A Unique Mode Of War Narratives

Tim O’Brien is one of the most prominent American Vietnam War novelists. His Vietnam War experience as an American soldier provides him a large abundant of writing materials. Almost all his works concentrate on storytelling and memory, reality and imagination, employing realistic and postmodern techniques synthetically to draw a picture of American society before, during and after the Vietnam War, and also illustrate the features of the war and the effect that the war exerts on American soldiers and their families.The Things They Carried, published in1990, has received enthusiastic critical response and numerous literary honors, and is acclaimed as the best novel that presents the Vietnam War. Tim O’Brien tells stories concerning the same event in different chapters in a fragmented and non-linear way, violating the chronological order. In addition, he coins a protagonist who shares the same name as him to export these stories through reality, memory and imagination, and the stories blur the lines of fact and fiction. This kind of war narrative makes the reader "feel" the war, but at the same time, challenges the reader’s usual way of interpreting the novel.Through careful reading, the author of the thesis finds out three unusual narrative features:the first is the absence of the "true war"; the second is the blurring of fact and fiction; and the third is juxtaposition of narrative discourses and commentary discourses. The three features render the novel different from traditional war narratives. By analyzing the main unique features of The Things They Carried, the thesis aims to offer a guideline for readers to interpret and understand the novel.The thesis is composed of five chapters.Chapter One is a brief introduction to the author and his major works, the novel and its research status at home and abroad, and also the significance and arrangement of the thesis.Chapter Two illustrates the first narrative feature "the absence of the true war" through the death of American soldiers Kiowa, Bowker and Lemon, and love between American officer Jimmy Cross and American girl Martha, Fossie and American girl Mary, O’Brien the narrator and his classmate Linda.Chapter Three analyzes the second narrative feature. This chapter, through analyzing the author and the narrator who share the same name and life experiences and illustrating the truth and imagination in the novel, penetrates into the way of how O’Brien blurs fact and fiction.Chapter Four analyzes the third narrative feature. Through the juxtaposition of narrative discourses and commentary discourses, the author successfully bridges the gap between the writer and the reader, helping readers experience the truest Vietnam War.Chapter Five shows the findings and the limitations of the thesis, and meanwhile, indicates some possible research perspectives in the novel for further study.