The Things They Carried is a book that gives the reader the understanding of several levels of reality; my analysis will be on the importance of the existence of those various perspectives of reality. Tim O’Brien narrates war stories, what they actually tell about war, and about those who were in it. It is also understood in the author’s view that there is a difference between the stories told and the truth of those that were in the battlefield. They are both true and faithful to reality, but it’s the perspective of that reality that changes.

 

With that said, how important is it to pass the real physical war narrative and descriptions to a world that doesn’t understand what war is? We understand the general reasons for war and that it is indeed a negative place to be in. Very few have the inside, the specifics, indescribable moments, human reactions, intense emotions, to a level of complete lack of control, and almost out of the body experiences that the mind creates to survive the horrors that are presented to it. For example when Sanders described about how naturally the music sounded coming from far down the mountains, even without making rational sense a (imaginary) party born from there.   They lived only in war for a long time and then they go back to a completely different place—a “no war world”. In the “no war world" we hear the reports about awareness to war’s reality. This is the life after war, when soldiers go back home where there is no war. We listen to people that want to tell stories about what they’ve lived through, but when we listen, can we really comprehend and absorb the reality that has been given to us? When listening to war stories, we hear and understand only what we can relate to. Everything else gets messy and twisted in our head.