Classic English literature
The short story, The Things They Carried is a short story trying to describe vividly the soldiers’ experiences in the event of a war. He tries to describe the various dangers which the soldiers face and the difficult life they experience that almost always transform most of them into emotionless beings. It is so hard to tell a “true war story” (Bloom 47). Unless one is a soldier, it would be very difficult to imagine or to put one self into the shoes of a soldier and narrate a war story capturing all the experiences in the war. It is also difficult for the soldiers to tell these stories. Soldiers in a war are consistently faced with the danger of death that it is very difficult to commit or even write down the events that culminate in war. The soldiers’ main preoccupation is to stay alive as long as they can and ensure that the enemy is eliminated. No individual soldier ever enjoys being in a war. As is evident in this short story, Lee Strunk was preoccupied with being alive that he could not even bring himself to feel remorseful of Ted Lavender’s death (O’Brien 35).
Soldiers carry both tangible and intangible objects. The tangible objects include the usual objects that a soldier at war must carry to effectively execute his duties. These include ammunition and other necessary equipment needed in a war. The intangible objects include emotions, memories and other psychological entities specific and distinct to the individual soldiers (Bloom 67). The intangible things seem to be heavier than the tangible as they weigh down on the psyche of the individual soldier sometimes preventing some to fail in their duties. The physical body gets used to the weight of the tangible objects. That is why the soldiers could carry very heavy luggage over very long distances and in prolonged durations. Materially, I carry money and small gadgets that enhance communication with other people. Emotionally, I carry a lot of emotions depending on the experiences I go through and a lot of worrying about the future and other emotions. Soldiers still carry ammunition and lucky charms as well as emotions. I would personally like to carry military gear that would protect my life and try my best to carry courage and bravery.
There is no such thing as a true war story. Every individual soldier experiences the same war in different terms. Some stories are retold by individuals who have never experienced war from the stories narrated to them by those who have survived a war (Bloom 35). Truth is never in black and white. It is never absolute. What one individual would hold as true would be vague and irrelevant to many other individuals. Truth is built on a premise that individuals agree upon unanimously and holds true in various dimensions. It builds upon shades of gray rather than being in distinct black or white.
Jimmy Cross is the lieutenant of the platoon described in this narrative. Cross enlisted in the army because his friends had also enlisted but had no intention of going to war. He only was after extra credits in college. He is although a calm soldier infatuated by love. He keeps religiously keeps and guards letters he receives from Martha who he loves dearly but he is not sure whether Martha loves him as he does. His infatuation with this imagined love falters his reaction resulting to the death of Ted Lavender. He carries this guilt with him all through and later as a means of self sacrifice burns the letters despite them being already in his conscious mind (O’Brien 48).
Mitchell Sanders is very loyal to his platoon. He however has a habit of preoccupying himself with picking body lice and mailing them to Ohio though they are not actual lice. He supports Rat Kiley decision to shoot his way out of Vietnam since he does not betray him. He also refuses to assist O’Brien to revenge on the new medical officer Bobby Jorgenson. Sander’s reaction to war is very indifferent. His main focus is on the soldier’s immediate experiences rather than the war’s bigger picture (O’Brien 56).
Kiowa one of the soldiers who is killed is very diligent and honest (O’Brien 25). He has picked up a habit of walking with moccasins to avoid alerting the enemy. Kiowa believes that the war is senseless and tries to make an effort to demonstrate so to his fellow soldiers.
Women in this narrative have different roles. Martha is an embodiment of love. Even though she only considers Cross as a friend, she infuses in Cross an infatuation evident in soldiers separated from their loved ones. Kathleen’s is O’Brien 8 year daughter. She has the role of enabling the narrator to bring out what the war was like in vivid manner. She assists the narrator to see things he ignored while in the actual battle field. Mary Anne Bell, who actually goes to Vietnam, is a representation of the equality with which women should have embodied during the war.
Works cited
Bloom, Harold. The Things they carried. California: Facts On File, 2005. Print.
O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print.
