"The Things They Carried" In The Mind And Arms

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 12th grade February 2002

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I think Tim O'Brien's story, "The Things They Carried"� had an excellent style to it, and an unbelievable meaning of the things that the men carried in the war. What I saw was that the soldiers in the war not only cared about humping their war equipment, such as guns, grenades, food, and water, but they cared equally about their personal items just as well. I personally found their cherished items more interesting then the usual war items. I never thought it would be so interesting to know all about the soldiers personal lives, but it turned out to be very essential in learning about how the characters really felt about the war, why they were there, and life in general. It was amazing to hear why the soldiers carried the things that they did like M & M's, comic books, a bible, and pictures of the one they loved, or as I took it as was lust and obsession.

The story kept me wanting more. I love to read about passion and romance so I couldn't wait until they skipped to the parts of first lieutenant Jimmy Cross. It almost annoyed me when Jimmy Cross would be talking about his love for a girl named Martha and then it would take a break and go into the actual actions of the soldiers and situations in the war. I just couldn't help but wonder what jimmy Cross would be thinking of with the Martha situation.

I enjoy personal stories very much, but I also enjoy learning about history and what went on in the Vietnam War. The author Tim O'Brien described a great amount of both personal, and work related feelings in this story, which I greatly enjoyed. I never really got too bored while reading the story...