Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

Soldiers during wartime, especially during Vietnam, had to deal with a great deal of mental and physical challenges such as fighting the elements, the enemy, carrying the weight of their gear, and the mental stress of their problems and worries thousands of miles across the sea back home along with the horrors of war. “First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey.” This shows the reader one of the many things of what runs through the minds of the soldiers and the weight of those burdens on their shoulders. During a combat mission having these worries on one’s mind when in a firefight can cause the soldier to make mistakes that could lead to his untimely death. It is a problem many faces when serving during a war. The weight of these mental worries can greatly reduce the performance and …show more content…
Tim O’ Brien’s 1990 “The Things They Carried” weight of these abstract items is as real as that of any physical ones, and unlike those physical objects, they are not so easily cast away. As the reader gets deeper into the story they will come to understand that O'Brien switch’s back and forth from listing what equipment a soldier carries to Lieutenant Cross’s mental weight. These fragmented sections bring great focus to what the men carry both out of necessities and the “ nonessentials” fear, doubt, worries, and memories of the home they left halfway across the world. "As a first lieutenant and platoon leader, Jimmy Cross carried a compass, maps, code books, binoculars, and a .45 caliber pistol that weighed 2.9 pounds fully loaded." The emotion is like a dark void when O’Brien describes what gear the men along with Lieutenant Cross