The Things They Carried Summary

The ‘things they carried’ in the fictionalized story of the Vietnam War are not only military supplies, guns, and ammunition, but they also are the “things” that comforted the soldiers and helped them through the tumultuous war. The Vietnam War was different from wars in the past but this story is similar and helps understand the “things they carried” and how helped the soldiers get through it. “It didn’t’ matter what they were, But they were the things they carried.”

Tim O’Brien graduated in 1968 with a B.A in political science from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota with thoughts of being a writer. He was drafted in the Army from 1969-1970. He was one of the many foot soldiers with the 46th Infantry in Quang Ngai province. He was in My Lai after the “My Lai Massacre,” where he was injured by shrapnel from a grenade attack and was sent home with a Purple Heart. O’ Brien preferred to narrate his
Martha writes to Lieutenant Cross and tells about her life at college and signs her letters “Love Martha” which feeds to his infatuation with her. Lieutenant Cross fantasized about Martha to help get him through the long days and harsh conditions and thinking he had someone waiting for him when he got home made it easier to be there. The beginning describes Martha and his feelings for her, and then it goes on to describe the soldiers and the “things they carry” with them at war. Some carry personal property, some carry burdens, some necessities, but all the “things they carried” with them were of some Importance or significance to the soldiers or the platoon. “ To carry something was to hump it, as when Lieutenant Jimmy Cross humped his love for Martha up the hills and through the swamps. In its intransitive form, to hump meant to walk, or to march, but it implied burdens far beyond the