The Importance of Linda in "The Things They Carried"

In the last chapter entitled "The Lives of the Dead", Tim O'Brien introduces Linda, a nine-year-old girl he claims he was in love with as a child, who eventually died of a brain tumor. One might ask why the author chose to work in this childhood experience into a novel about the ugliness and cruelty of war. She is quite a contrast to the stories of killing, death, and mental struggles associated with Vietnam, however …

…werful storytelling. He presents the character of Linda to really emphasize his method of coping with the dead and preserving their memory. During a dream Linda tells O'Brien, ""Once you're alive...you can't ever be dead"" (244). This truly touches him and as a result Tim O'Brien spends his life writing about the past. His experience with Linda enhances this grisly war story, which is not simply about Vietnam but the struggles of death and dying.