After our discussion in class today, I began to think more
about the title of The Things They
Carried and the first chapter of the book. Emotionally, everyone seems to carry
certain experiences or memories that make each person unique and impact how
they act. What makes the case in this book different is that there is both the
emotional baggage of being an individual and there are the physical things that
one must carry to both survive and cope with life at war. Some seem to become
more aware of the role that certain events or people in their past play in
their present when faced with the potential of dying or in an extremely
stressful time in war. This was especially true with the relationship between
Jimmy Cross and Martha. After he blamed the death of Ted Lavender on his
distraction and “dense, crushing love” for Martha, he proceeded to burning all
physical ties to her, yet seemed to be troubled when he realized emotional ties
cannot be severed quite as easily.
Everyone seems to be effected by the experiences in their
lives and the things that they both knowingly and subconsciously carry as a
part of themselves. Although some are more burdensome than others, these things
that people bring with them into situations ultimately determine how people
react to situations. Even a sibling or family member that could have gone
through the same experience seems to have a very different perspective and
carry different emotions and understanding of situations. The impact of these sometimes
burdensome memories vary depending on the trauma of the situation. Wartimes
are going to be much more stressful than normal situations. Tim O’Brien seems
to be making this point clear by not only going through the process of writing down some of his own possible memories and also giving the readers a better idea
of the immense weight that soldiers feel by the burden of such a confusing war.
I quite agree, and would add that, perhaps, the extended list that is rattled off in the first chapter or so reflects the structure of the novel quite well, even beyond the idea of war as a physical and psychological burden. The items themselves are presented in no clear order; emotional and physical baggage are named, apparently, as they enter the speaker's mind. An item will send him off on one particular tangent- a short war story- which is inevitably cut off and, abruptly, we are given more random lists of equipment. In hindsight, the particular form of this chapter is a great introduction to the kind of wandering, short-story driven narrative that the rest of the book contains. It also introduces the concept of gestell which we talked about in class. Even here, O'Brien is describing the experiences of war very tangentially, through small, three paragraph stories among lists and lists of unexplained equipment, most of which probably have untold stories of their own.
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