The substance of a story is what determines its effect. The reputation of a story sometimes gains popularity if a reader feels like they can relate to the text. For most stories to achieve this affect, authors use historical context, or their own involvement during a certain historical point of time, to shed light on what truly happened and what the experiences of that event were actually like. In The Thing’s They Carried, by Tim Obrien, the verb “to carry” is used not only to relate to the physical burden faced by soldiers of the Vietnam war, but the mental burdens these young men carried throughout the war, and for the rest of their existence, as well.

The Vietnam War was debated for several reasons. One of the most important factors as to why the United States should have not participated in this war was the fact that it did not have to involve the United States at all, only North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Our call to action is something that still to this day is disputed.  It was also the first war to ever be featured on national television. Citizens could truly witness the horror happening to their fellow sons, neighbors, boyfriends…the televised aspect of this show humanized the war and brought more attention to the unnecessary violence taking place. American’s were sickened at what was happening to their male companions. Young boys, who were still “too young” to be given the right to vote, were drafted. Boys were taken out of their schooling and shipped off with a gun strapped to their back and an unprepared mindset of the blood bath to come. These boys, not men, left their homes with hazy eyes, unsure of if, or when, they would return.

The chapter of The Things They Carried featured in The Carolina Reader, also entitled the same, is written in the perspective of First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, who was only 24 years old when he was placed in charge of several men. This perspective goes back and forth every other paragraph between the technicalities and emotions of Cross and the men. For the majority of the tale, Cross describes what each of the soldiers carried during their time in Vietnam, both physically and mentally.

These soldiers were boys. They were not prepared for this environment and could not handle the true horror they would witness every day. They were taken from their beds and sent to hike through a jungle with death at every turn, all because of a small piece of paper. A large part of the historical behind this story is how these men were not supposed to be in Vietnam. They were involved in a war, hurting others, for a cause that was not theirs. They were faced with traumatic experiences that would later harm them later in life, yet not able to vote. That itself was a burden to carry. How could these men be sent off to war by a leader they could not vote into office? How was America doing the country right?

Soldiers must be equipped at all times. For this reason, they transported huge bags filled with weapons, supplies, ammunition, and clothes in order for them to be ready for whatever came at them. The weight of the bag, and what was inside, depended on the rank of the person carrying it. Since Jimmy Cross was the platoon leader, he had a compass and codebooks. The medic carried morphine and malaria pills. Ted Lavender, a fearful man, carried extra rounds of ammunition, for safety purposes. Along with that, weapons, several types of guns, RPG’s, and even a hatchet, varied depending the soldier’s role in the platoon.

Along with these supplies, these soldiers carry around other, non-essential items. M&M’s, tranquilizers, comic books, The New Testament, and for Jimmy Cross, a picture. The picture was of Martha, a girl back at home that he was madly in love with. This love was not mutual though. For Martha, this correspondence of letters was nothing but friendly banter. For him, these letters meant something. Even though the pages were filled with quick sentences about her day, her classes, and her life, Crow would read between the lines of Martha’s handwriting and imagine she was spilling her soul to him. He would picture them together, madly in love back on American soil. He imagined being intimate with her, feeling her skin. 

This picture was something that he carried because for him, it was essential, like Lavender’s extra ammunition or Kiowa’s copy of the New Testament. Even though these items added extra weight to their physical luggage the mental burden of what they had been going through was lightened by these extra carry-ons. There was something comforting in these objects that helped keep the soldiers sane, or maybe even insane. For Jimmy, the fantasy that came with his picture took over his life. While a fellow soldier searching a tunnel, and Jimmy was on watch, distracted, Lavender was shot in the head, dying instantly. Boom, down. Lavender had dropped straight to the ground, like dead weight. The burden he had been carrying had finally overtaken him. The picture had crowded Cross’s visons and judgement and stopped him from fulfilling his duty and priority of protecting his men. 

This death interprets the other aspect that physical content was not the only thing that these soldiers carried. They carried their conscience guilt as well. Guilt for the lives they took and for the friends they lost. For Jimmy Cross, this guilt stemmed from his fantasized life. 

“He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something that he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war…he sat at the bottom of his foxhole and wept…In part, he was grieving for Ted Lavender, but mostly it was for Martha, and himself, because she belonged to another world, which was not quite real…because he realized she did not love him and never would.” (O’Brien 311)

 He had always put Martha, his fake lover, before his men. He had let a fake love affair affect his responsibilities, resulting in the death of a peer. He allowed this extra item, although seeming to be light, to overload the weight he carried.  He was irresponsible, yet that is what happens when you are only twenty-four years old and you are placed in the control of a group of younger men. 

The New Testament of Kiowa’s reflects some sort of morality. He had placed the text underneath his pillow every night, filling his mind again with good religious thoughts and intentions. For him, this was a comfort of sorts during the chaotic times. He never read it, but this extra load in his bag helped to lighten the others. This sense of morality allowed for Kiowa to make up for the bloodshed taking place, especially after the death of Lavender, an event in which he  would constantly discuss; an event that laden him for that moment and the future to come.

Lastly, these men carried fear. As stated in the text:

“They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing… They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture. They carried their reputations. They carried the soldier's greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment.” (O’Brien 311)

This was a weight that could not be lifted. During the Vietnam War, these boys were scared for their lives. Getting a draft in the mail was like receiving a death sentence. Many young men even tried to flee the country in order to escape this draft. But the ones who ended up in Vietnam were frightened. These were not their normal war competitors of the past. These were people who knew the land and jungle and tunnel systems around them and understood clearly how to use guns and gas and bombs. There were no clean hands. Villages were raided and bombed. Rival soldiers were killed upon sight. For young men barely reaching maturity, it was an overwhelming state, something out of a nightmare. They were not allowed to show this fear, because fear was for the weak, and they were to be strong men, not scared little boys. 

That is why the soldiers mentioned in this text carried their extra loads, their extra burdens. Jimmy’s burden of a fake love provided him an escape from the reality he was placed in. Kiowa’s copy of the New Testament allowed him to feel moral, despite his actions, as he rested his head down at night. Lavender’s extra ammunition and tranquilizers gave him such a high that he could feel nothing, even his gnawing anxiety, or later on, his death. And the medics M&M’s? They allowed for some sweetness during it all.

These boys lugged thirty pound bags on their shoulders everyday as they hiked for miles. They scaled mountain ranges and cut through the jungle with heavy loads cramping their bacsk. However, at nightfall, when they were relieved of this physical load for a fleeting moment, the weight still stayed.  The demur had, and would never leave them. They would always live with what they had done in that mysterious land, and have the images of burning villages and dead fellows hunting their dreams.