The Things They Carried

Though it wasn't my favorite short story we've read so far (that would probably be "Emergency" just because it was a interesting read and because Georgie is such a fun, unique character), "The Things They Carried" definitely left an imprint on my mind - nothing really mind-blowing per se, but something you just can't stop thinking about. All the rich, gritty detail with which Tim O'brien describes Vietnam  and the pounds of weight that the men carry make the pages physically seem heavier. The way O'brien presents the story reminded me of Kurt Vonnnegut's repeated phrase "So it goes." from Slaughter-house Five. The mentality that that was just the way it was and there's no way to change it. "Over and over - there it is, my friend, there it is - as if the repetition itself were an act poise, a balance between  crazy and almost crazy...because Oh yeah, man, you can't change what can't be changed, there it is, there it absolutely and positively and fucking well is" (380-381). The enormous weight the men carry is also outweighed by the emotional baggage they have to lug throughout the war. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross's unrequited love for Martha is painfully doubled by the guilt he bears for putting that hopeless love before the men he has to care for. All the random things the men carry, like Rat Kiley's comic books or Henry Dobbins's pantyhose, serve as ways for the men to continue having an idea of the civilian world with which they have lost touch. I think my favorite line in the entire story is the short sentence on page 372: "They all carried ghosts." The men carry vestiges of what they once were, and, if they ever go back to their old lives, it will never be as they once were.