Hindrances In The Things They Carried

Deeper Meaning When reading the novel ¨The Things They Carried¨, a consistent trend can be seen throughout the work. In the beginning, Tim O'Brien described the burdens that weighed down each soldier in Vietnam. Some of those hindrances were physical, but those which caused the most substantial impact on them were emotional. Each soldier had their own package to carry. The things they carried led to suffering and ultimately to destruction. For instance, in the first few pages of the book, Kiowa was said to have carried ¨his grandmother's distrust of the white man¨ (page 3). Later on, in chapter 15, Kiowa´s story is told. Despite frantic warnings from local mama-sans, the men were ordered to set up camp in the village latrine. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross --a white man-- had been the one to give that order. The latrine-field happened to be located on low ground, not too far from the Song Tra Bong. Overnight, there was another, of many, intense storm and the river overflowed into the field, turning it all to muck. Then, after night fall, the men began receiving mortar fire. “The field just exploded” (page 148). There was shrapnel and muck everywhere. The field began

She was a girl from home which he held pictures of. He was truly in love with her but she did not feel the same in return. One day, as the men were humping through Than Khe, a gunshot rang through the air and Ted Lavender dropped dead. Throughout the walk, Lieutenant Cross had been thinking about Martha rather than his current situation. “He pictured Martha’s smooth young face, thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because [of it]...” (page 7). His obsessive love had led to the murder of a friend, and, the guilt of that event was added to the burdens that he carried throughout the rest of the war. Later on, he could no longer stand the feeling and he burned Martha’s