The Things They Carried In The Things They Carried there are three instances in which the main character and author Tim O'Brien experiences the tragedy of death firsthand. During his narration O'Brien describes the man he kills, then describes the first death he witnesses in Vietnam, and finally his first experience at an early age with Linda's death. O'Brien tells the reader how he was able to face and learn from each death experience. In the book The Things They Carried O'Brien talks about how he deals with death in his own way and how his understanding of death evolves over the course of the novel. The order of the book is chronologically reversed; this is significant because the reader learns about his first experience with death in the last chapter of the book, "The Lives of the Dead." In this chapter, O'Brien illustrates the genuine love he felt for a girl named Linda. After his first official date with her, O'Brien makes it clear to the reader that Linda was ill and the reader eventually learns that she died of complications from a brain tumor. O'Brien portrays the feelings he experiences as a fourth grader and the thoughts of death he experiences. O'Brien expresses the feeling of disbelief: "It didn't seem real. A mistake, I thought. The girl lying in the white coffin wasn't Linda. For a second I wondered if someone had made a terrible mistake" (241). O'Brien's coping mechanism was to dream; he uses his memories to create dreams of real-life situations he and Linda could easily have been involved in. O'Brien uses situations such as ice skating to make up elaborate stories to keep his memory alive (244). O'Brien seems remote and lonely as a child, so his mother asks "'Timmy, what's wrong?'" and he replies, "'Nothing, I just need to sleep, that's all'" (244). He understands that she is dead, but these intricate stories have stuck with him, even during the war. After more time and experience, O'Brien never fully gets used to the humor, but he understands that jokes are how other soldiers deal with dreams and stories. by O'Brien to cope with his own personal experiences. It wasn't long after his first days in Vietnam that memories of Linda resurfaced. This memory resurfaces after being with his platoon for just four days. O'Brien and his group encountered a small amount of sniper fire and although no one was injured, an airstrike was called in and soon after O'Brien had his next experience with mortality..