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Tim O Brian's The Things They Carried

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Will Carr Mr. Hovemeyer English 4 ACC 25 April 2024 The Things They Carry In Tim O’Brian’s work, “The Things They Carry,” the burdens borne by soldiers go beyond just the physical pain and suffering. Tim does an amazing job of showing the emotional trauma of soldiers in the Vietnam War. The mental part of war is not talked about as much as the physical side, and not for good reason. The mental and emotional suffering soldiers go through is worse than the physical pain that they have to endure, which is shown by the stories and experiences of Norman Bowker, Jimmy Cross, and Mitchell Sanders. All three of these soldiers from The Things They Carried have PTSD symptoms that exhibit how harsh war is emotionally for humans. The story of Norman Bowker …show more content…

One event that Jimmy is said to remember is the death of Ted Lavender. In the first chapter of The Things They Carried, the platoon guards Lee Strunk, who was searching through a tunnel. As the group is guarding Lee, Ted Lavender decides to take a step away from the platoon to empty his bladder and as he is doing that he is shot in the head by a sniper. The tragic death of Ted was said to have weighed deeply on Jimmy as he feels that if he had done a better job of his duties as the leader of the platoon, then Ted would still be alive. In the book it says, “Later in the day, perhaps, he would call the men together and speak to them plainly. He would accept the blame for what had happened to Ted Lavender”(O’Brian pg.24). This reveals that Jimmy brought the whole platoon together to take blame for the incident, once again showing how much emotional trauma soldiers have to go through. Living with the death of one of your friends and comrades takes a huge toll on a person, and you can see that in both Jimmy and Norman. They both have an immense amount of emotional distress that stems from their time at war, which surpasses the pain that they experience from their physical traumas. Lastly, the experiences Mitchell Sanders had during the book are important to

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Shame and self-hatred surface when Lieutenant Cross realizes “…Ted Lavender [is] dead because he [loves] her [Martha] so much and [cannot] stop thinking about her” (326). Furthermore, the pebble that once symbolized his affection for Martha is replaced with a figurative “stone in his stomach” (332), representative of his guilt. In order to begin to remove his distracting infatuation with Martha, Cross takes the following action: “On the morning after Ted Lavender [dies], First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross [crouches] at the bottom of his foxhole and [burns] Martha’s letters. Then he [burns] the two photographs” (336). Cross’ burning of Martha’s letters and photographs is a physical representation of the transformation in his personality and priorities.

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War is one of the most complex yet completely understood subjects to read or write about. Tim O’Brien has captured the true essence of being drafted into a war. “The Things They Carried” is a novel composed of multiple short stories; Each taking the reader through the perspective of the narrator showing his multiple landscapes, situations, and changing feelings from being drafted into the Vietnam War to surviving it. These stories really help one understand the effects of war on someone’s mind as well as body. Tim O’Brien is the main character and protagonist in this novel.

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This is made clearer when Jimmy Cross blames himself for Ted Lavender's death, as O’Brien explains, “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war” (16). Jimmy’s decision to place the tragedy upon himself shows how quick soldiers try to resolve traumatic experiences, subconsciously setting themselves up to rot with the emotional burdens they create. Moreover, O’Briens simile instantiates the emotional vulnerability of soldiers which distinctly outweighs the horrors of war by creating endless stress and

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The narrator states other than the letters, Jimmy carries a whole bunch of supplies that he needs for the war. More characters are introduced such as Henry Dobbins, Dave Jensen, Ted Lavender, Norman Bowker, Rat Kiley, Lee Strunk, Mitchell Sanders and Kiowa. The narrator explains the supplies that each man holds actually differentiate one’s

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Tim Obrien’s 1990 story “The Things They Carried” describes the experience of a group of soldiers in the Vietnam War. The soldiers are under the responsibility of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. With Jimmy, he carries his love for Martha, and it distracts him from his duty. In the end, he tries to forget Martha because he thinks the death of Ted Lavender is his fault because he was distracted. Respectively, each soldier carries assets that are material and mental.

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From their perspectives we learn that Jimmy could burn his mementos from Martha, but he “could not burn the blame” for not being more alert before Lavender’s death. All of the soldier’s notice him crying the night it happened, but they notice how he accepts responsibility for the death the next morning and how he promises to take better care of the platoon from there on out. In Piedmont-Marton’s critical essay she discusses how Jimmy is reacting to the loss, “His alienation from the group now derives from his understanding that “you could die of carelessness and gross stupidity,” and that he is responsible for the others. He experiences this choice between Martha and his duty as a loss: “It was very sad, he thought. The things men carried inside.

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On one side it shows what can physically happen to a soldier, and on the other side it shows the mental toll a death can have on a soldier. O’Brien feels guilty for killing the soldier. The war in Vietnam was both physically and mentally dehumanizing for the soldiers in the war. Throughout the novel, Alpha Company places blame on themselves for the deaths of their fellow soldiers in Vietnam. Lieutenant Cross carries the burden of Ted Lavender’s death with him.

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On the other hand, by describing the goods that soldiers carry comprehensively, Tim O’Brien indicates that it was very tough for Jimmy Cross to predict that Ted Lavender would get shot in a break after hours of walking through Vietnam with pounds of stuff on his back. This means while Jimmy Cross is trying to

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