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Out of context: Reply #20
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- HijoDMaite0
The Things They Carried is a collection of related stories by Tim O'Brien, about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War, originally published in hardcover by Houghton Mifflin, 1990. While apparently based on some of O'Brien's own experiences, the title page refers to the book as "a work of fiction"; indeed, the majority of stories in the book possess some quality of metafiction. Even though the characters are based on a work of fiction, they show similarities to real soldiers that O'Brien knew during his time in the war. A few of the characters show similarities to characters from his autobiography If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home. That is why O'Brien dedicated his book to the men of the Alpha Company.