Essay on Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried

In "The Things They Carried," there is a great deal of focus on one particular thing: all of the items that the men in the platoon choose to carry with them. Yet it is not quite as simple as that. Many of these burdens are not necessity, but rather emotional obligations to their home, traditions, and loved ones-- as well as the impulse to indulge in sheer selfish pleasure. For these men, these burdens represent hope, fear, and responsibility.

Why and which of these burdens represented hope? Most of the men carried photographs. Jimmy Cross carried 2 photographs of a woman named Martha, a woman he loved very much. He would imagine himself with her, walking on the beach, making love, enjoying her company. For him, these photographs represented hope of love, romance, and the sweet return home. Kiowa "always" carried his New Testament with him. At one point he "opened his New Testament and arranged it beneath his head as a pillow." (O'Brien 16) The feel and smell of his Bible were a gentle reminder of a peace and order.

Even though these were fully grown men, each carried his own security blanket of a kind. Lavender especially was stricken with fear. He carried "six or seven ounces of premium dope," extra grenades, and even tranquilizers. (O'Brien 2) The dope and the tranquilizers were probably used to distract him from reality. The extra grenades were kept in the fear that there would be a long, protracted battle in which he might otherwise run out of ammunition. "Extras such as these really did nothing more than give the men a false sense of security, which was probably necessary to cope with their surroundings." (123HelpMe.com) Kiowa brought along moccasins for silence. Not only did these moccasins represent important tradition, but they offered a feeling of protection. He was afraid of being heard, and he made sure he was prepared.

Responsibility was an important burden that all of the men carried, some more than others. Rat Kiley carried nearly 20 pounds of medic supplies alone: "...a canvas satchel filled with morphine and plasma and malaria tablets and surgical tape and comic books and all the things a medic must carry including M&Ms for especially band wounds..." (O'Brien 9) Henry Dobbins was a big man, and with his size came the affliction of being a machine gunner. He carried more than common grunts-- for them it was a weight of 14 lbs. Maximum. His machine gun alone was 23 lbs. unloaded (which it hardly ever was), and his ammunition weighed between 10 to 15 lbs.

What has been written could not possibly do justice for the complex qualities of these burdens. "The story deals with not only the physical risk of war, but also with the emotional effects it has on the young soldiers." (Lopedog 1) All of these items, including simple necessities like pocket knives and C-rations, and sentimental items like Bibles and photographs, "were carried for two simple reasons, to survive, and to kill..."-- the terrible responsibility of each and every soldier. (123HelpMe.com)

References:

"The Forces That Drive Man to War." Lopedog. 02 Sep. 2007
http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=31689>.

"Necessities in Tim O'Brien's Things They Carried." 123HelpMe.com. 02 Sep. 2007
http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=16782>.

O'Brien, Tim. "The Things They Carried." Houghton Mifflin, 1990.