O’Brien came of age as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement dominated American culture. O’Brien had strong political sensibilities and felt an alliance with counter cultural movements from a young age, joining the anti-war movement at Macalester college. Despite this, O’Brien served in Vietnam but, after his return to America, carried on with his anti-war activities. After serving in the military, O’Brien went on to pursue a graduate degree at Harvard and lives as a writer.
Tim O’Brien’s perspective as both a soldier and anti-war activist allow for a unique perspective on the Vietnam War. IB Literature and IB Language & Literature students should be aware that The Things They Carried does not proceed as a standard collection of stories about war, nor as a war memoir.
In line with authorial context, IB Literature and IB Language & Literature students should also be aware of the historical context of The Things They Carried. As a collection, The Things They Carried is an echo of the national trauma of Vietnam. The events of the conflict and America’s involvement are, like the O’Brien’s collection, serpentine and, at times, murky and troubling. Young men grapple with their own feelings and thoughts on nationhood and patriotism, while also managing the expectations of those back home. What results is a collection of stories of individuals ill-equipped to deal with the extraordinary situations in which they find themselves.
Insofar as the literary tradition is concerned, those studying IB Literature and IB Language & Literature should be aware that The Things They Carried came out of an era of ‘meta fiction’. Meta fiction is a literary genre that departs from standard narrative conventions, drawing the audience’s attention to the fact that they are reading a story, thereby highlighting the dichotomy between the real world and the fictional world.
In many interviews O’Brien refused to comment on the truth of his work or the truth of his experience, instead insisting it was all pure fiction.
In his collection, and as a work of meta fiction, Tim O’Brien plays with the conventions of short fiction. The titular story ‘The Things They Carried’ exemplifies this perfectly, existing as a narrative constructed of a series of lists. While IB Literature and IB Language & Literature candidates will recognise this quite easily, certain other aspects of the story may slip by.
‘The Things They Carried’ represents the only story in the book to maintain a nearly omniscient narration, with Jimmy Cross emerging as the main character. The focus on Jimmy Cross’ narrative resonates with O’Brien’s metafictional project, as Cross constructs a fictional narrative surrounding his relationship with a young woman named Martha. The omniscient narration allows O’Brien to zoom in on both the physical and psychological states of multiple characters. Moreover, this also allows for an almost ‘wide-angled’ view, which is not entirely contained by temporal linearity and thus can more accurately reflect the discursive and recurring nature of war.
The Things They Carried is a dense and rich text that can be a challenge for even the most literary-minded IB Literature and IB Language & Literature students. Consequently, an experienced tutor can prove invaluable to decoding the text and aiding in the formulation of essays befitting the IB Literature and IB Language & Literature standard.
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