State Of Mind In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

In “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, who also narrates through the perspective of Lt’ Cross’s state of mind, describes what it is like to endure the trials of the Vietnam War. Tim receives his draft notice in June of 1968, and contemplates crossing the Canadian border to escape fighting in a war he does not believe in. Guilt and fear took over Tim and he decided he has no choice but to go back to Minnesota and then later to Vietnam. He is but one of many different characters with many different thoughts, motives, and feelings, but also have one thing in common; they all carried with them something that held value to them. For some it was a physical object that the can hold or see, and for others it might have been a mental state of mind, a belief or even a superstition;

Something as simple as Lieutenant Cross’s good-luck pebble or Dave Jensen's rabbit’s foot held significant superstitial value and gave them peace of mind that something was on their side (O’Brien, 609). To them, every piece of their equipment had meaning; from the ammunition to the M&M’s (O’Brien, 607), whether it was for the benefit of them succeeding in the Vietnam War or a distraction from it, everything held value. From their helmets, boots, jackets and gear which helped them sustain themselves from the unfamiliar climate and jungle territory to things like Kiowa’s weight of his own feelings about a fellow soldier who died right before him. Even though Kiowa’s feelings had no physical weight, he still felt held down by this “un-Christian” of not feeling sorrow and pain when Ted Lavender fell down dead in an instant right there on the same battlefield he was in (O’Brien,