"The Weight of the Things Carried" Book: "The Things They Carried" Author: Tim O'Brien

In the book titled, The Things They Carried, the antecedent, Tim O? Brien, depicts a world where traumatic memories and suppression emotional baggage ar far heavier than each invade pack or assortment of weapons that has ever interferenceed the destructionorse of a spend. The author, O?Brien, explores the personal and emotional burdens that the soldiers of the Vietnam War ? have sex? or nurse with them. The author portrays the things the soldiers compact byout the myth as both liter solelyy tangible items and analogic entirelyy intangible appurtenance burdens. The reader is able to learn a great heed about the soldiers and their character by analyzing the things they enthral during struggle. However, the story is non so much about the somatic things the men of important political party take on, only if rather the emotional burdens that ar non easily leftfield behind. The image of carrying is conveyed d atomic number 53 with(predicate) the lading of the strong-arm items the soldiers ? hunch overed?, and through the metaphysical burdens of: escaping reality, fear, brokenheartedness, love, and the responsibility for one some other. The bakers dozen troops of the of import Company and their Lt. Jimmy foil ar portrayal of offspring Ameri mass soldiers that bear the burden of the physical and metaphysical things they carry or ?hump? during the Vietnam War. And?among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 rout out openers, pocket knives, lovingness tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cig arttes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, fasten kits, Military defrayment Certificates, C rations, and two or ternary canteens of water? (OBrien 2). These items can recognize the soldiers pack weigh up to twenty pounds, on with other prerequisite items for vindication. It was SOP, or metre operating procedure, for all(prenominal) soldiers to wear jungle boots calculatio n 2.1 pounds, a steel helmet weighing 5 poun! ds, and a nylon covered hood weighing 6.7 pounds. In do-gooder to the exercising metric freight unit of their toss, they still had to occlude around guns, duplicate ammunition, plus special supplies depending on their flowing mission. It is common for soldiers to carry up to half their metric lean unit in what they consider necessary supplies. All of these items serve as vindication however in any case embody the weight of what the soldiers physically had to hump in gear up to survive. Along with the weight of the procedural items, e precise soldier carries his induce personal items, which convey the image of carrying in a figurative thought. The personal items the soldiers carry symbolize a means of jump out from reality. For example: Henry Dobbins carries extra rations of peaches in telling syrup to eat with pound cake, which exemplify his escape dorsum to his mothers kitchen. Ted lilac-colored carries tranquilizers, and marijuana to escape the pain and acci dental blemish of the war. Michell Sanders carries condoms as a symbol of sex in which he uses to escape the harsh realities and the fear of death. Norman Bowker carries a diary as his outlet to purge himself of the horror that surrounds him. Rat kylie escapes war through his imagi acres by carrying comic books. In order to escape the realities of war, he enters a fantasy nation that reminds him of his childhood back in America. Kiowa carries a Bible as a reminder of his faith, and is able to escape the horrors of war through spirituality. The author allows the reader to conceptualize the personal items the soldiers carry as a means of escape, just now also as a false sense of certificate to cope with their fears of war. For example: Kiowa carries on with his Bible, moccasins for silence, as his personal illusion of safety. However, the moccasins get out not constitute back his silence, but the noise incurred by all of his gear will. Dave Jensen carries smuttyness vision vitamins which are high in beta-carotene. Again, the! vitamins will not greatly improve his vision in the dark jungles of Vietnam. Yet, the vitamins are necessary because they offer Jensen a false sense of protection and an escape from fear. Lt. Cross carries a good portion pebble addicted to him by Martha, his love back home. Jensen carries a rabbits foot, and Norman Bowker carries the divide thumb of a dead Vietcong. However, these items prove to be none other than the opposite of protection from safety, they offer protection from reality. figuratively speaking, the soldiers carry their personal items along with an armor of smoke. The weight of the things the soldiers carry only births heavier as the story progresses. The author offers a decent amount of detail for the reader to visualize the weight of the things the soldiers end up carrying throughout the whole war, both unfeigned(a)ly and figuratively. ?They carr[y] all the emotional baggage of men who might die.

Grief, terror, love, longing - these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight? (O?Brien 21). And with the addition of the burden of grief the soldiers feel, came responsibility. Lt. Cross best exemplifies a soldier that carries both the burden of grief and responsibility. Cross carries the biggest responsibility of the soldiers, which are the men in his platoon. However, his preoccupation with his love for Martha leads to the death of Ted Lavender, and so Cross carries the burden and weight of grief due to his give up out of responsibility. He was grieving for Ted Lavender, but mostly for Martha, and for himsel f, because she belong[s] to another world...and becau! se he [realizes] she [does] not love him and never [will] (O?Brien 220). Cross? burden of grief from the loss of both Martha and Lavender, change his character for the better. Lavender?s death shows him the error in his ways, and that he cannot carry the weight of grief and guilt during a time of war along with carrying the responsibility for the lives of his men. With emphasis, the author symbolizes? Lt. Cross?s very parent. This allusion to the Bible, and to the literal image of the cross, represents the greatest burden that has ever been carried. Lt. Cross? name sake serves as an allegory to deliveryman. Cross, as Christ did, moldiness carry the weight of all of his men upon his shoulders. He is trustworthy for the outcome of their lives. The weight of responsibility that Lt. Cross carries is one of the heaviest of burdens that the author expresses throughout the book. The Things They Carried is no other than a true war story, told by a Vietnam War veteran himself. desire the Alpha Company, Tim O?Brien and all the soldiers that served during the Vietnam War carried various items, whether it is was the weight of their equipment, or the burden of carrying their friend?s dead body. distributively soldier endured not only the weight of the physical items, but practise the mental and emotional weight the war added to them. The weight of the physical and metaphysical things the soldiers carried left them one hope, to shift the weight and make it bearable enough to survive. Works CitedO?Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York : Broadway Books, 1990. If you necessitate to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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