Throughout “The Things They
Carried”, we are introduced to multiple characters that fight alongside Tim
O’Brien. Until the end of the novel, I was sure that each character had their
own personality, and presumably their own body. However, the last line changed
my thoughts: “I realize that it is Tim trying to save Timmy’s life with a
story.” This line negated my previous belief of all the characters being
separate individuals and changed it instead to all of the characters being
personas of the “Tim O’Brien” in the book.
Multiple sentences
on the last two pages also back this dissociative identity disorder idea. “I
can see Kiowa, too, and Ted Lavender and Curt Lemon, and sometimes I can even
see Timmy skating with Linda under the yellow floodlights. I’m young and happy.
I’ll never die. I’m skimming across the surface of my own history…” This sudden
and rapid break from the Vietnam War (the supposed topic of the book) points to
O’Brien himself, which suggests that he is trying to pull himself back
together. All of the stories that O’Brien tells relate to ways in which he
mentally copes with the stresses and traumas of war. For example, the story of
the brutal killing of the baby buffalo is not Rat Kiley coping with loss of a
friend, but rather O’Brien struggling with a deprivation of friendship. By
trying to pull the pieces of himself back together, O’Brien tries to make like
Timmy before Linda’s death (innocent, naïve, young, and unharmed). But, as also
evidenced by the last line, this process of recuperation is not complete. Even
though this process might never finish, O’Brien slowly tries to grasp for
pieces of himself by writing these stories in order to become whole once again.
I definitely agree with you that Tim is telling these stories as a coping mechanism for experiencing trauma and death in the war. I would also argue that Tim started storytelling as a way to cope with Linda's death as a young boy. While Tim argues that he has never considered telling stories as a way of coping, I disagree. Just as Norman Bowker drives around in circles to cope with the war, Tim drives around in circles in a figurative sense. He started telling stories to come to grips with Linda’s death, and years later his actions come full circle with the Vietnam War.
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