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The Heavy Burden After reading Tim Obrien's The Things They Carried, it helped me better explore and understand the emotions and experiences of the soldiers surrounded by the Vietnam War. The main character of the story is the leader of the platoon First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. OBrien created protagonist, Jimmy Cross, to represent all other men in his platoon. The author assigns the most importance to Cross with the aspects of his personal life because it allows the reader to see the intensity of what the other men are going through and the heaviness of things they carry. The things that the soldiers carried during combat zone were both tangible and intangible things, but it all depended on the necessities needed and according to Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for what was ordered. As a medic, Rat Kiley carries a canvas satchel; radio and telephone operator, Mitchell Sanders carries a PRC- 25 field radio; as a machine gunner, Henry Dobbins carried the M- 60 saw gun; and as a first lieutenant and platoon leader, Jimmy Cross carries a compass, maps, code books, binoculars, and a. 45 -caliber pistol.
All the common grunts, infantry soldiers, carry the standard M- 16 riffle. For protection it was SOP for each soldier to have on a steel-centered, nylon-covered flak jacket, and steel helmets with the liner and camouflage cover. They carried standard fatigue jackets and trousers. The men also carried things that were not really necessary in the combat zone. For example, dope, condoms and comic books. So most of the tangible things that soldiers had were mission oriented and were common among the soldiers in the platoon.
The most weight of the things the men carry lies in the intangible: "Grief, terror, love, longing these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. " They all had heavy burdens, which filled them with: fear of death or injury, negative emotions, seeing deaths of their fellow soldiers, and the memories of being back home with their loved ones. They realized that just a simple everyday life back home was now seen so precious to them at this terrifying time. It was just like a big rock sack filled with emotions they had to carry everyday on their shoulders. OBrien is trying to tell that in that situation the intangible things were much heavier then those physical burdens they had to carry. One outstanding example of emotional baggage which Jimmy Cross has is when he tortures himself with the thoughts about Martha, He humped his love for Martha up the hills and through the swamps. He was thinking if she was still a virgin or is she really in love with him, and if she was faithfully waiting for his return.
There were moments when Jimmy was daydreaming about Martha, On occasion he would yell at his men to spread out the column, to keep their eyes open, but then he would slip away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along the Jersey shore, with Martha, Carrying nothing. Just the thought of his love for Martha would put a smile on his face and forget for the moment about the war. Thinking about Martha would make him feel as if he could rise above the ground all in love and lightness and forgetting about fears. On the other hand, his sweet daydreams were giving him difficulties in concentrating on the war. After losing one of his men, he was blaming himself for being careless by thinking of Martha all this time and not concentrating on the war.
Then he decides to get rid of his emotional baggage by burning Marthas letters. Now, he was different, he changed his attitude about the war. Once again he becomes a real leader. Just like their commander, all the other men were doing everything they could to keep their mind off the war. For example, Ted Lavender was using tranquilizers to forget about his fears and how much he was scared.
Therefore, there are two types of soldiers: some that use drugs to get rid of their pain and fear; while the others need a constant reminder of what they left behind to make them feel better. OBrien shows that soldiers were getting rid of their supplies, because they were heavy and they knew that in the end of the week the chopper would bring them more food and ammunition. But the toughest part was that they could throw out their physical burdens but they could not get rid of their intangible luggage. I enjoyed reading this story, because I love reading about the wars and the soldiers. The difficult trials soldiers had to go through during the Vietnam War shock me.
I am also surprised by what things they had to carry to survive and accomplish the mission, not just physical items: weapons, ammo and food, but also intangible items like emotions, memories, love and fear. In conclusion, what is significant is not the weight of the equipment and supplies the men had to carry, but how the environment of the war, love and death, memories and dreams, the physical and mental pain add weight to the burden which they have to carry for the rest of their
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Research essay sample on Tim Obrien The Things They Carry
