Purpose for Writing TTTC - Elliot

O'Brien has multiple purposes for writing the things they carry. One of the purposes that O'Brien has for writing the book, is that he wants to inform people that war is not just blood shed and senseless violence, but also that "war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love" (O'Brien 76). He tries to inform people that war is also beautiful and that one "can't help but gape at the majesty of combat" (O'Brien 77). Besides persuading people into believing that war isn't just hell, O'Brien's motives for writing The Things They Carried are personal reasons. O'Brien believes that "stories are for joining the past and the future," that "stories are for eternity" (O'Brien 36). Therefore by writing about himself, he is forcing people to remember him. Also by writing, he not only makes himself ageless, but brings back people who have already died. He does this, not because the readers need to know about all of these people, but also because he misses them and feels guilty that they died. O'Brien writes and utilizes the full extent of "the magic of stories" by communicating to the reader, making himself immortal, and using writing for easing emotional pains like guilt and loneliness.