The Things They Carried Responses by Bryan C

For me, In The Things They Carried the passage about what the men carried as superstitious 'good luck' charms (on page 13) envokes the most vivid scene for the readers' imagination.This passage goes into great detail about Norman Booker who" otherwise a very gentle person, carried a thumb that had been presented to him as a gift". The passage gives you every minute detail about how this thumb came into his possesion. Perhaps the most vivid line of all, O'Brien writes "Smiling,he kicked the boy's head, watched the flies scatter, and said, It's like with that old TV show-- Paladin. Have gun, will Travel".

The central character in The Things They Carried was First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. Throughout the chapter, the author fixates on Lt. Cross' quest for love with a college girl named Martha and his blind obsession with her. Ultimately, he does not get Martha. Instead, Cross ends up blaming himself for getting one of his druggie soldiers, Lavender, who is killed because of what Cross believes was a tactical error.

An object that stands out to me in The Things They Carried is Ted Lavenders head, which is more or less blasted off his shoulders by an enemy sniper. O'Brien writes about Lavender's dead head, no pun intended, "He lay with his mouth open. The teeth were broken. Ther was a swollen black bruise under is left eye. The cheekbone was gone".