
In the story “The Things They Carried” the main character lieutenant Jimmy cross is shown going through the tragedies and hardships of the Vietnam war. He is also shown throughout the story talking about a woman back home named Martha who he claims he is in love with and is constantly writing letters back and forth to. Towards the end of the story Cross’s comrade Ted Lavender dies and it seems to really traumatize him to the point where he burns Martha’s letters and gives up on his love and memory of her. The burning of the photo really symbolizes the fact that Cross has seemed to lose all hope and faith. These actions and feelings aren’t much different than the ones other people go through who have been through the Vietnam war. The article “PTSD and compensation” and the article “Vietnam War Protest” are two sources that relate greatly to the actions of Jimmy Cross. These articles show the effects of PTSD and the side effects on people in the war and also show how people disagreed with the Vietnam war and our participation in it. These articles will show why Cross changed towards the end and what really could have made him feel this way. The overall influence of PTSD and the historical context of the Vietnam war all come together to play a huge role in why Cross seems to lose hope in “The Things They Carried”. 

One of the big side effects that PTSD has on people in the military is avoidance of anything associated with the war or numbing of emotions (PTSD and compensation). This relates to the part at the end of the story where Jimmy Cross burns the letters and pictures Martha has sent him. The burning symbolizes lost hope for lieutenant Cross and that he seems to not only have given up on his love of Martha but also his ability to command his troops as he seems to be taking the blame for Lavender’s death .This can be related to what was said in “PTSD and compensation” as in their research they conducted they found one of the main side effects of war to be a numbing of emotion and this is shown in “The Things They Carried” when Jimmy is shown burning the photos and says that he hates Martha and doesn’t want to think about her anymore. In doing this he is trying to separate himself from the things he loves and avoid them due to the war.  This is done due to the result of Lavenders death as it has numbed his emotions and made him want to forget about Martha or anything associated with the war. He also states that “his obligation is not to love but to lead.” This is another telling point of how his emotions are changing due to the actions in the war. Now this doesn’t mean he has PTSD but it is one of the signs that can lead to PTSD and his quick change in emotion and lack of love for anyone are side effects that real cases of people with PTSD go through. This comparison is a way in which Jimmy’s actions can be explained by the cultural influence and context around the story as his mood change at the end of the story perfectly correlates with someone who actually went through a war and how they might act and change after going through such a traumatizing event. 

There is also another reason that might have led to his signs of lost hope and despair. This being that it wasn’t just any war he was fighting in but the Vietnam war. The Vietnam war was already controversial in that many people including the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhamad Ali were disapproving of the war and protested even supporting it (Vietnam war protest History.com). There were also many protests by crowds of normal everyday people that wanted us to stop fighting a war that they felt was unnecessary and was just a risk of innocent American lives (Vietnam war protest History.com). This disapproval and lack of support made it that much harder for the troops in Vietnam to even fight as they knew that some of the people back home didn’t approve of what was going on and it made them feel like they weren’t fighting for a noble cause. There was also the fact that some of these guys were drafted into the war and not even there by their own choice. This in turn led to many troops trying to find any way too get out of the war including in “The Things They Carried”, where Lieutenant Cross mentions that some guys thought about just shooting themselves on purpose just to get out of the war and be taken to a hospital. Now there weren’t a lot of mentions of people not feeling supported back home but within the historical context you have to know it made people real life and in the book feel less passionate as the cause for which they were fighting for. Lieutenant Cross does mention the lack of support from Martha about the war as he states the only things she says about it is “take care of yourself”. This makes Jimmy think she doesn’t even care about the war and that is because maybe like a lot of other people she doesn’t support what’s going on. Martha may have been against the war the whole time. This makes things that much harder to go through for Cross knowing that the person he cares about the most might not be supporting the thing he is risking his life for. In what is already a very devastating war this could be a main factor as to why Lieutenant Cross also feels this sense of agony and despair, as it is hard to fight in any war but a war where people and even your closest friends don’t seem to care or support you. It makes it even that much easier to give up hope. This thought has to be that much more devastating to Jimmy as it makes him feel like he is not only fighting in a war that doesn’t matter but just neglected a man’s life in a war that doesn’t matter. 

“The Things They Carried” is a great title for this story and relates perfectly to the historical context of these articles. Throughout the story there is many mentioning’s of what these men are carrying. Now sometimes this is meant literally as he lists off the things they are actually physically carrying but it also means the things they are carrying emotionally as well. Cross states at the end of the story after he has burned the photos of Martha “It is very sad, He thought. The things men carry inside”. This statement relates perfectly back to the title as well as the whole story. It shows that these men are carrying with them a huge emotional baggage now weather that’s from war or things back home before the war it has a huge effect on them. That is why this title is a great connector towards PTSD and that throughout this story there is a talk of the things these men have to deal with emotionally in war and what they are going to have to deal with after the war as well. This is what the effect of PTSD has on your life as you feel a sense of baggage that you must carry through your life thinking about the horrible things you have seen. Jimmy Cross himself is forever going to have to “Carry” the burden that he neglected his responsibility as a lieutenant and cost a man his life as he was too busy thinking about Martha and not what was in front of him. This is why he burns the photos of Martha so he can have that avoidance feeling of what caused him to screw up and that relates right back to one of the main factors and side effects of PTSD. The burden of Lavender’s death on Cross is one of the main events in the story and is why the title makes such perfect sense as he will be carrying that burden of Lavenders death for the rest of his life. 

The articles of “PTSD and Compensation” and “Vietnam War Protests” really have a great overall influence and take of real life events that mold the story “The Things They Carried” into what it is. Jimmy’s burning of the photos and him trying to forget about Martha are great examples of avoidance and numbing which are side effects of PTSD (PTSD and Compensation). Also the lack of support Martha seemed to have for the Cross when it came to the war were related to the protests and discouragement of Vietnam. These details are huge factors that play into the changing of Lieutenant Cross and show how these real life details were incorporated into the story. The details and facts from these separate articles are things that men went through in real life and seem to be the same things that character Jimmy Cross goes through as he deals with the neglectful death of ted lavender and the devastation and agony he feels for it. The effects of PTSD and the Vietnam war come together to influence his actions, which in turn show the hope he has lot through the burning of the photos and the stricter demeanor he takes. These events show the mood change this death has caused Jimmy and it has shown a man who has lost all hope and a burden he will have to carry for the rest of his life. 
