Everyone carries items, burdens, and things everyday. The items they carry affect them each differently and have different impacts on them, especially if you were in an important event such as the Vietnam war. The war affected many Americans including the author Tim O'Brien. In The Things They Carried, the soldiers carried both tangible and intangible items. Each item had different meanings to each soldier and each item helped the soldier through the war differently.
Some of the tangible things they carried were “… P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C rations, …show more content…
Those thoughts and feelings affected the soldiers more than what they were literally carrying with them. “Grief, terror, love, longing-- these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight” (20). Most of the soldiers carried a sense of fear with them. A fear of dying, a fear of getting ambushed, even a fear of being considered a coward. They carried a kind of love as well. A love for a newfound brotherhood between soldiers. Love for their family back home. Some of the soldiers like Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried a “fake” or made up love, just so that they would have hope that there was something better, and something waiting for him after the war. They all carried the same hope; for a better life after the war. Even through all the hard times in war, they all pushed through because they all had a sense of courage. “Each morning, despite the unknowns, they made their legs move. They endured. They kept humping. They did not submit to the obvious alternative, which was simply to close the eyes and fall”(20-21). The intangible feeling of courage helped the men find a reason to help their country instead of just quitting. They keep moving and persevering