The Things They Carried is a 1990 book by Tim O’Brien, and is part memoir and part fiction: a collection of interrelated stories inspired by O’Brien’s Vietnam War experiences. The Book follows a platoon of infantrymen through the jungles of Vietnam and the “things” each soldier carried with him: things both literal-like insect repellant, a photo, a harmonica, chewing gum, c-rations stuffed in socks, weapons-as well as things figurative and emotional-like the voice of someone special to him, what that voice says and sounds like; smells that have lingered his whole life and continues to have meaning; things like small, particular moments he remembers; certain questions that remain unanswered; particular hopes, fears, and dreams. Things that are a part of us, of our individual stories, that we carry with us most every day.