"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien

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“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien
Amazing! “The Things they Carried” was a great story portraying the life of a soldier trudging in the jungle during the war, giving us the story behind the things the soldiers carried with them.
O’Brien grips the reader with the optimistic lover, and the letter he carried. A letter reminding lieutenant Cross of the outside world and the woman he loves, all in a 10 ounce letter. Then we are introduce to the things they carried: the fire arms and ammunition, the 2.9 pound-23 pounds depending on the fire arm and the body size you were, a five pound steel helmet, 2.1 pound jungle boots, six to seven ounces of dope, the 15-20 pounds of food and water, and the endless weight of emotions the soldiers bared with them. (O’Brien 1-26)
O’Brien ties in the story with the bond the war creates among the soldier, a brother hood between the men and how the men subliminally take each other’s load, physically and emotionally. How it’s not the soldier carrying his own supply to survive, but carrying the supply for the squad, so it can survive.
O’Brien does a good job keeping the reader in the story by introducing the characters, the lovable or hateful ones: Lieutenant cross the hopeless lover, Ted Lavender the paranoid soldier, Rat Kiley the field medic, Mitchell Sander the war enthusiast, and so on, using the soldiers attributes and flaws as the thing that keeps the squad together.
Citation Page
O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York, New York: Mariner Books, 2009. 1-26. Print.




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