Tim O?Brien wrote a story that is known as "The Things They Carried." It is a carefully crafted, detailed account of a Lieutenant and his men, the time period being right in the middle of the Vietnam war. In most war stories the author spends most of his or her time describing actions and events to the reader, trying to really put the reader "right there" in the middle of everything that is happening. However, O?Brien drifts away from that trend here, hardly describing any events of import to us at all. Rather, he focuses on the thoughts of the soldiers, the inner feelings, small personal nuances and quirks that really describe the men. Being out in the wilderness, far from home or anything they recognize, these men must deal with the mental and physical stresses of war. Here is where O?Brien implements his literary art form. One thing a reader may notice when reading the story is the fact that the story is written in third person, limited omniscient. The narrator is not actually in the story, merely telling us of the events, and yet we still get to see inside Lt. Cross?s mind to more accurately picture his feelings. The narrator also, although letting us see the innermost, personal thoughts of Cross, always refers to the Lieutenant as either "he,", "him," or "Lt. Cross," never speaking of him by only his first name, which seems rather formal. Also, it is odd that O?Brien should choose the third person to write in when creating a story such as this one. Usually when an author wants the reader to feel what the main character is feeling, they will write the story in the first person point of view, to give the events and thoughts a more personal touch. However, the way O?Brien phrases his sentences, it is really very simple for the reader to get that accurate feeling for the main character, even! though it is not the main character speaking. For example, on the next to last page of the story, there is a large piece that speaks about Lt....
