"The Things They Carried," by Tim O'Brien, contains many references to
"possessions of character." Many things Lt. Cross carries were
carried by all, including: military equipment, stationery, photographs,
diseases, food, the land of Vietnam itself, their lives, and even more.
O'Brien highlights these along with special things that Lt. Jimmy
Cross carries. He, thus, reveals something of what Cross values.
Belongings reflect his character and thoughts. "Grief, terror, love,
longing--these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass
and specific gravity, they had tangible weight."
Lt. Jimmy Cross carries letters and a pebble from Martha, a girl whom
he cares about greatly, but she does not share the same emotions for
him. He carries these things to remind him of her, of his feelings for
her. At the end of every day he ritually unwraps them and reads them.
These letters are light in weight, only ten ounces, but prove to be a
heavy burden. Above all, he carries the responsibility for the lives
of his men. He is dreaming when Lavender is shot, and so he blames
himself for it. Lavender's death was something which "He would have to
carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war." He does
not always pay attention to what is most important, his men. Lt. Jimmy
Cross burns all of Martha's letters at the end of the story, trying to
forget her, to erase the memory. Still, he carries her in his mind
along with the haunting memory that she was not involved. Martha is
just a part of the technicalities now, he bids her farewell in his mind
and decides to rid himself of the pebble. He is past his days of
dreaming and hoping. Everything that Lt. Cross carries has more
physical weight than those letters, but none were more of a burden to
him.
Everything that Jimmy Cross carries bears more physical weight than
the letters. Nothing, however, seems to be nearly as much of a burden.
Cross is an ignorant young man going into the war. Lavender's death
and everything going on around him opens his eyes to the immediate
dangers. What he has, both inside and outside, have kept him from
realizing this. "His obligation was not to be loved but to lead."

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