Ilha do Desterro (Mar 2010)

<b>The de-totalization of history in Tim O`Brien`s The Things They Carried (1990)</b><br>

  • Gisele Manganelli Fernandes

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2010n59p13
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 0, no. 59
pp. 13 – 24

Abstract

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This paper aims at discussing how Tim O’Brien, a veteran of the Vietnam War, reviews the American involvement in the conflict in his novel The Things They Carried (1990). The author shows the perspective of the soldiers in the stories and, therefore, presents other possibilities to analyze that historical fact. The interplay of fiction and truth is essential for O’Brien to reach the objective of reevaluating official history in order to make the readers rethink the past.

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