“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien takes a look into what soldiers in the Vietnam War went through on a daily basis and the ways these experiences affected how they viewed the days ahead of them while overseas in Vietnam. The main character, Jimmy Cross, is a lieutenant in the United States army. He is in charge of a whole battalion of men and basically holds all of their lives in his hands. The conditions that they are fighting in cause a lot of uncertainty and fear (O’Brien 328). By looking at the theme, structure, and tone, we see how the story progresses because of how closely these three elements are intertwined. The author was very precise in how he set up this story and looking at these three elements helps to make that very clear. The theme of the story is one of the first elements that the reader experiences while reading this story. 

The themes of this story are quite obvious from the moment one starts reading it. They include regret and the burdens that people carry. The theme of regret is prevalent in the latter half of the short story. Once Ted Lavender is killed, the reader starts to understand how Jimmy Cross regrets the amount of time he spent pining over a girl from the United States that he did not know, but was sending him letters. Cross takes Lavender’s death really hard because he is supposed to be in charge and take care of all of his men, but in that moment he slipped up and was caught in his own mind (O’Brien 330). This experience was so powerful that it caused Cross to burn all of the letters from Martha to get rid of the extra emotional weight that she caused him. This instance shows how the soldier’s burdens can crossover to become regrets and vice versa. 

O’Brien makes it clear that every soldier carries both physical and emotional burdens with himself. The beginning of the story deals with the physical burdens. Everything that a soldier must carry is listed with the amount that it weighs. By including the weights, a reader begins to understand the physical and mental heaviness that is associated with being a soldier during a time of war. The author also includes the optional items that some of the soldiers that he is in charge of carry. These range from bibles to hatchets. These items show that not only did the soldiers have the burden of actual weight on them, they also had the burden of the weight of an entire country and their loved ones on their shoulders. There were a lot intangible burdens that were experienced by the soldiers during this time. These included, but were not limited to, grief, terror, love, and longing. Grief was brought on by all of the lives that these soldiers were experiencing being lost. Terror was brought on by the fact that they had no idea what was going to happen to them within the next moment let alone the next day, week, et cetera. Love was a burden for them because they knew who they had at home waiting for them. If they were killed, it would cause a burden for their loved ones. Soldiers carried the burden of longing to be home and reunited with those they loved. Each soldier was carrying their own intangible burden, Jimmy Cross’s burden was his love for Martha. This all changed after Ted Lavender was killed. Cross’s outlook on his burdens did a complete 360 after this event. The theme of burdens is very prevalent throughout this whole story. It lends itself to both the tone and structure of the story.

The structure of the story is both meaningful and progressive. As the themes progress, so does the structure. The beginning consists of shorter paragraphs that are factual and to the point. They go into the physical burdens that the soldiers carry around with them and the weight of it all (O’Brien 328-335). One may describe this structure as being very rigid, which is a direct reflection on the tone of that part of the story. As the story progresses and the themes switch from physical burdens to intangible burdens, the structure of the paragraphs starts to get longer and more detailed as to what is actually going through the soldier’s minds. This is also a direct reflection on the tone of that particular part of the story. It shows the vulnerable, humanistic side of the soldiers. O’Brien uses Martha and Cross’s questions about what is going on in her life as a transition both physically and emotionally. He uses her as a transition between paragraphs. She is also used as a transition between Cross’s views on his burdens. The structure is very closely related to both the theme and the tone of the story.

The tone of the story changes as the story progresses from beginning to end. As the structure and theme change, the tone changes. The beginning, when O’Brien writes about the physical weights the soldiers face, starts out very rigid and tough. The end is more vulnerable and open like the emotions that O’Brien expresses the soldiers to be carrying with them. The first part of the story comes off as very factual and impersonal because of how the paragraphs are short and to the point, with very few intimate details. The second part of the story contains a lot more details about the emotional side of what these men were going through when they were not just focusing on fighting a war. The tone of the latter half of the story makes the characters seem more humanistic. They seem more relatable, whereas in the beginning the tone seems very mechanical because of how factual and undetailed it is. The tone of this piece progresses with the structure and themes of it.

“The Things They Carried” is an example of how three different elements can be connected and use each other as a crutch to tell a story. The structure helps an author to convey their themes and change their tone from beginning to end. The way that these three elements are represented is done in a very meticulous way, which makes them all very meaningful. These are shown in multiple instances throughout the story. 
