In the novel, The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, many characters in the book are portrayed by their personality and what their important values were. Being in the war, O’Brien explains that they go through both emotional and physical burdens. Through this, they learn to gain individuality in addition to making the right choices for themselves. It’s clear that they did not want to be a part of or fight in this war, however decisions were made and they took responsibilities upon themselves. These men all met and lost people who were important to them and somehow learned to move on. There is so much individuality shown in the first few chapters alone. O’Brien tells small stories within the book and describes each character to depict to his audience their individuality and how it develops.
Individuality is greatly portrayed in the very first chapter in the book, “The Things They Carried.” O’Brien goes into detail with each character and explains what each person puts in their backpacks and what they carry, for example one kept a pebble under their tongue or one wore stocking around their neck. Each person carried different things based on what they valued the most, which sets them apart from each other. They all have a different story and have different things that are important to themselves or where they’re from. In addition to these ‘things,’ they carried an emotional burden. There are definitely times when they had to mourn over men who had died. O’Brien states that “by and large they carried these things inside, maintaining the masks of composure.” This implies what you see on the outside is not necessarily how they feel emotionally on the inside. These men were tough and they had to stay strong. Although they carried things that were meaningful to them, these men most likely did not want to be at war. However, they are all brave and took responsibility while holding things close to them that made them feel safe. Each person has their own meaningful item which holds a story. This persuades to his audience how these men felt while they were drafted. In addition, it shows that even though they were far away from home, they were each able to hold on to something that was important to them.
Being away from home and close friends and family members is hard. O’Brien mentions an important lady, Martha, in Lieutenant Cross’s life while he’s away from home. He keeps things that remind him of her such as the notes, pictures, and the pebble. They wrote letters to each other and at the end of them she always signed “Love, Martha.” However, he knew not to take it personal because he felt that she did not mean it and he did not want to get his hopes up. While grieving for Lavender, his problem was also about Martha, “because he realized she did not love him and never would” (20). This quote implies that Cross comes to realize that Martha will never have the same love he does for her. After losing Lavender, he realizes that he cares and need to be there for his fellow men. Although it was definitely hard for Lieutenant Cross, he finally sees Martha as a distraction and that it is not okay anymore because he is fighting to survive and the only way to do so is to be focused. He starts to show his individuality here because he is learning to move on and trying to get his priorities straight. War is a dangerous place and having distractions could put you in a fatal position.
Individuality also means finding yourself and making your own decisions. Most of the stories that O’Brien writes often shows who the character is and what actions they take when there is a problem. In the chapter, “On the Rainy River,” O’Brien describes his thoughts on deciding whether he wanted to flee the country or just go in to war. As anyone would be, O’Brien states that “I feared the war, yes, but I also feared exile. I was afraid of walking away from my own life, my friends and my family, my whole history, everything that mattered to me. I feared losing the respect from my parents” (37). O’Brien cared about what his parents thought, but also what he was going to lose. This shows that he valued many things in his life and it was time for him to take his own responsibilities and make his own decisions. Although he was young, being drafted makes you become more independent because you will be away from home for a while and have to care for yourself. He repeatedly uses the word ‘fear’ to emphasize his feelings as he decides whether or not he should go to war. His individuality starts to develop at this stage in life because this a big decision to make and he has to take responsibility for it. He cares what his parents might think, but it is also a decision for himself. The diction and tone O’Brien used in these sentences portrays a sense of fear, hence the repetition, and he feels as if he did not choose to go, he would somehow regret it.
Although it seems that an individual would be responsible for only themselves, there are times when you’re responsible for others. In another character, Dave Jensen’s case, he was put in a position where he felt responsible for his friend and it was a big burden on him. He had just started to get along with one of his ‘enemies,’ Lee Strunk. They built up trust and worked together. During this time, they had made a promise that if one was ever badly injured, the other would put them out of their misery and kill them. Strunk’s leg got blown off and he then told Jensen, “Jesus, man, don’t kill me…swear it to me- swear you won’t kill me”(50). This is when Jensen felt he was responsible. He did not want to kill his friend, but it was part of the promise they made. After Strunk had passed away, Jensen was relieved “of an enormous weight” (50). Jensen probably had many emotions and thoughts going on in his head and he did not know what to do. The fact that he felt relieved implies that he held a huge burden on himself and that he felt responsible for Strunk’s death. This also makes the audience wonder what is morally right or wrong in a situation like this. Jensen does not have to feel as if he killed his friend, but he did break the promise that they had between them. He was losing one of his friends and he did not want to feel responsible for him. Losing someone is already a hard and sensitive situation, let alone knowing that he begged for him not to kill him. During war, one would mostly care for themselves and fight to stay alive. However, for Jensen, he cared for Strunk too.
Each individual is important to the book in that they are all unique in their own way. O’Brien portrays each character in the first chapter and tells their stories. It becomes significant because everyone is different and goes through different things. Individuality is portrayed in the book through the characters’ thoughts and actions of and how they handle certain situations. Throughout the book, different characters show their own ways of thinking and significance. Aside from just theirselves, some characters such as Jensen, are not only responsible for themselves, but also put in a position where they were responsible for others. They all have their own roles in the book and the most important one for most characters is being able to stay strong and survive the war.