Physical and Emotional Burdens

“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien explores the innermost desires and worries of a unit of soldiers in the Vietnam War by listing what each man carries. With a focus on the group’s lieutenant, Jimmy Cross, this story reveals the physical, emotional, and psychological weight the soldiers “humped” (626). Physically, the soldiers carry, among many things, food, clothing, and artillery. Psychologically, the soldiers carry “the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing…” (634). It is by looking closely at this “emotional baggage” that the reader can fully understand the complex mentality of these soldiers.

At the beginning of the story, Lieutenant Cross spends a significant portion of his time obsessing over Martha. He reads and re-reads her letters every night, delicately holding the letters with the “tips of his fingers” (625). He frequently pulls out two pictures of Martha, which make him think about “new things he should’ve done” when he was with her. Lastly, he becomes fixated with a pebble she sent him, turning it over in his mouth during long marches and fantasizing about spending time with her. Lieutenant Cross carries the weight of his imagination. Day after day during the war, Lieutenant Cross spends more time with Martha than he spends protecting and guiding his men, which ultimately leads to him blaming himself for the death of his fellow soldier, Ted Lavender. At the end of the story, he realizes that he is in a situation where “men died because of carelessness and gross stupidity…Boom-down, and you were dead…” (636). His mistake is reiterated when he says, “he had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead” (632). After this realization, he makes a concerted effort to end his daydreaming, telling himself, “no more fantasies,” and starts to become “realistic” (636). Through this, a significant weight—the weight of his emotional baggage—begins to fall.

Throughout the story, the physical weight of each item is specifically noted. While ammunition, food, and other survival necessities make up the majority of this physical weight, the lighter items, such as Lieutenant Cross’s letters, are significantly heavier in emotional weight. O’Brien effectively sets up this contrast between heavy and light, between something seemingly unimportant, like a pebble weighing no more than an ounce, and something vital to the soldiers, like the PRC-25 radio weighing 26 pounds. The radio served as protection—a means of communicating and evaluating danger. The pebble served as a distraction; it took Lieutenant Cross’s mind away from his duty, “his mind wandered,” and “he had difficulty keeping his attention on the war” (628).

“The Things They Carried” illustrates that much can be learned through the things a soldier carries. From the objects Lieutenant Cross carries, he is portrayed as a leader, “carrying the responsibility” of the lives of his men, and as an idealistic thinker, imagining Martha loves him and hoping for more chances to be with her (627). Ted Lavender carries tranquilizers, which demonstrate his scared nature. Rat Kiley carries medical supplies and comic books showing his profession as a medic in conjunction with a desire to stay light-hearted in spirit. Like looking into someone’s closet, investigating the things these soldiers carried reveals essential information about their characters.

The dramatic burning of the letters and photographs toward the end of the story exemplifies the importance of the things they carried—even the small, seemingly unimportant things—and their powerful effects. The grim war added with a longing of the impossible makes for a heavy load. By burning these mementos, Lieutenant Cross is eliminating their physical weight and beginning a journey to eliminate their emotional weight.

While the emotional weight of Martha on Lieutenant Cross will begin to disappear, a new emotional weight is added to Lieutenant Cross’s load, the death of Lavender, “something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war” (632). The soldiers will always carry “the burden of being alive,” the immense sorrow in loss, and the longing for a more peaceful time (633). The narrator states toward the end of the story, “there was at least the single abiding certainty that they would never be at loss for things to carry” (632). (703)