The Things They Carried

The story, “The Things They Carried” had an interesting message behind it. At first, it seemed very repetitive and I wasn’t sure right off the bat I made an assumption of what the story was going to be like. After reading the first couple pages, it got more and more interesting. Not knowing much about the war, I was able to easily understand the short story.At first it talks about “the things they carried” referring to the weapons and all the other items they needed to survive. Jimmy Cross who was suppose to be making sure the soldiers were in line and doing the right thing was too concerned with his love for Martha and his focus was only on her. Because of his negligence to his soldiers—Ted Lavender was killed. Jimmy Cross knew it was his fault; it would have never happened had he been not so worried about the love and obsession of Martha. The end of the story is where I think the writer wanted to get the point across to the reader. He talks about it was no longer going to be just the things they carried outside but it needed to be the things they carry inside. Jimmy Cross burned the letters and pictures of Martha, and planned to dispose of the “good luck” pebble that he carried. He stepped up to the plate and realized that he was the leader for his soldiers and he couldn’t let another death happen due to his lack of leadership. Another good point the writer got across was the weight of the war that all the 

men carried! 

The image was taken from: http://the-things-they-carred.tripod.com/

Here is a link to check out some quotes from Tim O'Brien