The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, is a novel in which you become the characters inside the stories. You feel the pain of the war; you share in the sorrow, and the tragedy of the war and the events that transpire. You feel the pain that First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross must have felt in his love for Martha; the gut-wrenching sorrow that Norman Bowker must have felt in his guilt over the loss of Kiowa. This whole story is full of shorts about the loss and pain involved in war.
             Tim O'Brien meant this novel to make you feel what he, and the other members of the Alpha Company must have felt. "I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth. (179)" These are the words of Tim O'Brien, not the Tim O'Brien involved in the war, but the Tim O'Brien that wrote the book. He is saying that he sometimes stretches the truth, or makes up stories altogether to convey the feelings that come with the war. You may hear a story, and think that it is sad, but not really care too deeply for those involved; but if the teller of the story makes the story more real, adds something that the listener can relate to, the power of the story is increased dramatically.
             When stories are meant to bring your emotions to the surface they may be very graphic, and sometimes to the point where you can't read on. There was such a story in this book.
             "He shot randomly, almost casually, quick little spurts in the belly and butt. Then he reloaded, squatted down, and shot it in the left front knee. Again the animal fell hard and tried to get up, but this time it couldn't quite make it. It wobbled and
             went down sideways. Rat shot it in the nose. He bent forward and whispered something, as if talking to a pet, then he shot it in the throat. All the while the baby buffalo was silent, or almost silent, just a light bubbling sound where the nose had been. (79)&qu...