Throughout the Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien often alludes to Kathleen, his daughter, and Linda, his childhood friend with cancer. However, Kathleen and Linda do not exist. O'Brien includes them in his story because they allow him to interact with the reader within the text without personally interacting with the reader. Kathleen represents the reader in the text, the one who can interact with Tim O'Brien and change the things he says. Linda, on the other hand, represents how storytelling and memory can ease the pain of any traumatic situation from the past. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayRoles that O'Brien invested in his heroinesTim O'Brien's daughter, Kathleen, suggested that he write about something else because he always writes about his memories and experiences of the war which are not the most positive thing about write; She wants him to abandon anything to do with war and be happy while writing a happy story. However, even as she considers quitting, she is unable to do so because the impact the war has had on her life is far beyond anything Kathleen can imagine and understand. Kathleen believes that writing about something other than the war is an easy task and that it is no big deal because she doesn't realize the huge impact the war had on Tim O'Brien and doesn't understand why he tells these stories. Kathleen appears many times in O'Brien's stories, particularly in “Field Trip” where O'Brien takes Kathleen, his daughter, on vacation to Vietnam. The difficulty of explaining his Vietnam experience to Kathleen is evident in the frustration in his tone when he says, “At the same time, though, she seemed a little perplexed. For her, war was as remote as dinosaurs and cavemen." If Kathleen represents the reader, this suggests that O'Brien believes that we too are out of touch, requiring explanations for everything he says and does. This idea of ​​Kathleen as a reader is evident in this exchange: “Kathleen sighed. «Well, I don't understand. I mean, why were you here in the first place?' “I don't know,” I replied, “because I had to be.” 'But why?'” His misunderstanding and need for explanation are evident, and amount to a reader's reaction to the text. But what also emerges here is O'Brien's almost disinterest in explanation. “Because I had to be” is never an adequate response to a child's inquisitive nature. O'Brien's disinterest suggests that he doesn't care if the reader doesn't understand or like what he's saying, or doesn't know why he's saying it. He is simply writing to relieve the pressures on his mind. Writing serves many purposes for him, first and foremost as a method of catharsis, a way to ease the traumatic memories of what happened in Vietnam. It is also possible that in the dialogue quoted above, Kathleen takes the form of O'Brien's dialogue. inner conscience, a conscience perhaps still confused about the purpose of the war and its role in the war. In “On the Rainy River,” O'Brien describes his doubts and fears about going to war after receiving a request for his presence in Vietnam. Perhaps, as previously mentioned, Kathleen is a representation of those questions that still remain, a literal figure to ask them without O'Brien having to abandon the character of the story. Linda is portrayed in "The Lives of the Dead" as Timmy's nine-year-old daughter. old friend and his first true love. It is later revealed that he has a brain tumor and subsequently dies, much to young Tim's dismay. O'Brien includes her in the story to illustrate the healing power of imagination.