Summary of ‘The Things They Carried’ in 8 Minutes

A summary of Tim O'Brien's 'The Things They Carried,' a short story based on his time in Vietnam in less than 9 minutes. This partially summarizes the short story, and breaks down some of its thematic brilliance, juxtaposed with the horrors of war.

[leatherneck]

I was forever moved by The Things They Carried when I read it. And then I joined the military. And although I never was in combat, I understood why the author chose the title to emphasize the figurative and literal things they carried. I really appreciated this thoughtful examination of the book.

[Ereheru]

This is quite a powerful story. I remember there was a part where he talked about the men discarding things when the knew there was going to be a resupply, just dropping them on the ground as they marched, and then at the end he talks about how he was going to do that with the stone that Martha gave him, but that he would also make them men stop dropping the excess supplies, which I took as a nod to him deeming his love for Martha as something that had no value in the warzone. I also felt his preoccupation with her virginity as a need to believe there was something pure in a world, a heaven to make his life in the hell of war tolerable, though he would often speak of how futile his feelings were, since he knew that Martha didn't actually love him romantically.

I was born during the Vietnam war, I remember seeing the footage on the news and wondered if I would have to go to war when I grew up. My birthday is on April 16th, so the fact that I was eating cake somewhere far away while this was supposed to be happening made it resonate with me all the more. Thank you for doing this video, and I look forward to your next one.

[djabcool]

I'm in an English 102 class and this helped me get a quick on refresh on what happened in the book. It was an amazing short story!

[MartinBraonain]

This was used as part of a revision lesson for students in New Zealand. Thanks:)

[jackhe]

Amazing video. The things they carried was one of my favorite books that I read 15 years ago. I've forgotten all the details but watching this video brought all the emotions back, which is what I think O'Brien hoped for. You should definitely do a video for the whole book and the literary concepts that made the book leave an imprint after reading.

[grafffuller]

Wow, another great explanation to a story I'd never heard of. Being a son of a man who fought in Viet Nam, this was interesting to listen to. I've been interested in this particular war all my life. I watched The Deer Hunter, Platoon and Full Metal Jacket with my Da. Because these film talk about different aspects of how this war (police action) and how it effected their lives, we were able to talk about certain issues. My Da was at Da Nang during the Tet Offensive (1968)...so a very tense period of this conflict. As a child I asked stupid questions about how many people he killed and such, but as I got older, I saw how it changed him. Of course, I never knew him before the war, but he even expressed obliquely how he had to change to survive what that experience did to him and all that were there.

Thanks for doing these videos. I hope kids that are school aged will benefit correctly from your ability to boil things down to the essentials. Well done.

[ShirleyTimple]

Great book. I enjoyed the entire book immensely, but the chapter you focused on is very powerful.

[TomCatTheCatMan]

I see this is not an active channel but I still gave you a like and sub, I just found out about this book while watching videos on the current conflict in Ukraine and nothing blows me away more than war stories, to me it doesn't get more real than the heaviness of being in a foreign land fighting and killing people you have no personal grievances with and knowing each step or breath could be your last. Your best friends were strangers mere days ago but you're ready to put your life on the line for theirs .. that's gritty and I think that if more people understood these stories better or were able to put themselves there and truly feel Lavenders death then as a species we could begin to move away from this way of coexisting. Thank you for this video, it's the one that is making my next move the purchase of the book. I'm a physical media person myself so I like to research a little before I commit to buying but I think it's worth having in the collection. Thanks again

[tonertunez]

Omg thank you I’m starting this for english 11😫

[isabelcunha]

It’s a shame you don’t have the written part of your excellent analysis.

[MrUndersolo]

He wrote the best book about the war, in my opinion. Thank you for this one (try "July, July").
You can listen to the audio book version to hear the pronunciations of the different places (I heard a version read by Bryan Cranston of "Breaking Bad").
Oh, and a new sub!

[CarlitosIII]

I have a question is this book a ghost story or a love story??? I need help with an essay please read my comment