In our lives, every one of us have items or things that often remind us of memories and of loved ones far away. We can also have these things block us or hold us back from reaching our goals and aspirations in life. The novels “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien and “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway are two novels of a large collection are widely loved and deeply analyzed by many different people in the field of literature. In both novels, all the characters are profoundly affected by the items or things in their lives whether they are unwanted or not. In “The Things They Carried…”, the story takes place during the Vietnam War and each soldier in Jimmy Cross’s unit has specific items that are used to describe the characters and the novel goes about explaining how the items weigh down the soldiers while they endure their long and exhausting campaign throughout the jungle. In “Hills like White Elephant”, the story takes place at a train station between an American man and a woman who is presumed to be his girlfriend. They are seen arguing over whether she should have this procedure done, the procedure being an abortion. The item which is the baby is in a way holding them back from their intended goals or how the man sees it. When first looking at these two stories, there isn’t much too compare between them until you take a closer look at the items or things that effect the characters; once we do this, we can see the striking comparisons between the two stories and how the items inadeptly disrupt the characters and take a different meaning than original seen. 

In “The Things They Carried…” each soldier in the story was described using these personal items that carried with them through the jungles of Vietnam. These items ranged from photos of women back home to extra rations to marijuana. The items that they carried when along with a lot of the men’s characteristics and personal traits. In her analysis of the text, Rachel Nolan said “O’Brien lists the things they carried--- both physical and emotion” (Nolan). For instance, when Jimmy was talking about the soldier’s personal items they carry, he says “Kiowa always took along his New Testament and a pair of moccasins for silence.” (332). This makes the reader assume Kiowa is a religious person who enjoys being comfortable when he can. When talking about Henry Dobbins he says, “Henry Dobbins carried his girlfriend’s pantyhose wrapped around his neck as a comforter.” (332). In this situation, I see Dobbins as someone who is superstitious as he has his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck because she can protect him from danger and it reminds him of being with her. In the very next sentence O’Brien says “They all carried ghosts.” (332). In this sentence, he is referring to the items and how each of them represent something they had back home in their normal lives. All these examples of every soldier and their items suggest that these items are viewed as a gateway back home and a way to be comfortable and relax while enduring the horrors of the war around them. 

In “Hills like White Elephants” this is a story between a woman and an American man while they are at a train station in the middle of the desert. They are having a conversation that can be described as more of an argument at times. They are discussing what to do with their current situation that is her being pregnant. They both are compilating what life will be like after this item comes into their life and how it will affect their current lifestyles filled with constant travel. They are also worried about how it will affect their relationship as you can see it on page 529 when she says “That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.” In saying this, she is worried that this item or the baby will cause them to split. Both do not know what to do and whether she should go through with the abortion or not. The man wants her to go through with it to benefit them but he also acknowledges that it is her choose. This can be seen on page 529 where he says “I think it’s the best thing to do. But I don’t want you to do it if you don’t really want to”. I think this statement shows that the man doesn’t want this kid thing to happen as it will interfere with his life and ruin it. He is pushing for her to get this abortion but doesn’t want to seem too pushy because it is already putting strain on their relationship. In an analysis by eNotes, it is discussed that during this time the novel takes place, women were seen as a corrupt influence on men in reference to the girl and her baby and how it disrupts the man’s life in the long run. With all the different points given, the baby is this item that puts strain on both their relationship and their lives and is causing large amounts of unwanted tension between the man and woman over what to do. That decision whether to go through with an abortion or not is the overall topic of the story which causes the tone of the story to be somewhat droned out.   

When looking at the items in both “The Things They Carried” and “Hills like White Elephants” there is much to compare between how the items affect the characters differently. Although both of groups of characters are connected to the items physically and emotionally, there are differences between them. In “The Things They Carried”, the items were used by the soldiers to remain calm in times of uncertainty and to connect to home while being in an unusual environment that was the Vietnam jungle. Each of these items are used to describe and they almost personalize each character through what items they bring with them on their journey with war. These items brought the soldiers comfort and relaxation while it was the exact opposite in “Hills like White Elephants”. The item in this story or otherwise the baby of the girl is not giving them comfort or relaxation but stress and agitation. Their situation makes them think of what their future will be like when the baby gets into the world and how it will change their lifestyles. For the woman, she is worried that the item will cause a rift between her and the man and break up their relationship as he doesn’t want to deal with the responsibilities of a child. In both great novels, the items that take place in them help us get a better picture of the characters and what each character brings to the table. Whether the items are helping or hurting the characters, without these items being the main topic of discussion throughout the entirety of story. 

Through there are different ways the items affect each character in both “The Things They Carried” and “Hills like White Elephants”, the items weigh down on each character physically and or emotionally. With the soldiers, the items can be viewed as being both emotional and physical as they add to the weight the soldiers must carry as well as distracting them from the war with reminders of home. Each solider goes to his item as a sense of safety and comfort. With the couple, the item weighs them down more emotionally then physically at the time the story takes place. This item or baby causes disruption to their good relationship and makes them question how much their lives will change after this baby comes into the world. These is where the idea of abortion comes up to rid them of their problem but neither one is certain they want to go through with it. I think all of us can relate to both novels and how the characters are directly affected whether good or bad by the items that are in their lives. We can relate to the characters and novel as we all have an item or items in our lives that we can look to for comfort and relaxation when needed and I’m sure we can all thing of items that will also bring us discomfort and sorrow. 
