Chaz Tallant Case

Chaz Tallant Professor Kyle Alexander English 101-069 24 September 2013 The Things They Carried: The Burden of Carrying a Burden George Bernard Shaw once said, "People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them". While progressing through life a person will no doubt encounter numerous burdens; that part of life is inevitable. It is quite possible that some of these burdens may be avoided, but rest assured that that situation will not always be plausible. Maybe in some bizarre way carrying a burden could be advantageous to the person who carries it. Then again it may be feasible to assume that carrying a burden could ultimately be oppressing. Perhaps the actual concept of carrying a burden could prove to be more wearisome than the burden itself.

One of the concepts expressed in Tim O'Brien's short story, The Things They Carried, is the idea of physically carrying a burden. 1The story takes place in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is the main character; he is ultimately responsible for making sure the troops in his platoon are prepared for battle. Seeing that Jimmy is in charge he is responsible for carrying items such as a compass, codebooks, and binoculars. Bob "Rat" Kiley is the outfit's medic so naturally he is responsible for humping morphine, malaria tablets, surgical tape, and things of that nature. Ted Lavender is a regular soldier, but tends to antagonize about being ill prepared for battle so he carries tranquilizers to help him remain calm, nine rounds of extra ammunition, and a starlight scope. Each of these men must physically carry these items with them as they trek from mission to mission in addition to various other supplies they obtain along the way: enemy guns, knives, ammunition, clothing, etc. Throughout the story O'Brien gives the weight of each piece of equipment so that the reader knows just how heavy these physical burdens are to bear. Upon discovering a new piece of equipment the soldiers will usually disregard an older piece so that they do not become subdued by an extraneous amount. However, the supply helicopter never fails to keep their caches fully stocked. No matter how hard the men try to relieve themselves of these physical burdens they cannot successfully do so.

At one point in the story the narrator says, "They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried" (183). This quote eludes to the fact that the soldiers were not weighed down with just physical burdens. Another burden that is conveyed in the story is the idea of an emotional burden. An emotional burden is not something that can be measured with an actual weight, but it does have the power to weigh someone down. Rat Kiley has an obvious emotional burden; the responsibility of helping the wounded or dying. Rat physically tends to the injured, but he also tries to help them feel better. He carries brandy to help ease the pain and "M&Ms for especially bad wounds" (182). Rat does not have to help them feel better emotionally; his job is to take care of their physical injuries. However, that feeling he gets from helping someone is his emotional burden. It presses down upon him in situations when he knows he can only help the wounded soldiers to a certain extent.

Kiowa is another soldier in the outfit. He comes from a Native American background so right from the start the reader can guess that Kiowa will have some emotional baggage with him. Growing up Kiowa was taught by his grandmother to distrust the white man (181). This poses a serious problem because Kiowa is fighting alongside an entire group of white soldiers. Kiowa must go against everything he has known because the white men are key to his survival. Even though he was raised to be wary of the white men Kiowa must trust them and ultimately put his life in their hands. The fact that Kiowa is forced to trust them causes him to have an emotional burden, but it gets worse. Throughout the story the reader can tell that Jimmy Cross grows on Kiowa and that Kiowa not only trust Jimmy, but begins to admire him. This may not have the appearance of an emotional burden, but it is actually a fairly serious one. Kiowa feels bad that he is going against his people's ways, but at the same time he is having a hard time understanding the reason why he should not be able to trust Jimmy. He is torn and has a hard time determining the difference between what is right and wrong; it is an emotional burden that is certainly unbearable.

Tim