The Things They Carried

One of the themes I got from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is that love and attachment is just a distraction and the only way to be productive and stay focused is to become numb. Several times throughout the story, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross gets distracted by his feelings for Martha. He spends much of his time “pretending”, “[imagining] romantic camping trips” and carrying her pebble in his mouth: “…he carried the pebble in his mouth, turning it with his tongue, tasting sea salt and moisture. His mind wandered. He had difficulty keeping his attention on the war. On occasion he would yell at his men to spread out the column, to keep their eyes open, but then he would slip away into daydreams, just pretending…” (628). Because he is distracted by his feelings for Martha, Cross blames himself for Lavender’s death: “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war” (632). He burns her letters and photographs and plans to dispose of the pebble. He then decides that he will be more productive because “his obligation was not to be loved but to lead. He would dispense with love; it was not now a factor” (636). He spends a paragraph explaining how he isn’t going to be distracted anymore but he’s going to take charge and his men are going to “police up their act…keep it together, and maintain it neatly and in good working order” (636). Their purpose in Vietnam only begins to be shaped when he has destroyed his emotional attachment to another reality: “Heretofore, when he thought about Martha, it would be only to think that she belonged elsewhere. He would shut down the daydreams. This was not Mount Sebastian, it was another world, where there were no pretty poems or midterm exams, a place where men died because of carelessness and gross stupidity” (636).

This interpretation can be deconstructed by the text itself. Cross’ men are already numb throughout most of the story. O’Brien spends an entire paragraph discussing the futility of their day-to-day activities under the leadership of the love struck Cross: “The moved like mules. By daylight they took sniper fire, at night they were mortared, but it was not battle, it was just the endless march, village to village, without purpose, nothing won or lost. They marched for the sake of the march. They plodded along slowly, dumbly, leaning forward against the heat, unthinking…no volition, no will…They searched the villages without knowing what to look for, not caring, kicking over jars of rice, frisking children and old men, blowing tunnels, sometimes setting fires and sometimes not, then forming up and moving on to the next village, then other villages, where it would always be the same” (631). They also work extremely hard to block all emotions: “They were afraid of dying but they were even more afraid to show it. They found jokes to tell. They used a hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness. Greased they’d say. Offed, lit up, zapped while zipping. It wasn’t cruelty, just stage presence. They were actors. When someone died, it wasn’t quite dying, because in a curious way it seemed scripted…and because they called it by other names, as if to encyst and destroy the reality of death itself” (634). They have completely blocked love and emotional attachments and yet they are still not productive. Lavender is a perfect example of this: “They told stories about Ted Lavender’s supply of tranquilizers, how the poor guy didn’t feel a thing, how incredibly tranquil he was” (634). He is symbolic of being numb to all feeling and yet he is killed during the war. Cross also stands as an opposition to this interpretation. Even after burning the letters and photos, he is haunted by the memory of Martha: “He realized it was only a gesture. Stupid, he thought…Besides, the letters were in his head. And even now, without photographs, Lieutenant Cross could see Martha playing volley ball in her white gym shorts and yellow T-shirt. He could see her moving in the rain…He hated her. Yes, he did. He hated her. Love, too, but it was a hard, hating kind of love” (635-6). He is still distracted by her whether his feelings towards her are positive or negative.