If only he could roll time back, he would spend some quality time by her side. Time and space stood between Jimmy and the love of her life. O’Brien observes, “He loved her so much…though painful, he wondered who had been with her that afternoon” (8). This emotional burden weighed so heavily on him that at times he lost focus on the war. love.Ĭross sincerely loved Martha and no matter how hard he tried to subdue these feelings, they resurfaced with time. The issue of Jimmy’s love for Martha ushers in the next emotional burden viz. However, for this to happen, he had to sacrifice some emotions like love for Martha, his college crush. What a terrible emotional baggage for one to carry! To cover his guilt, Jimmy embarked on a journey to become the best lieutenant. All these feelings culminated into guilt feelings, an emotional burden that he had to bear so long as the war continued. Unfortunately, Jimmy could not live up to this duty and when Lavender died before his eyes, he realized how careless he had been in executing his duties. A person charged with the responsibility of taking care of his fellow soldiers should be focused to achieve his objective. Consequently, Lavender died due to his lack of concentration or so he thought. Jimmy became emotionally troubled because instead of concentrating on the security and well-being of fellow soldiers he could only think of Martha. Unfortunately, he could do nothing at that point Lavender was dead and gone for good. Given the fact that he was the one in charge of the other soldiers’ well-being, he felt he could have done something to prevent Lavender’s death. Jimmy witnessed as a bullet broke open Lavender’s skull, an incident that plunged him into emotional turmoil. Jimmy Cross, a lieutenant enlisted to take care of the other soldiers is the victim of the guilt burden. The emotional burden of guilt surfaces immediately after the story starts. The emotional burdens as explored by O’Brien came in different forms and each soldier had a special burden that underscored his woes. Even though the things they carried were meant to help them fight the enemy, in the end, the intangible things (emotional burdens) turned out to fight the soldiers, killing them from within. They carried shameful memories…cowardice…they carried the soldier’s fear (20). Grief, terror, love, longing-these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. Obrien notes, “They carried the emotional baggage of men who might die. O’Brien explores the theme of emotional burdens artistically and at some point, comically. guilt, fear, love, pocketknives, M-16 rifles among other things. These soldiers carried emotional and physical burdens viz. The Things They Carried is a fictional chef-d’oeuvre by Tim O’Brien, which catalogs among other things, the different things that soldiers carried to the Vietnam War.
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