The Things They Carried

Complex narrative form – mixture of elements of fiction (see title page “A work of fiction by Tim O’Brien” as well as non-fiction (see dedication page – names the book’s fictional characters as if they were actual men). Why adopt these apparently conflicting elements?

Clearly, his purpose is in part to demonstrate that fact and truth are different, that fiction (i.e. events invented by the author) can convey truth. I’m not convinced that many need to be convinced of this, however. And, it becomes a bit of a one-trick pony, I think, as discussion of the novel continually returns to this idea.