The Psychological Approach to the Things They Carried In Tim O' Brian, The Things They Carried, talks about the Vietnam War and its effects on the country. O'Brian uses the psychological approach to describe the pain of war. The things they carried all represented a part of each soldier. Back in the Vietnam War, they didn't expect a woman to fight in a war. The story is better understood because the reader knows the background of the story and the personalities of the characters. The thought was simply unacceptable and definitely not normal. The two methods of interpreting a story blended together result in a great understanding of the characters and the event that is about to happen. The deceptive interpretations presented, the things they carried, and the transformation of a delicate girl turning into a survivor are examples of each method presented. The misleading interpretation presented in "How to Tell a True War Story" is an example of historicism. Today, people hear about the Vietnam War through family, friends, and veterans. When people tell war stories they try to sound victorious. It makes the person listening feel like killing people is all for the good of the people. O'Brian somehow justifies a point in his book by stating: "A true war story is never moral. It neither instructs, nor encourages virtue, nor suggests models of proper human behavior, nor prevents men from doing the things they men have always done." ." In reality more harm than good has been done. People have been forced to abandon their lands to hide in safety and the economic consequence is fatal. To get to the point, O'Brian is saying that there is no real history of war if the public believes that killing people had a bigger and better consequence. Looking back at the Vietnam War brought Vietnam to its knees Americans helped someone who asked them not to interfere and in the end there is no been no victor. The Americans had nothing to gain by fighting this war. The title was contradictory about how to tell a true war story. As we continue, we notice another example of the historicist approach in the story of Song Tra Bong young American is presented as a normal girl of the years '60.