After he tells the story of Linda, the young girl with cancer who died, O’Brien tells the reader that stores are how he keeps the dead alive (226). This makes the reader realize the point of all the war stories and why he feels the need to tell others about his experiences as well as other people's experiences in the war. He said he kept Linda alive in dreams and stories about her. Since creating stories about her when he was younger kept her alive for him, it shows the reader why he tells the war stories he does now. He tells the stories to keep all the people he knew then alive in his memory as well as the memory of others. Throughout the stories that O’Brien tells in “They Things They Carried,” the reader would feel many different emotions. Feeling these many emotions makes the reading easier to understand and read for the reader. While taking his reader on a journey of sadness, pain, anger, and realization, O’Brien makes his reading relatable, emotional, and interesting to his
After he tells the story of Linda, the young girl with cancer who died, O’Brien tells the reader that stores are how he keeps the dead alive (226). This makes the reader realize the point of all the war stories and why he feels the need to tell others about his experiences as well as other people's experiences in the war. He said he kept Linda alive in dreams and stories about her. Since creating stories about her when he was younger kept her alive for him, it shows the reader why he tells the war stories he does now. He tells the stories to keep all the people he knew then alive in his memory as well as the memory of others. Throughout the stories that O’Brien tells in “They Things They Carried,” the reader would feel many different emotions. Feeling these many emotions makes the reading easier to understand and read for the reader. While taking his reader on a journey of sadness, pain, anger, and realization, O’Brien makes his reading relatable, emotional, and interesting to his