"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien is about soldiers in the Vietnam War. O'Brien tells us about the lives of these soldiers by describing the types of items they carried in their packs. He tells about the personal items, like Jimmy's pictures of Martha, and Ted's dope, and even Kiowa's grandfather's hunting hatchet. Mixed in with the items, O'Brien puts in internal thoughts or feelings. For example, O'Brien writes: "... Kiowa also carried his grandmother's distrust of the white man...." He also writes, "They carried the weight of memory."
             At the end of the story Lieutenant Cross burned the two photographs and the letters that Martha had sent him. He does this for two reasons. First I believe that he was beginning to come to grips with the fact that Martha didn't feel the same way about him, as he did about her. As Cross told himself, "No more fantasies." This says that he is beginning to understand either that he has this notion that she doesn't love him, or that these thoughts are distracting him.
             I believe that the burning of the pictures is symbolic of the war. The war was long. As Cross stated about his men, "Among the men there would be grumbling, of course, and maybe worse, because their days would seem longer and their loads heavier...." The picture burning symbolized the fact that the war was draining the men of who they were. Taking things from them, that it no one could put back. By Cross burning the picture he was taking a distraction, a memory, out of his life so that he could concentrate on the war, that he was fighting.
             Overall, I thought that this story was the best one that we have read so far. I thought the author let the reader think a lot about what is going on. At the same time, he lead you down the path of the story, telling you what you needed to hear, so that you can shape visions i...