The Things They Carry

               The Things They Carried has a very appropriate beginning as Tim O’Brien starts the book by telling us just that―the things that Jimmy Cross and his men carried. As I read the first two chapters of The Things They Carried, a curious thought crossed my mind: What happened to the things they carried? The phrase “the things they carried” assumes that these were things carried back in the past. However, in the second chapter titled “Love”, I saw evidence that points to show that the things they carried weren’t just left behind in Vietnam. Through the character of Jimmy Cross, I came to realize that they still very much carry the things they carried back during the war. They still carry the ghosts. They still carry their regrets. And in the case of Jimmy Cross, he still carries his fantasies.

              Jimmy Cross carries letters from Martha as the item that characterizes him during the war. I interpreted the letters as a physical representation of what Jimmy Cross really carried: his fantasies. In the first chapter of The Things They Carried, Jimmy was constantly daydreaming about his fantastical love life with Martha, which eventually led to Ted Lavender’s death (or so he believes). Out of grief, Jimmy burns the letters and photos of Martha. Although it may seem as if Jimmy has left behind his fantasies, he has only gotten rid of their physical manifestation. I would argue to say that not only does he continue to carry his fantasies of Martha, but he actually adds another fantasy that he has to carry. Near the end of the first chapter, Jimmy thinks to himself about how he will be a proper leader from now on. How he will discipline himself and his men, making them into the ideal platoon. If you read carefully though, you will notice that this is actually Jimmy Cross daydreaming about what he wants to do, but not actually doing it. The passage never suggests that Jimmy Cross ever fulfilled or accomplished the things he described, but only tells us the plans and thoughts he had in his mind. This is simply another fantasy that Jimmy Cross has added to the load that he already carries.

              But how do we know that he carries these fantasies throughout the war and even afterwards? There is enough evidence in “Love” to confirm that this is true. First off, Jimmy Cross says openly to Tim O’Brien that he loves Martha still, many years after the war. He even encourages Tim to write the stories, hoping that one day Martha would come back for him. Through this, it is clear that Jimmy is continuing to cling onto his fantasy of a love life with Martha. Jimmy also asks Tim to make him out to be the best platoon leader ever. Jimmy is only asking this because he wasn’t the things that he wanted to be. If Jimmy truly was the best platoon leader ever, if he really was brave and handsome and all that, he wouldn’t have had to ask Tim to depict him as such. On top of that, Jimmy asks Tim to not mention something that we don’t know about….or do we? That is a totally different topic though. Anyway, Jimmy asks Tim to leave something out that he doesn’t want others to know about him. Jimmy is trying to get Tim to recreate (through his stories) the fantastical and ideal image of himself that he had carried throughout the years. We can clearly see through this evidence that Jimmy still carries his fantasies of Martha and of himself being the best platoon leader ever.

               What does this show us? Why does it even matter that Jimmy Cross still carries his fantasies with him after the war? All of this is significant because we can understand the life of war veterans through the character of Jimmy Cross. Life doesn’t just return to normal after the war. We have all seen heartwarming and glorious videos of soldiers returning home, and these videos often show soldiers happily reunited with their families. We are often deceived into thinking that all is well and the troubles are over and forgotten after the soldiers return home. However, the truth is that everything isn’t left behind in the war zone. To the contrary, veterans often carry the same things that they carried during the war back to their homes. Veterans still carry their heavy burden of painful memories, disturbing traumas, and searing losses. Through the first two chapters of The Things They Carried, I learned that the things they carried weren’t just left behind in the past, but rather they continue to live on as the things they carry.