This article is about the debate over the effectiveness of the stories as agents of healing and redemption on individuals and a nation by exploring such issues in The Things They Carried. Blyn begins his article by stating that the author's intentions in the story The Things They Carried is to provide some sort of catharsis to 1'v'ietnanl War veterans. Blyn goes on to criticize O'Brien's narrator in the story by stating that the story itself can provoke some sort of confrontation over the denial of the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. This article