"The Things They Carried"

"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien is about a group of soldiers located in Vietnam. Each of the soldiers have different personalities, therefore, they each carry different materials. Tim O'Brien writes about what each of the soldiers carry, whether it be personally or something they carry physically. O'Brien's theme in the story is that the various emotional and physical materials the soldiers carried, was a way to escape the grueling events of the war. Other than the basic necessities each soldier had to carry around in order to survive, many of the soldiers carried extra material, not because they had to have it for survival, but because they wanted it. Some of the things they carried, were helpful in an emotional level. One way the soldiers tried to escape was to carry around materials that were important to them back at home: "...and Dave Jensen carried three pairs of socks and a can of Dr. Scholl's foot powder as a precaution against trench foot. Until he was shot, Ted Lavender carried six or seven ounces of premium dope, which for him was a necessity. Mitchell Sanders, the RTO, carried condoms. Norman Bowker carried a diary. Rat Kiley carried comic books, " (pg.342). Carrying dope, condoms, or comic books were some of the soldiers way to escape from the stress of war. The soldiers did not know for sure that they will live the next day, so carrying these certain supplies help them keep comfortable day by day. Lt. Jimmy Cross not only used his letters and pictures of Martha as an escape from the war, but he also used his imagination. Lt. Cross often envisioned himself back in New Jersey spending time with Martha. Although Cross knew that Martha was not in love with him, he could not help, but daydream about her in a more intimate way: "More than anything, he wanted Martha to love him as he loved her, but the letters were mostly chatty, elusive on the matter of love, " (pg.341). Martha was not in love with Cross, but daydreaming about her made Cross satisfied and happy, even though he was in the middle of fighting in a war. Most, if not all the soldiers used humor as an escape and to ease their minds about devastating situations that surround them: "Mind blower, get it? Talk about wiggy. Nothing left, just blood and brains. They made themselves laugh, "(pg. 352). The soldiers were around dangerous situations and around many dead bodies, that instead of grieving, they made jokes about it. Humor was a way for them to seem happier, than they really were. The soldiers tried to find various ways to persevere in such treacherous missions. They were all scared of dying, but did not want to show the fear in their faces. The things they carried, were necessities to try and escape their despair.