The Things They Carried: The Mentral Strengths of Soldiers in the Vietnam War

In Tim O’Brien’s story, The Things They Carried. He tells about his experiences in The Vietnam War by explaining his past troubles. The misfortune they are going through varies from person to person. Within the story, Jimmy Cross’s strength is somewhat imprecise. He seems sturdy at the start of the story, on the opposite hand, he conjointly looks to be gaining strength towards the end of the story. In the short story, Jimmy Cross displays weakness. As a result of discarding the issue that helps him handle pain, he becomes bitter and more dominant. Primarily, he loses his respectable qualities. He becomes more and more a product of war. The kindness and sensitivity that once made him so honorable suddenly nonexistent. He makes life tougher for himself and his men. “their days would seem longer and their loads heavier, (O'Brien, 25)”. He becomes a leader who resembles the brutality of war. By being harder on his men he isn't helping the situation, he’s simply making it worse. They need someone who is strong enough to tug them through the mayhem and confusion they are being forced to handle. The troopers would like the strength that they once had.

Lieutenant Cross demonstrates being strong at the beginning. As a result, he recognizes that he has one thing besides war to live for. Once he loses that, he loses the strength that he once possessed. In our own way that one might read this story is that Cross encompasses a stronger character toward the end of the story. He showed this by burning the images of Martha, that suggests beginning a replacement life by devoting himself to his job, changing into a more robust leader, and by getting rid of other distractions. “ He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence..” (16). Jimmy Cross started out being a quiet, carefree leader. He would be in the midst of the war, yet he would be thinking of Martha back home. He was forever distracted thinking of her and looking at pictures of her. This shows weakness in him, particularly as being a Lieutenant. O’Brien quotes, “ He would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war ”(16). O’Brien compares the sensation of regret in carrying a stone in his stomach. Lieutenant Cross, lets his love for Martha get in the way of his love and responsibility for his country and his men. After Lavender's death, Cross burns everything including the village of Than Khe, pictures and items of Martha, as well as letters from her. Lieutenant Cross was distressed he is aware of how strong the bond was between him and his men. However, from a reader's perspective, there was not much he could have done to prevent Lavender’s death. He was shot in the head!

Ultimately, I would like to express how the character deals with death. Lavender's death is the main theme in the story. So much that his death keeps recurring over and over again. Lavender's death only affects one person in the entire troop, Jimmy Cross. Everyone else in the squadron carried on as if nothing ever happened. As a matter of truth, a number of troops were “smoking the dead man’s dope until the chopper came” ( O’Brien 5). I understand that these are soldiers and that they deal with death and are trained to kill. During this time a lot of young people were against the war, they were sick of losing loved ones to violence. Through the war, many families lost their youth through this process that would immediately force young men to leave home and go to war. The Things They Carried helped recognize certain aspects of the war as it correlates with the soldiers and their lives personally. O'Brien described the mood of the war and the soldiers involved. In The Things They Carried, O’Brien views the physical and emotional burdens the soldiers faced throughout the war as well as the emotional stress that connected with it. O'Brien quotes, “They carried the emotional baggage of men who might die” ( 20). This refers not to petty burdens such as frisky daydreams or jokes, also things much more serious in nature. To Conclude, O’Brien’s Character Jimmy Cross was a broken person, full of agony and heavy emotional regret. O’Brien expresses Jimmy’s case to show the mental strain that the soldiers coped with. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was not alone in this crisis. Every soldier had a fair amount of emotional effects such as the soldiers O’Brien chose to depict in The Things They Carried.