Every human being feels just as much emotion as the other human being, whether it is sorrow, happiness, or anger. Tim O' Briens characters each carry their own things that stay deep within their thoughts and emotions; these things are both literal and figurative. They all carried universal items such as their rifles and ammunition. Another universal thing they carried was their memories.
             The war was a lonely place to be at. One of the literal things the men carried were pictures. The men would carry pictures of their loved ones with them all the time and often would stare at them for a long period of time. Many of the men would get different emotions by looking at the pictures; some felt happy, others felt sad; others began to worry by wondering if the girl back home is being faithful to him.
             The figurative thing these men carried was emotional burdens. Among these emotional burdens were guilt, embarrassment, and cowardice. One line Tim O' Brien states in his novel is, "Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to." These soldiers were still children; they were sons, students, and boyfriends; all naive. They didn't know how to react to their fellow soldiers' deaths. The priority feeling they have though is they are happy to still be alive.
             Another thing the men carried with them was fear. This was something they could not show, not to his fellow men and definitely not to the enemies. These men had a reputation to keep; showing any sign of fear could change the whole outcome of the war. They had to keep a straight face, no matter what burden they felt deep inside, even if it went beyond fear.
             After the war, the burdens the men carried during the war continued to stay with them and perhaps become worse. The ones who survived felt guilt, grief, and lost. Every man carries a burden with him no matter where he may go. There is no running away from wha
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