The Things They Carried Chapter Analysis
The Things They Carried: Chapter 1
Significant Quote: “In the accompanying letter, Martha wrote that she had found the pebble on the Jersey shoreline, precisely where the land touched the water at high tide, where things came together but also separated.” (8)
Speaker: Tim O’Brien
Audience: The reader
Significance: This symbolizes Martha and Jimmy’s feelings for each other. They are separated by the war, but together in their minds.
Questions:
1. What prompted the separate-but-together thought?
2. Did Martha truly feel that way about Jimmy, or was there something else behind the thought process?
The Things They Carried: Chapter 2
Significant Quote: “It doesn’t matter,” he finally said. “I love her” (29)
Speaker: Jimmy Cross
Audience: Tim O’Brien
Significance: We see that, through all of the things that happened during the war, nothing had changed about Jimmy’s feelings toward Martha.
Questions:
1. Why did he still feel this way, even after leaning that there was no point in loving her anymore, that she did not love him?
2. What had made Martha lose those feelings about Jimmy?
The Things They Carried: Chapter 3
Significant Quote: “But the thing about remembering is that you don’t forget. You take your material where you find it, which is in your life, at the intersection of past and present.” (34)
Speaker: Tim O’Brien
Audience: The reader
Significance: As readers, we come to see how many stories come about: from the writers own experiences.
Questions:
1. If he were to stop trying to remember, would he be able to forget?
2. Does this only apply to certain things, or all things that one would remember?
The Things They Carried: Chapter 4
Significant Quote: “My whole life seemed to spill out into the river, swirling away from me, everything I had ever been or ever wanted to be.” (58)
Speaker: Tim O’Brien
Audience: The reader
Significance: We see how hard it must have been to decide to go to war, what kind of courage it took not to run.
Significant Quote: “In the accompanying letter, Martha wrote that she had found the pebble on the Jersey shoreline, precisely where the land touched the water at high tide, where things came together but also separated.” (8)
Speaker: Tim O’Brien
Audience: The reader
Significance: This symbolizes Martha and Jimmy’s feelings for each other. They are separated by the war, but together in their minds.
Questions:
1. What prompted the separate-but-together thought?
2. Did Martha truly feel that way about Jimmy, or was there something else behind the thought process?
The Things They Carried: Chapter 2
Significant Quote: “It doesn’t matter,” he finally said. “I love her” (29)
Speaker: Jimmy Cross
Audience: Tim O’Brien
Significance: We see that, through all of the things that happened during the war, nothing had changed about Jimmy’s feelings toward Martha.
Questions:
1. Why did he still feel this way, even after leaning that there was no point in loving her anymore, that she did not love him?
2. What had made Martha lose those feelings about Jimmy?
The Things They Carried: Chapter 3
Significant Quote: “But the thing about remembering is that you don’t forget. You take your material where you find it, which is in your life, at the intersection of past and present.” (34)
Speaker: Tim O’Brien
Audience: The reader
Significance: As readers, we come to see how many stories come about: from the writers own experiences.
Questions:
1. If he were to stop trying to remember, would he be able to forget?
2. Does this only apply to certain things, or all things that one would remember?
The Things They Carried: Chapter 4
Significant Quote: “My whole life seemed to spill out into the river, swirling away from me, everything I had ever been or ever wanted to be.” (58)
Speaker: Tim O’Brien
Audience: The reader
Significance: We see how hard it must have been to decide to go to war, what kind of courage it took not to run.