Elliot Ackerman's The Things They Carried

A great novel about war is not one that explains detailed events of violence or gore, but, rather, one that extracts the raw emotions of all who were involved. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien achieves this perfect balance between truth, empathy, and fiction. American author, Elliot Ackerman, shares that different experiences or events can encapsulate “the war in miniature”. Composed of short stories, each chapter in The Things They Carried could be interpreted as an example of “the war in miniature”. However, the chapter that most eloquently encompasses “the war in miniature” is “How to Tell a True War Story” because it captures the sense of “overwhelming ambiguity” (78) of war, expresses how there is no moral to war, and highlights the importance of relationships made amidst war.
Uncertainty characterizes war; “How to Tell a True War Story” conveys this feeling of chaos and having no control over future events. “In the midst of evil” (77) everything is unexpected and terrifying. Leaving the reader with an uncertainty of reliability, the narrator teaches that a war story does not “depend upon” (79) the truth of events. Moreover, during a war there is the permeating feeling of “a ghostly fog” (78) that clouds vision of anything new. No longer having any “clarity”, “chaos” becomes a constant and the “only certainty” (78) is that
“How to Tell a True War Story” describes the death of Curt Lemon, Rat’s, Bob Kiley’s, best friend, in depth. After the death of Curt, Rat authors a “very personal” (64) letter to Curt’s sister. Despite “pour[ing] his heart out”, Curt’s sister “never writes back” (65) making a new “sin” that is “fresh and original”(76) for Vietnam. Insisting that there is no “point” (78) in war, “How to Tell a True War story” proclaims that war is “never moral” (65). Even “in miniature”, war has “no