The following are reoccurring
themes in the novel:
(1) Guilt and Responsibility
(2) Physical and Emotional
Burdens
Remember, a theme is the central
idea or message explored in a literary work. Choose TWO of the following themes
(or more if you like) and comment on their development throughout the story.
For each theme, discuss how it is presented in AT LEAST ONE story. Provide
evidence where necessary.
Within this novel, O’Brien presents two main themes become
apparent to us as readers; the first them is that of Guilt and Responsibility,
to which every soldier can be related. They both feel responsibility for their
men and feel guilt when something befalls them, such as how Jimmy Cross feels
about the premature death of Ted Lavender, but there is also the responsibility
the soldiers in alpha company feel for themselves and their comrades in arms.
In the case of Jimmy Cross, we can see examples of his responsibility for his
troops throughout the story. The most notable of these examples would be found
in the very first story “The things they carried”. In particular, in the
aftermath of thought that shadowed Ted Lavenders death, that is seemingly caused
by Cross’s negligence to properly scout the parameter of their vicinity. In
this scene, the narrator tells us “he felt shame. He hated himself” (Page 8) These
feelings that Cross shows identifies for us his blame on himself for allowing
his man to die and how he must bear this burden on his heart for the rest of
the war, and the rest of his life.
The feelings of Responsibility and Guilt that are shown in
the novel also lead on into the second theme that is shown throughout the
novel, that being Physical and Emotional burdens. We can see vast evidence of
these tangible and intangible weights that the soldiers carried also in the
first chapter “the things they carried”. This story, as alluded to in the
title, tells the reader about the many objects the soldiers carried. Some of
the tangible objects the soldiers carried include the standard military hardware,
such as guns and flak jackets, which were “carried partly as a function of
rank, partly of field speciality” (Page 3). For example, the soldier named Rat
Kiley carried the medical gear in the form of a large canvas bag, as his
speciality was that of a medic. We can also see from this chapter that soldiers
also carried small items from home, which gave them the strength and moral to
go onward through the war. These items were articles such as Kiowa’s Bible, and
Henry Dobbins girlfriend’s pantyhose (in which he wore around his neck). These
personal items also sometimes caused events that triggered the other themes occurrences,
such as Jimmy Cross and his letters from Martha, which distracted him from his
duty, leading ultimately to the death of Ted Lavender. We can also see in this
chapter the intangible burdens that the soldiers carried around with them, such
feelings as explained above, that of Responsibility and Guilt, but also other
feelings such as fear and longing also make appearances in the novel. For example,
where Tim O’Brien is shot twice and he is fearful to die, and where Jimmy Cross
longs to be with Martha and lusts after her. O’Brien explains this concept in
the first chapter where he says, “They all carried the emotional baggage of men
who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing- these were intangibles, but they
had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight” (page 10).
Here he is saying that even though they don’t physically exist, they do have
their own tangible weight and thus must be “humped” wherever they go, whenever
they go, therefore, they cannot escape from them, they are eternal.
