The Things They Carried, by: Tim O'Brien

On the surface this story is about a platoon leader in the Vietnam war that distracts himself from the reality of war by pretending that a girl back home is in love with him and waiting for him. He knows this is not true but it keeps him from realizing the real hell he is in.
When I look deeper into the story I start to believe Mr. O'Brien may be using the war reference as a way of bringing the reader into a morbid mindset. To write this I think he must have experienced some great pain in the love category of life. Or maybe it was just a young love that he still holds dear. And if he truly was in the war then I am sure he still has demons. Maybe writing this story allowed him to express his feelings in a positive way. For all I know this might have been a non-fictional piece. I'm sure many soldiers made up relationships or just fake realities that helped them block out the reality.
I really enjoyed how he would (what I consider) restart the story several times. He would bring you to a climax and then go back to the things they carried and start over.  I felt like I read several different stories at once. I really enjoyed how detailed his description of the items they carried were. Especially when he told you the weight. I'm sure this was very important to soldiers. This part of the story would surly suck a military person in because they would be able to relate easily.
I personally do not have a writing style. This is all very new to me so I feel a little overwhelmed. One thing I realized when I looked over the other choices was that I enjoyed the story more than the poems. I enjoy being taken on the trip that the writer has laid out.  I still struggle with interpreting the meanings poems.