“I Feel Close to Myself”: Solipsism and US Imperialism in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried

This essay addresses the relationship between solipsism (as a theme and formal device) and American imperialism in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. The essay counters an emerging consensus among critics that the solipsistic form of the book reinforces the American imperialism that led to the Vietnam War. Instead, the article contends that the solipsism in O’Brien’s fiction is in fact central to his critique of US imperialism.