What is it that we carry with us? Back-packs? Computers? How about emotionally? Loss of a loved one? Good and bad relationships? No matter the person, and no matter the situation, every person has baggage, both physically and emotionally.
In chapter 1, The Things They Carried, of the novel The Things They Carried, O’Brien describes to the reader what it is like to be in a war away from your normal life. The people in this war all have baggage from their lives prior to coming to the war, and none of them could just drop their problems and leave them at home, they had to transport their troubles with them to Vietnam. O’Brien states physical items that each soldier has with him, but each of these items symbolize something that emotionally took place in their life. Henry Dobbins carried “his girlfriend’s pantyhose wrapped around his neck” as an aegis and comfort. The act of Dobbins wearing his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck symbolizes the unity he had with her, as this act makes them one.
Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha. He also carried a good luck pebble in his mouth that he received from Martha in the mail. Martha found this egg -like pebble on the Jersey shoreline “where the land touched water at high tide” where things came together, but were still separate. In a letter that Martha wrote to Jimmy, she stated that it was the “separate-but-together” qualities that inspired her to pick up the rock and mail to him. The imagery used by O’Brien shows the reader how the water meeting land is similar to Jimmy and Martha’s relationship. In Jimmy’s mind, they are together, although physically separated; but to Martha, they are only friends, separated by miles of land and water. Jimmy loves this girl with all his being and is constantly thinking about her. He even blames himself for the death of one of his fellow soldier’s, because he is convinced that because of him being so focused on Martha, Lavender was killed. Unable to deal with is guilt, Jimmy Cross burns all of the letters from Martha, and also the pictures he had of her. While out burning these items, a “steady rain is falling” from the sky making the process difficult. Although the rain is an impediment to the burning of the items, the rain is cleansing Jimmy of his guilt and sins, giving him a new life.
Throughout chapter 1, O’Brien states the objects that each soldier is carrying, either physically or mentally and emotionally. With each item there comes symbolism that further explains the life of the man that is heavy burdened. Now I’m left thinking about this line from the first chapter, “It was very sad. The things men carried inside. The things men did or felt they had to do,” wondering if what I carry emotionally is even close to what these men carried.
The first paragraph is blunt and to the point, easy to get involved in. Good quatations and discussion of literary elements. The second to last paragraph becomes a little wordy but still punctual. I had the rain clensing in myne too. "Impediment" was a good word choice. Perhaps more thought-pondering questions? A
ReplyDeleteI carry a backpack, books, and a computer in school; outside of school I carry a cell phone and billfold.I prefer not to tell you about my emotional baggage I carry. I carry good and bad relationships with different people. I have never lost a loved one by death but I have lost a loved one in life in general.
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