The Things They Carried Part 1

Anna Lacy

Trauma

March 24, 2014

The Things They Carried Part 1

Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried, takes a psychological look at the things carried, both 

physically and mentally, by the people in his platoon during the Vietnam war. For the first three 

chapters O’Brien tells small stories of events that occurred between him and his platoon, while 

mentioning the items they were carrying. He mentioned items such as flak jackets and lead helmets to

 candy and supplies that different ranks carried. The way that O’Brien describes the different supplies 

allows the reader to learn a little each character. For instance, when talking about the medic Rat Kiley,

 O’Brien states, “[he] carried a canvas satchel filled with morphine and plasma and malaria tablets and 

surgical tape and comic books and all the things a medic myst carry, including M&M’s for especially 

bad wounds, for a total weight of nearly 18 pounds” (O’Brien 5). The small details about Kiley such as 

that he carried comic books and M&M allow Kiley to become more than simply a made up character 

but a person who really lived and sympathized with people who suffered injuries by giving them 

chocolate to comfort them. The fact that Kiley carried comic books with him shows that he is still a kid 

at heart, these are not grown men tromping through the forest but young boys who have barley 

graduated high school and still have interest in youthful things such as comic books.