The Things They Carried Chapter Summary

Summary & Analysis
The novel “The things they carried” is set into motion with the background of a Lieutenant in an active duty team in Vietnam. Lt. Cross throughout this book is obsessed with a woman named Martha, someone he dated before he shipped to Vietnam. He is distracted by looking at her letters and photographs that she had wrote him in basic training. Cross questions her virtue and wishes that she could love him as much as he loved her. Cross is in battle with several people under his command, and he is unsure of everything he does throughout this book. Cross’s guilt is apparent when his men die throughout the book, however, is the lieutenant’s most showed when Ted Lavender dies. Cross confesses to O’Brien later on about how he has

never forgave himself for Lavender’s death. In the short story “The things they carried” as cross carries the pain of his fellow soldiers death, Ted Lavender, for his other soldiers like Kiowa, cross makes a sacrifice to burn the letter and picture of Martha so he can't be distracted. He does this to help, in this case, kiowa and norman bowker get over the loss and not be put down by the guilt they have for Lavender.
In this book of short stories Tim O’Brien is both a narrator and the protagonist of this novel. This book allows him to tell from personal experience as when he was in the vietnam war himself. To cover the “distance” between him and what he talks about in the war, O’Brien uses a lot of memory in his writing. O’Briens point of view shapes and molds the events in most all the stories that are in the novel. He is basically like a tour guide through all of his memories and misfortunes that he experienced in the war. O’Brien uses great detail when introducing the other characters in the story. O’Brien does this because he wants the readers to understand that characters attachment to the story and to the war itself. For example, Kiowa is a very practical character, he carries moccasins in order to be able to walk silently and to help his fellow soldiers to reason there own unfortunate actions, especially when the killing of the young japanese soldier occurred.
Kiowa’s death i believe is symbolic of the tragedies of war. He dies in an awful but yet ironic way. Kiowa died by drowning in the muck of a sewage field which his lieutenant, Jimmy Cross had a bad feeling about in the first place. Kiowa’s entire body submerged represents to me how quickly everything can suddenly be taken away from you; there was no dignity in Kiowa’s death. All this shows is that he becomes another casualty of war and turns them into statistics from that day forward.
O’Brien uses this great detail in characters to show how much more than just what war is to them but how it affects them and what they go through in the war. For example, Mitchell Sanders. He is a great soldier and a devoted friend. He carries a sense of irony with him like when he had picked lice off himself and sent it to the draft board in Ohio. More so than that he had a good sense of loyalty, as when he refused to help O’Brien get revenge on the medic Bobby Jorgenson or when he stood by Bob Kiley when he wanted to shoot himself in the toe to get out of vietnam. The other thing i found about Sanders was his lawful reasoning behind the things that he was doing in the book, like when Cross leads the men into the sewage field where Kiowa eventually dies,Sanders does not forgive him because he says that he should’ve known better and that it wasn't a good idea from the start. O’Brien uses all these details because the story wouldn't be as good or as in depth to the readers. Its important that this type of character portrayal is used in many stories because the background information of setting, mood, tone and theme is just as important as the backgrounds of characters.
A theme is the novel that O’Brien had put in place was a type of burdens that all the men had.

Not just the physical burdens but emotional as well. In this book title the word ‘Things” is both literal and figurative at the same time. Whilst all of the men carry the physical burden of heavy equipment like O’Brien explained in one short story there is alot of weight in the gear and weapons like how all the men carried a nylon-covered steel flak jacket which weighed 6.7 pounds. But other than the physical burdens i think that the emotional burdens weigh considerably more than the physical weight of their gear. All the men in Cross’s platoon including himself all carry heavy loads of grief, love and fear. Henry Dobbins, for example, has his girlfriends pantyhose with him for the simple fact of missing and loving her and having that as a reminder. In the same way Jimmy Cross carries letters from his ex-girlfriend martha and a picture of her he got while he was in basic training beforehand. There are many recurring structures of this story but one that had stuck out to me would be, the men being lonely or isolated from the real world and the people they love. O’Brien has an advantage over isolation when he attempts to scare Jorgenson while he is on night duty. This emphasizes his intentions of revenge that he wants against him. O’Brien has a fear of being cut off from the outside world in Summary &

Analysis
The novel “The things they carried” is set into motion with the background of a Lieutenant in an active duty team in Vietnam. Lt. Cross throughout this book is obsessed with a woman named Martha, someone he dated before he shipped to Vietnam. He is distracted by looking at her letters and photographs that she had wrote him in basic training. Cross questions her virtue and wishes that she could love him as much as he loved her. Cross is in battle with several people under his command, and he is unsure of everything he does throughout this book. Cross’s guilt is apparent when his men die throughout the book, however, is the lieutenant’s most showed when Ted Lavender dies. Cross confesses to O’Brien later on about how he has never forgave himself for Lavender’s death. In the short story “The things they carried” as cross carries the pain of his fellow soldiers death, Ted Lavender, for his other soldiers like Kiowa, cross makes a sacrifice to burn the letter and picture of Martha so he can't be distracted. He does this to help, in this case, kiowa and norman bowker get over the loss and not be put down by the guilt they have for Lavender.
In this book of short stories Tim O’Brien is both a narrator and the protagonist of this novel. This book allows him to tell from personal experience as when he was in the vietnam war himself. To cover the “distance” between him and what he talks about in the war, O’Brien uses a lot of memory in his writing. O’Briens point of view shapes and molds the events in most all the stories that are in the novel. He is basically like a tour guide through all of his memories and misfortunes that he experienced in the war. O’Brien uses great detail when introducing the other characters in the story. O’Brien does this because he wants the readers to understand that characters attachment to the story and to the war itself. For example, Kiowa is a very practical character, he carries moccasins in order to be able to walk silently and to help his fellow soldiers to reason there own unfortunate actions, especially when the killing of the young japanese soldier occurred.
Kiowa’s death i believe is symbolic of the tragedies of war. He dies in an awful but yet ironic way. Kiowa died by drowning in the muck of a sewage field which his lieutenant, Jimmy Cross had a bad feeling about in the first place. Kiowa’s entire body submerged represents to me how quickly everything can suddenly be taken away from you; there was no dignity in Kiowa’s death. All this shows is that he becomes another casualty of war and turns them into statistics from that day forward.
O’Brien uses this great detail in characters to show how much more than just what war is to them but how it affects them and what they go through in the war. For example, Mitchell Sanders. He is a great soldier and a devoted friend. He carries a sense of irony with him like when he had picked lice off himself and sent it to the draft board in Ohio. More so than that he had a good sense of loyalty, as when he refused to help O’Brien get revenge on the medic Bobby Jorgenson or when he stood by Bob Kiley when he wanted to shoot himself in the toe to get out of vietnam. The other thing i found about Sanders was his lawful reasoning behind the things that he was doing in the book, like when Cross leads the men into the sewage field where Kiowa eventually dies,Sanders does not forgive him because he says that he should’ve known better and that it wasn't a good idea from the start. O’Brien uses all these details because the story wouldn't be as good or as in depth to the readers. Its important that this type of character portrayal is used in many stories because the background information of setting, mood, tone and theme is just as important as the backgrounds of characters.
A theme is the novel that O’Brien had put in place was a type of burdens that all the men had. Not just the physical burdens but emotional as well. In this book title the word ‘Things” is both literal and figurative at the same time. Whilst all of the men carry the physical burden of heavy equipment like O’Brien explained in one short story there is alot of weight in the gear and weapons like how all the men carried a nylon-covered steel flak jacket which weighed 6.7 pounds. But other than the physical burdens i think that the emotional burdens weigh considerably more than the physical weight of their gear. All the men in Cross’s platoon including himself all carry heavy loads of grief, love and fear. Henry Dobbins, for example, has his girlfriends pantyhose with him for the simple fact of missing and loving her and having that as a reminder. In the same way Jimmy Cross carries letters from his ex-girlfriend martha and a picture of her he got while he was in basic training beforehand. There are many recurring structures of this story but one that had stuck out to me would be, the men being lonely or isolated from the real world and the people they love. O’Brien has an advantage over isolation when he attempts to scare Jorgenson while he is on night duty. This emphasizes his intentions of revenge that he wants against him. O’Brien has a fear of being cut off from the outside world in vietnam, isolation is very similar to spending endless time to think about nothing. , isolation is very similar to spending endless time to think about nothing.