Tim O’Brien’s innovative volume The Things They Carried, a collection of individual stories with recurring characters that ultimately amounts to a kind of coherent novel, is one of the best works of literature to emerge from the Vietnam War. It deals with such important themes as the burdens of war, truth and storytelling, guilt and responsibility, and memory and trauma. Other significant issues include masculinity and emotional suppression, death and loss, and alienation and disconnection.

The book has been praised for its innovative narrative structure, its emotional depth, its philosophical complexity, and its clear but resonant language and style—a style in which prose often seems poetic and in which profound implications are suggested by seemingly simple words. The Things They Carried is a landmark in American literature and can help any present-day reader understand the importance of one of the most divisive and influential wars in American history. This Critical Insights volume will examine this important work from a rich variety of perspectives.