Your confusion as to whether O'Brien is actually the
author is one shared by a large number of people.
O'Brien's
work was first published in Esquire in August, 1986. A year later
he was published in a literary collected entitled, The Best American Short
Stories 1987. ''The Things They Carried'' is the name of a short story he
wrote, which ultimately became not only the first story, but the title of his collection
of stories in Viking Penguin's 1990 publication.
Tim
O'Brien has established himself as a strong literary voice and a leading author in
Vietnam literature, but neither critics nor readers have been able to ascertain with
certainty whether the events in the book are true or the result of O'Brien's
imagination.
O'Brien stated (paradoxically) in interviews
that the truth in literature has nothing to do with actual events, but studies comparing
his experiences in the Vietnam War with his stories show obvious
similarities.
The story “The Things They Carried” is told
in the third person about Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, a member of the infantry. In the
story, the narrator lists the items the soldiers "carry with them." Among the things
Cross literally carries with him, he also carries "the
responsibility for the lives of his men.''
With this in
mind, I cannot help but believe that O'Brien uses the stories of his comrades in battle
to tell their stories, and that in doing so, he fulfills the need of Cross's character
to do that which O'Brien is compelled to do: to assume the responsibility for the lives
of his men, even if only telling their stories, to make their who they were “real,” and
their sacrifices meaningful.
However, as O'Brien has not
come out and clarified where he fits into the stories he has written, I do not know if
anyone can be completely certain as to whether the stories are autobiographical. From
his point of view, however, I would guess that this doesn't concern him as much as
telling the stories of these men.
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