The Things They Carried

Sooo I usually look at other people’s blogs to get some ideas to write about…so I will take a swing =)

It seems that the purpose of the article was to convey that O’brien’s stories compare in extreme similar ways through the incidents and characters he write about. It seems that usually the surroundings of an environment always affect the character’s reactions to make certain decisions. Depending how others look upon a certain character appears to give the impression on how they will take in consideration a certain outcome to fix it. It might not be for the better in their mind, but for the better in society’s.

I also like the point he makes on “truth” in the article, “the act of remembering and telling.” He points out that people should use and deal with them philosophically and morally. People can define them but not put them into action in his stories. Such as in, “The Things They Carried,” the soldiers are so worried about what their loved ones and friends will think that they base their decisions off of what would please the viewers, rather than doing what is right.

I agree with the way the writer of the article criticizes the book because of the statements he points out. The auther says, “Ironically, in attempting to challenge the concept of an autonomous subject, O'Brien writes a text that is obsessed with self, that details the uncertain effects of an unreal war upon an unknowable self but fails to examine its all too real effects upon the Vietnamese.” This idea has been changed because things change over time. It may be true at one point, but the thought of this is different upon many readers. Instead of focusing on knowable reality, he tends to go off into idolizing the unknowable self and dragging away from the actual effects of war.