The Things They Carried: Reader Response

What kind of "things" did the soldiers carry? Literally and figuratively what did the soldiers have to "hump"

What I liked about the way Tim O' Brien wrote about the things that they carried was that he switched seamlessly between discussing literal weight, such as their numours weapons, the several ounces of dope that Lavender "humped," or the heavy ponchos, and figurative weight, such as the memory of Martha Lieutenant Cross "humps," along with the guilt over Lavender's death. This made the two weights, though obviously different, seem comprable, both considerable factors to the soldiers' burdens.

I would just like to say that I really pity Lieutenant Cross, and in my opinion he need not blame himself for Lavender's death. I suppose if I were in his shoes I might be inclined to blame myself, too, but as an unbiased outsider looking in, it really does not appear there is much more he could have done, even if he had not been sidetracked by his unrequitted love for Martha.

My question for everyone is, did anyone else continue reading on to the chapter titled On the Rainy River? Can we please talk about Elroy Berdahl?

They carried what they needed - their weapons, their clothing, food and water. They carried what was important to them - letters, magazines, keepsakes. They carried things based on job - a radio, medical supplies. At times they had to carry each other, when one was injured or sick. But they didn't carry only physical things, they also carried within them their thoughts, their hardships, their injuries, their memories, their emotions, the things that made them who they were as a person.

The soldiers had to carry weapons and supplies, but they also carried the sick and the weak. They carried the injured and the dead. The soldiers also carried memories, and the burdens of their comrads. By specifing the wieghts of the physical things that the soldiers carried, Tim O'Brien makes the emotional burdens seem too large to be specified. Tim O'Brien also make the emotional burdens seem heavier than the physical ones because the soldiers took turns humping these burdens, which they seldom did with physical objects.

The soldiers had to carry pounds of food and supplies like can openers, weapons, pocket knives, extra clothes and ammo. They also carried things to keep them entertained like magazines, drugs, photographs, and books. Most importantly, though, were they heavy burdens they carried along with them. They carried the enormous pressure of not showing fear or regret, of not feeling emotions; they carried their memories of home and loved ones they had left behind. Lieutenant Cross carried letters from the woman he loved, along with his regrets about never sharing his feelings with her. O'Brien reflects upon the immense pressures the soldiers felt that were far heavier than the equipment they lugged. Cross had to carry the responibility for the lives of his soldiers, each man had to face death without showing feeling or remorse."Humping" was a word they used to mean carrying something. "...to hump meant to walk, or to march, but it implied burdens far beyond the intransitive."

The soldiers all carry a pretend attitudes. In the face of fear, they try to be brave,or indifferent. Not revealing their true emotions weighs them down as much as any physical baggage. When Ted is killed, the soilders do not react with sadness. But, there is a tension building behind the emotions they hold back. "Men killed and died because they were embaressed not to" In this quote O'Brien reveals there is true emotion that drives the soldiers' actions. Yet, it is apparent that, to eachother, the pent up emotions they carried are taboo to be discussed or unloaded on one another.

They carried everything from possesions that reminded of home to items that they needed to survive. Some of them also carried more than they needed to survive (food, amunition, helmets, ect.) becuase they felt safer with it, even if it weighed a lot. They needed all of these things to keep them well in body and mind, because even if they were physically okay, they might not have been mentally without the things they carried.

Literally,they had everything they carried, including the small reminders of home they brought with them. These small reminders lead then to the things they "humped"' figuratively- their loved ones, their old lives, and the love that could be. One such example of this is when Lieutenant Cross carried the pebble Martha sent him not only as a gift from her, but as Martha herself.

Within the novel, each of the different soldiers carry various objects, emotions and so much more. These include things such as letters,neccessities; extra rations; hygenic objects; and many more standard issued military items. However it is clear that O' Brien uses these physical objects to express the different things the soldiers carry with them mentally in their every day lives.

I found it interesting that just about everything they carried physically was either something very practical, and related to the group as soldiers (their ammunition, ponchos, etc.), or something very personal, that said something about them more as full people, for example Lavender's tranquilizers, or Kiowa's illustrated New Testament. These items, especially the more personal ones, I think (especially in the case of Ted Lavender) characterized the men, and gave you some insight into who they were before they came to Vietnam.

Then, of course, there are the emotions they "carried", which are, in a sense, related to the physical items they carried. It is interesting that the emotions were seen almost as a burden, something that weighed them down--much like the physical "things they carried". Jimmy Cross actually blames his love for Martha for Lavender's death towards the end of the chapter and vows to be less emotional, hoping that by replacing his love for the men with stronger leadership he will keep any more of them from dying.

Tim O'brian is reffering both literally and figuratively to the objects and the feelings that the soldiers in Vietnam had to "carry". Almost all of the soldiers carry guns, but beyond that, there are objects that the soldiers carry that signify and symbolize thier characters. For example, Ted Lavender carries tranquilizers and dope, which is not only a litteral example of what he is carrying and what he likes to have on him, but also symbolizes his fear of death, and his anxiety in the war. This first chapter is meant to familiarize the readers with the soldiers, and to explain and make clear what each man's personality, as well as likes and dislikes, are.

PS: ("hump" means "carry")

They Carrie a lot figuratevly and literally.
On their back they carrie amunitions, vitamins,old testament etc.; everything they need to survive in the war.The author uses these objects as symbols to descibe the different characters and explain their feelings. But most of all they carrie emtions, fear and love in their heads which are heavier and influence the way they think and act.They carried the wait to not be to able to respond to these feelings.

The soldiers of Tim O'Briens novel carry many things. The men all seem to carry something to serve as a small reminder of their lives outside of the war. One man carries their New Testament with him while another carries letters and pictures from a woman, another a diary, etc. These men each had something small to just simply keep them sane throughout the war. The men each have to carry the things soldiers have to carry in order to fight and survive. They need their weapons and their ammunition, their clothing and all of those homely things.
Along with their small reminders of home, of life outside of the war these men carried the mental burdens of the war. All of the battles, each death of a soldier and the disturbing images were held on their soldiers. O'Brien mentions that the men had to carry a pride with them, some dignity that the men needed to portray in the battles. The soldiers of the war carried literal and figurative things that shaped their war, their experiences throughout the war.
My first one was better but it didn't post

The soldiers carried what they needed to survive as they moved across Vietnam- weapons, protection, food. These things were necessities. They carried pieces of home with them- trinkets they were given, things to set their minds at ease. With these objects, the audience was able to see into each soldier's mind, to picture their values and their worries. All of these objects had literal weight baring down on their shoulders; however, this was little compared to the other things they carried. They carried the weight of each other; they carried emotional baggage; they carried every single memory of the atrocities they committed; every person whose blood was on their hands; they carried fear. There was no way to measure these things, and no way to relieve the pressure on their shoulders, the dead weight was permanent.

Figuratively and literally they carry a lot.
On their back they carry ammunitions, vitamins, Old Testament etc.; everything they need to survive in the war. The author uses these objects as symbols to describe the different characters and explain their feelings. But most of all they carry emotions, the war atrocities, fear of death, love etc.; these young men are humans like anyone else with the common needs and emotions. They are gruffly thrown into war inexperienced, must learn to rationalize killing and accept their friend’s deaths. The only people who they can rely as friends and who share their burns in such terrible atmosphere, are the same people who they see die or become amputated in the worst ways possible in front of their eyes. They are constantly dying as they feel and see death constantly. They are constantly confronting the tension between fantasy and reality. They heads which carry more influence the way they think and act. They carried the wait to not be to able to respond to these feelings.[/quote]

The soldiers in Tim O'brien's novel trekked through the jungle of Vietnam burdened with the weight of heavy packs and even heavier thoughts. The soldiers carried the obvious necessities for war: guns, amunition, rations, radios, helmets, and grenades. However, the soldiers also carried items not directly related to the war but still equally necessary: letters from loved ones, a copy of the new testament, moccasins, pictures, and drugs. Lastly, the soldiers carried the weight of the fear of being a coward, and all of the emotions (fear, love, shame) and memories that surface when one is so close to death. Tim O'Brien accentuates the weight that the soldiers had to carry by naming the weight of each object and adresses the emtional burden specifically: "the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight."

The choice of the word 'hump' illuminates the position of the soldiers: they were so burdened, physically and emotionally, that they could no longer walk freely, instead, they must hump. O'Brien states: "In its intransitive form, to hump meant to walk, or to march, but it implied burdens far beyond the intransitive." The soldiers had been placed in this foreign country under pressure to sacrifice their lives against their will and all the while not look the coward. The choice of the word, 'hump' draws attention to the number and nature of the items that the soldiers carried and also to the fact that they were burdened with a weight that hindered their freedom to walk, forcing them to trudge onward, indeed, to 'hump.'