Soldiers In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

One often recalls the pounds and pounds of gear soldiers in war must carry: rifle, knife, helmet, body armor, grenades, and many more. In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien begins the novel with a detailed description of the physical gear soldiers carried in Vietnam; with each listed item, the total weight of a soldier’s equipment slowly grew into a massive number. One would assume the equipment would prove to be a soldier’s largest burden in the battlefield. Although the soldiers in Vietnam certainly carry backbreaking amounts of equipment, their emotional and psychological burdens far outweigh their physical gear. “Grief, terror, love, longing - these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had

A minority fled to Canada, but the majority accepted their fate and started counting the days until their trip on the “Freedom Bird”, the plane that took soldiers from Vietnam back home. In the heat of battle, one of the biggest temptations was to simply “go limp and tumble to the ground … until your buddies picked you up and lifted you into a chopper [that would] carry you off [home].” (21) But despite such temptation, the soldiers carry on and not “one ever fell” (21). Instead, they hide their fears of death in order to maintain dignity. Naturally, the stay in Vietnam also manifests the soldiers’ longings for their loved ones and former lives. “Almost every [soldier] humped photographs” that provided a sense of familiarity in an otherwise hostile environment. For a while, Jimmy Cross carries around mementos of Martha, a girl he loves back home. His mind often wanders, “slip[ping] away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along the Jersey shore with Martha” (8) and thinking “of new things he should’ve done [with her]” (4). “Without willing it,” he would start “thinking about Martha… He tried to concentrate on ... the war, all the dangers, but his love was too much for him.” (11) Jimmy Cross’s love later becomes a burden as he blames himself for the death of Ted Lavender “because he loved [Martha] so much and could not stop thinking about her” (6). “No more fantasies, he told himself.” (23) He realized that he and Martha were a world apart. Though longings provide soldiers reasons to live, these desires only add weight to the fear of