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The Things They Carried Tim OBrien wrote an interesting story about soldiers of the Vietnam War, called The Things They Carried. The main theme of the story is the weight of the objects that American soldiers had to carry on them during their passes through the enemy territory. These things included not only the armor and burdensome objects but also their confusions, grief and heavy emotions of desire. The central point of the story groups around the death of Ted Lavender, who was one of the soldiers participating in Vietnam War. He is characterized as a not too brave soldier and that is why he was always carrying tranquilizers with him. Because Obrien's goal here is to make reader better understand the importance of the men that were there, and Ted Lavenders death, he describes every heavy detail of the Things They Carried.
The reader is exposed to explanation of every object that the soldiers carried with its characteristics such as size and weight. Showing the objects and making them into groups of items, OBrien unmasks the true fear of the war itself. He also explains of what value the things they carried was to the soldiers. All the objects they carried signified the weight the war had on them. The things they carried is significant because it helps reveal the identity of all the soldiers. The soldiers identity, one, which is courage, is expressed by the weight they carried.
The story also details what the soldiers carried inside, such as feelings, as well as the way the soldiers carried themselves though the war. Most of the objects the soldiers carried were physical, but Lieutenant Cross humped his love for a girl on his back. He is one of the persons OBrien focuses on throughout the story. Lieutenant Cross was madly in love with Martha, a girl back home. Martha has never responded to Lieutenant Cross love. This is very important to remember because Lieutenant Cross love for Martha plays a big role in Teds death.
Lieutenant Cross spent his days, during the war, constantly daydreaming about her. (Harris) OBrien stresses Lieutenant Cross love for Martha to help the readers recognize that during that time Martha was everything to Lieutenant Cross. His obsession for Martha led him to forget about his men, whose lives were on risk. Teds death made Lieutenant Cross to realize how irresponsible and inattentive he had been. When Ted Lavender gets killed because Lieutenant Cross is daydreaming of spending time on the beach with Martha, he burns the letters that he wrote, and tries to forget about her.
In the story, the importance of the things they carried as well as Lieutenant Cross love for Martha is known to be important. These are two of the biggest components to help readers understand why Teds death is significant. The life of one soldier had to take place in order to help Lieutenant Cross get back to reality. The destruction of the village does not bring Lavender back or even make Cross feel better, but it shows how death can alter behavior with power.
Guilt can cause people to change actions or thoughts very rapidly. It does this because guilt makes the person regret how they ignored their values or ideals and the change comes from wanting to not repeat the misjudgment of their actions. The involved changes to relieve guilt are modifications of behavior. The modifications can be a change in ones values or ideals on life or they could be a change in actions that they have been doing. In the story Lieutenant Cross makes both of the changes after the death of Lavender. He changes his values by acknowledging that Martha was not in love with him and now he would not be in love with her and he also burnt the pictures and letters so he was not looking at them anymore.
The guilt that they all felt altered how they acted. Also after Teds death, Lieutenant Cross changes from a romantic adolescent to a man of action and duty. With his new, tough lucidity, he is carried further by his firmness not to be caught unprepared again. The way he plans to guide his troops is to list his determinations.
He has to maintain control over the event by detaching himself. He is now able to realize that this is a life-and-death matter. They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried. The weight of what the soldiers carried moves expansively. Ted Lavenders death leaves Lieutenant Cross with a sense of direct personal failure. Although the story is all fiction, OBrien is able to show, by contrasting truth and fiction, that the truth cannot always communicate human emotion.
Some of the men made jokes about tense situations that were not funny because joking made them feel better. The situation grew lighter by laughter, even though the men knew nothing was funny about their situation, and this knowledge made them feel guilty about their insensitive acts because it violated their values. The way the men dealt with their guilt was by passing the blame or trying not to think about how wrong it was, even though they knew. These kinds of strange reactions to normally tense or tragic situations are a way to ease the fear of death. Anxiety about death follows the men everywhere they go and they have many different ways to disguise their fear and many ways to defend against it.
The men were ready for everything in the war: they had their radio to call in help, their guns to defend against enemies, and their pride and dignity to disguise fear. (Harris) Disguising fear is very hard because it is such a strong emotion. Great fear is impossible to hide as evident by the actions of the men when they were involved in the intense fights where they would say Dear Jesus and (flop) around on the earth and (fire) their weapons blindly and (cringe) and (sob) and (beg) for the noise to stop (1075). When it was all over they would get up dust them selves off and try to smile to show their dignity and strength. Their strength in these situations was lost for the time, but because of the anxiety they wanted to change their actual behavior to appear unafraid and ready for more. This type of action was done all the time by the men they werent being cruel they were just hiding their fears OBrien says They were afraid of dying, but they were even more afraid to show it (1075).
This change in their behavior is a disguise of fear, but it is also a defense against it. The men had many defenses against fear including joking, being cruel, carrying guns, and killing other people. The men were most likely not cruel individuals, but to defend against fear they had to remove compassion for people, actions, and themselves. The men did this to not feel the pain that is present when they lose a member of the group; if they feel no attachment to him there is no feeling of loss. (Healy) The mens actions did not seem cruel to them; it was just their way of battling against fear. This type of separation is a major change in behavior because it is natural to become attached to others when they are close.
Another major change in behavior is the men killed other men; it is not normal for these civilized men to walk through a jungle and kill other men. Why do they kill the other men? Because if they dont kill, they will be killed and they know very well this significant and inevitable principle of war. The men have respect because of the fear they have of death, and the fear is entered into them by experience and it is a major part in their behavioral change.
The reason the men changed behaviorally in the story was mainly due to fear, but there are many other reasons why people change. Taking orders is another way of changing as the men did in the story, separate them, and lose compassion, and kill, because someone else told them to. The orders give the person an excuse that I was just following orders, well in a sense that is what the men were doing in the story. In the story they were following the unwritten orders of war and they changed their behavior because they were told to by the war. Bibliography: Harris, Robert R.
Too Embarrassed Not to Kill. New York Times Book Review. March 11, 1990, pg. 8. Healy, Barth. Flashes from the Foliage.
New York Times Book Review. March 11, 1990, pg. 8. Herzog, Tobey. Tim OBrien. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1997.
OBrien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990.
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