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. Before taking a closer look at this stories, we can see physical items that affect every character and how they have a large part in the storylines; once digging deeper, we can see the striking comparisons between the two stories and these invisible emotional burdens that disrupt the characters during their times of crisis and distract them from their daily lives.

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. Jimmy Cross is the main character during the story and the story is told through his accounts. Jimmy’s emotional burden that follows him across the events in the story is a girl from back home named Martha who he loves. He had letters from her, two photographs and later a stone that he kept with him while on his journey during the war. During rest periods or even while on patrol, this items he had would serve to remember being back in the states in hopes of swooping up Martha to be his once in for all but she really is his emotional burden that weighs him down and distracts him from his job at hand. He sees Martha and her items as a way back to before the war when really, they are his emotional load that adds to the stress of his current crisis which was the war. Cross was the main examples of the soldiers and their burdens served as distracts from their current life and also weigh down the soldiers emotionally during their times of disaster and war. 

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 choice. This can be seen 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” (529). 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 emotion burdens affect the characters differently. Although both of groups of characters are connected to these burdens physically and emotionally, there are differences between them. In “The Things They Carried”, Jimmy Cross has the emotional burden of his lover named Martha back home that often fills his mind during his times of uncertainty and to connect to home while being in an unusual environment that was the Vietnam jungle. This weight brought the Cross comfort and relaxation while it was the exact opposite in “Hills like White Elephants”. The emotional burden 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 weight 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 weight that takes place in them help us get a better picture of the characters and what each character brings to the table. Whether these loads are helping or hurting the characters, they are the main topic of discussion throughout the entirety of story. 

Through there are different ways the burden affect each character in both “The Things They Carried” and “Hills like White Elephants”, the loads weigh down on each character physically and or emotionally. With Jimmy, the item can be viewed as emotional as it distracts him from the war with reminders of home and his love, Martha. 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. 
