The Things They Carried is a novel written by Tim O'Brien in the late 1980's in Massachusetts. It is a collection of interrelated short stories, mainly about the Vietnam War. The story took place in Vietnam in the late 1960's and in Massachusetts in the late 1980's. The time and place of the action is interrelated to when the work was written because Tim O'Brien is writing about his experiences during the war. In reliving his memories and telling stories, he is trying to come to terms with everything that has happened. The setting of this book is extremely significant because it was set in the middle of a war and the story is about the war. It is also about Tim O'Brien's life in this war. That is why the setting of The Things They Carried is significant.
             The exposition of the story is with Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, showing how he is a young man who is totally unprepared for the Vietnam War. He carried around letters from Martha; even though they were not love letters, he kept them and mooned over them often. The major conflict of the novel is how the men grapple with both the immediate and long-term effects of the Vietnamese War. The rising action begins when Tim O'Brien gets his draft notice. Though he would like to flee to Canada, he is too embarrassed to refuse his duty and so enters the war. The climax would be how each man of the Alpha Company must cope with death and despair and the guilt that comes from killing and also from living while others die. The falling action would be when Tim O'Brien returns home from war, alive but a vastly changed man who struggles with his memories and tells stories about the war. The denouement would have to be Tim's understanding that the stories he tells can help bring the dead back to life. He can let these people live on by letting others hear and read their stories. The memories are kept alive by the telling of the stories.
             The bi...