This quote shows how war makes people act and feel towards people and even themselves. It also shows how people imagine war is like, as such a disgusting place to be and as if you go there you are going to be dead, no doubt. If someone is to die, it is to be as if it is another dead person. The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien shows many different and out of the ordinary themes throughout the books stories. Each story presents themes that were used before or is completely different. When I look at themes such as memories, loneliness and isolation, story telling, and how to tell the difference between true war stories and phony, bogus ones you have to look at two stories from The Things They Carried; “The Things They Carried” and “The Lives of the Dead.” These themes are reoccurring throughout the book and its stories, but the one that gets to me the most is the memories and the loyalty to one and other.

Memories, was theme in the book that that I thought of right away. When I read “The Things They Carried” I remember Lieutenant Jimmy Cross listing vividly what everyone brought with them and the story behind it. For example Jimmy Cross shows

how Henry Dobbins is superstitious so he brings his girl friends pantyhose and carries it around his neck. When Jimmy Cross was telling O’Brien the story he sounded like he remembered each and every second that took place in the book. Jimmy Cross tells Tim O’Brien these story years after it happened, but he still remembers everything. He is always thinking of Martha, a girl from Jimmy’s college who he went on a date to the movies with. When Martha sends a pebble to Jimmy Cross he remembers every detail and could describe it to an author that the author would be able to draw the exact same item without any knowledge of it beforehand. He describes it as the following “Jimmy Cross received a good-luck charm from Martha. It was a simple pebble, an ounce at most. Smooth to the touch, it was a milky white color with flecks of orange and violet, oval-shaped, like a miniature egg.” (O’Brien 8). This shows how Jimmy can recollect many things from the war even if it happened a long time ago and even if it was minute details. I think the short story “The Things They Carried” showed a big example how people remember their past, when in war.

Similarly as to what happened in the short story “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’Brien remembers every detail about his early childhood romance with a girl named Linda. He remembers about her first when Kiowa asks Tim O’Brien if he has every experienced a dead body before, and that’s when he thinks of Linda dying of a brain tumor. It seems as death and war makes a person not forget a detail of time. A quote that explains how O’Brien remembers a scene from war is when O’Brien says “It was all wreckage. I remember the smell of burnt straw; I remember broken fences and torn-up trees and heaps of stone and brick and pottery. The place was deserted-no people, no

animals- and the only confirmed kill were a man who laid face-up near a pigpen at the center of the village.” (O’Brien 225). This quote really shows how O’Brien wants to show that he remembers everything from telling us all aspects of the picture and how he vividly describes many little details to show how he remembers everything. In The Things They Carried shows off that memory and clear cut details very clearly as an important theme in both, “The Things They Carried” and “The Lives of the Dead.”

Another theme that was well represented in The Things They Carried was loyalty to your people. In the short story “The Things They Carried” Jimmy cross shows his loyalty to the alpha company soldier who lost his life, even though he is just thinking that it is his fault. He lost his life, while thinking about Martha instead of paying full attention to the war. To show his admiration to him he burns letters and photographs. I think this is to how Jimmy Cross shows how he values loyalty to your friends and partners. In the book it said “He hated her. Yes, he did. He hated her. Love, too, but it was a hard, hating kind of love.” (O’Brien 24). This passage shows how he is putting his friends in front of his girlfriend because he thinks it’s his fault for thinking about her. This is show pure devotion to a person and putting her aside from thinking until the war is done with.

To show loyalty present in the short story, “The Lives of the Dead,” Tim O’Brien talks about his own respect for Linda even though she has passes away and died from a brain tumor. He shows admiration for how even though Nick embarrasses her, by pulling her hat off, she still stays strong. He is in love with her even though their only nine years old. To stay loyal to her, even though he knew she was sick and he knew she died, he still respected her. A line that is an epitome to show his admiration for her is “And as a writer

now, I want to save Linda’s life. Not her body-her life.” (O’Brien 236). This excerpt is telling how even though she passed away to show his loyalty to her he tries to revive her and make it seem as she is still there in everyone’s life. This affects him so dreadful that he even tries to purposely go to bed to revitalize her, so he can stand true to his allegiance to her.

These men weren’t any Joe the Plumbers, these men were physically and mentally powerful men. “They were though. They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die.” (O’Brien 21). It shows how people who have a really high risk of dieing still are strong and try their hardest to fight for our country to show their loyalty to us, the people of the United States of America. They have to go through the pain of suffering remembering all the gruesome and throbbing recollections. Loyalty and the pain that the men go through to remember all the painful memories and how vivid they are is everything a person can give up for his country and people.