The Mentally Loud In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

To begin with, the mental weight the troops carry during the war continuously define them throughout their experience. One such heavy load is the need for the young men to stand up to the tension between fantasy and reality. Immediately after Ted Lavender's death, “he pictured Martha’s smooth young face, thinking he loved her more than anything...” (O’Brien). Cross believes his distractions caused him to be negligent, and as a result, one of his men died. For this reason, he later burns Martha’s letters and photographs, and concludes that he will never again have fantasies. Furthermore, the soldiers carry the mental load of keeping up with their reputations. “Rather, they were too frightened to be cowards.” That being said, these men killed