This study explores the role of laughter in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried using Mikhail Bakhtin's grotesque realism theory. Against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, laughter transcends humor, serving as a complex mechanism for survival and resistance. The analysis identifies four key functions: relativizing fear through the playful treatment of death, dissolving boundaries between life and death via grotesque bodily imagery, fostering communal coping through unique linguistic practices, and creating innovative ways to remember the dead. Laughter emerges as both a survival strategy and a collective means to process trauma, overturning death's dominance while generating resilience. By highlighting its subversive and regenerative aspects, this study broadens the methodological scope of war literature analysis and offers fresh insights into human adaptability under extreme conditions.