THE THINGS THEY CARRIED

The aim of this extended essay is to analyze the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien by dwelling on the characters and contrasting their physical baggage with their emotional burdens. The researcher asks the question, “how are the personal possessions used to illustrate the emotional, mental and physical features of the characters forced to fight in a war they were against?” and investigates the effects of war on the personalities and behavior of the characters. The three aspects in question will be further investigated amongst the characters and related to the book with necessary quotations and remarks. The researcher tries to adopt a perspective as neutral and objective as possible in her analyses and interpretations. There is a brief historical context, in order to reflect the dimensions of warfare, and the author’s involvement in the context is explained. The researcher aims to present the decisive background information, the effect war has on young and inexperienced soldiers as well as civilians, and explain the burdens they carry, both concrete and abstract