jimmy cross was the author of the things they carried.
jimmy cross was the author of the things they carried.
who is the author of the things they carried?
jimmy cross
in the short story "good form," the narrator makes a distinction between "story truth" and "happening truth." o'brien feels that the idea of creating a story that is technically false yet truthfully portrays war, as opposed to just stating the facts and creating no emotion in the reader, is the correct way to clear his conscience and tell the story of thousands of soldiers. critics often cite this distinction when commenting on o'brien's artistic aims in "the things they carried" and, in general, all of his fiction about vietnam, claiming that o'brien feels that the realities of the vietnam war are best explored in fictional form rather than the presentation of precise facts. o'brien's fluid and elliptical negotiation of truth in this context finds echoes in works labeled as 'non-fiction novels'. the fine line of what constitutes fiction versus non-fiction is blurred throughout the book, for though tim o'brien claims this book to be fiction, the author and the protagonist share the same name and same profession as writers. additionally, the character tim references writing the book "going after cacciato" which the author tim had written and published previously.
the things they carried
many of the characters are semi-autobiographical, sharing similarities with figures from his memoir "if i die in a combat zone, box me up and ship me home" (1973/paperback 1999). in "the things they carried", o'brien plays with the genre of metafiction; he writes using verisimilitude. his use of real place names and inclusion of himself as the protagonist blurs fiction and non-fiction. as part of this effect, o'brien dedicates "the things they carried" to the fictional men of the "alpha company", contributing to the novel appearing to be a war memoir.









































section::::plot summaries.









































bullet::::- "the things they carried":
the things they carried