Stories

In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien places an emphasis on stories and the role they play in our lives. O'Brien writes, "But this too is true: stories can save us... I keep dreaming Linda alive" (213). Stories keep the dead alive. They allow for those who have passed away to not only be remembered, but be brought back to life. Through stories, O'Brien brings Linda and all the men who died in his platoon back to life.

The factual validity of a story is not important to O'Brien. In the short chapter, "Good Form," O'Brien reveals that he was once a soldier in Vietnam but "almost everything else [in this book] is invented" (171). The truths of a story are not dampened by a lack of facts. The stories that O'Brien tells in his novel are not meant to pass down historical information; they each serve their own, much more important, purpose.