The Things They Carried

In just the first couple of pages of The Things They Carried, you can already see the horrors of war and the darkness that will be portrayed through the rest of the book. The first chapter explains the title of the book, it goes into what each man is literally carrying: weapons, food, pictures, Bibles, and good luck charms. Then O’Brien gets into what they carry emotionally. For example, he talks about the how the lieutenant carries “…a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men.” (p. 5). Everyone knows what it’s like to carry some baggage with them, but what soldiers have to carry with them emotionally is much heavier and can haunt them for the rest of their lives. The line that I found most depressing was the line when O’Brien was talking about the resupply choppers. He says, “…there was at least the single abiding certainty that they would never be at a loss for things to carry.” (p. 15). Even though this is technically referring to objects to carry, we know it is also the emotional things that they have to carry with them for the rest of their lives. This makes me think of all the soldiers who have returned home with PTSD. The war doesn’t end for them when they leave because they bring it home with them. I have no idea what programs are in place for helping returning soldiers, but I hope they are given every resource available to recover from the horrific events they go through.