The Things We Carried

I thought this was an awesome story. Judging by the weapons and the descriptions of "what they carried", and what was around them, I would place them in Vietnam. They all carried things that were important to them. When you think about it, you would carry with you the things that you would see as a necessity to stay alive. Anything you would bring would slow you down more and make you more tired, so the things you would bring with you would have to be of the utmost importance. Of coarse there were things they were required to bring with them as part of their designated job, but they all could bring extra things, things that mean something to them. Kiowa brought his grandfather's hatchet, which I thought separated him more as a Native American than a soldier. Ted Lavender carried a few ounces of dope, and of course, Jimmy Cross, the main character, carried his letters and picture of Martha.

The story kept going back to the part when Ted Lavender was killed and how quick it was and how he just fell like a rock. His death seemed to be the focal point of the story, which created all the conversation. I guess what you could say about his death is that since he carried so many things with because of his fear, he never really had a chance. He relied to much on what he carried to protect him and not enough on his own personnel ability.

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried his tokens of Martha, a girl that doesn't love him back, and someone he is hoping is still a virgin, just so he can get the chance to de-flower her himself if he makes it back. He had a chance to be with her on his date with her, but he feels he ruined it because he was to aggressive and has been thinking of how he could have done better on the date so he could succeed next time. He looks at her pictures and looks at her letters pretend them to be love letters, even though they aren't. Then when Ted Lavender was killed he blamed himself for his death because he was to caught up on Martha instead of leading to the best of his ability.