The Things They Carried

November 4, 2017 General Studies

Major Works Data Sheet: “The Things They Carried” Title: “The Things They Carried”| Author: “Tim O’Brien”| Genre: Fiction| Date Published: 1990| Plot summary: First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is in love with a junior in college named Martha while he is in the middle of a war in Vietnam Your Project Will Be Done Rapidly! – click here for more info https://social.microsoft.com/Profile/Jasmine%20Williams  . While he travels around, he and Martha write letters to each other, in which he writes with love and she just writes back as a friend. Throughout the story, O’Brien lists all of the supplies they all carry, such as guns, knives, and ammunition. It is also revealed that the men in Jimmy Cross’s platoon carry objects that reveal their personalities as well.

One morning Cross and his men come across a tunnel. It is Lee Strunk’s turn to search it so he goes inside with apprehension. In a few minutes, he comes back out shouting with joy and relief that he’s still alive, while all this time, Cross is only thinking of Martha. After a few seconds, another one of Cross’s men, Ted Lavender, is shot in the head. After Lavender’s body was removed and taken back to safety, Cross starts to cry. He hates himself for being so distracted by a girl who might not even love him back as well as Martha who is distracting him.

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The story ends by Cross reminding himself that his obligation was not to be loved but to lead. From now on, he will not let anything or anyone get the best of him. | Memorable Quotes: Quote| Significance| 1. “They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. ” | This quote is about the emotional baggage of men at risk of dying.

O’Brien writes that barely restrained cowardice is a common secret among soldiers. He debunks the notion that men go to war to be heroes. Instead, he says they go because they are forced to and because refusal equals cowardice. | 2. “On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters. ”| Cross is angry for what has happened. He is angry at both himself and Martha so he decides to burn the letters from Martha because he never wanted to be distracted again. 3. “He would not tolerate laxity. He would show strength, distancing himself. ”| Jimmy Cross never wants to watch his teammates die in front of him again. He reminds himself he’s there to only lead his men into victory, not loss. | 4. “What they carried was partly a function of rank, partly of field specialty. ”| Everything the men carried was important and had to do with what they’re exceled in. | | | Characters: Name| Role in the Story| Significance| Adjectives/Description| 1.

Jimmy Cross| Leader of group of men at war| Supposed to lead, but too in love| Distracted, sensitive, dreamy| 2. Mitchell Sanders| RTO| One of Cross’s men| Carried PRC-25 radio, a killer, 26 pounds with its battery| 3. Rat Kiley| The medic| One of Cross’s men| Cared for Lavender’s death the most| 4. Ted Lavender| Took drugs a lot| First man to die in the group| Afraid, nervous,| 5. Lee Strunk| One of Cross’s men| Got careless and got Lavender shot in the head| Terrified of death, careless| Setting: Location| Significance| 1.

Than Khe, Vietnam| Where Cross and his men are in the middle of war; where Lavender dies| Symbols: One symbol is the pebble Jimmy Cross receives from Martha. Cross carries the pebble under his tongue. Its presence distracts him from his soldierly duties. Martha wrote that the pebble symbolized her feelings toward him, since she found it on the shore, right where things come together and also separate. He loves her, even though he doesn’t really understand what she means. | Motifs: One recurring structure is O’Brien listing the things Cross and his men arried throughout the whole story. He does this in order to emphasize the fact that they are in war and its essential to carry the things they carry, even if some of the things they carry are just personal, not required. | Themes: One possible theme is the physical and emotional burdens each man carries. The “things” of the title that O’Brien’s characters carry are both literal and figurative. While they all carry heavy physical loads, they also carry heavy emotional loads, composed of grief, terror, love, and longing.

Each man’s physical burden underscores his emotional burden. For example, Henry Dobbins carries his girlfriend’s pantyhose and, with them, the longing for love and comfort. Similarly, Jimmy Cross carries compasses and maps and, with them, the responsibility for the men in his charge. Faced with the heavy burden of fear, the men also carry the weight of their reputations. Although every member of the team experiences fear at some point, showing fear will only reveal vulnerability to both the enemy and sometimes cruel fellow soldiers. |

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