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 she collaborates nicely with story's main theme. Tim O'Brien brings in the character of Linda to compare her to the young men of the Alpha Company, to juxtapose the events of…