“The Things They Carried” In the short story “The Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien faces Jimmy Cross with the problem of surviving while fighting in Vietnam. While trying to maintain his sanity, Jimmy struggles between his old self and the person he has to become. Jimmy has to make some difficult decisions while in his tour, and most of them come to his attention after his friend Ted Lavender is killed. Jimmy’s main …showed first 75 words of 811 total…

…showed last 75 words of 811 total…had died he should not feel relieved that it was not he who had taken the fatal bullet, but sorrow and grief. Even though Kiowa had a serious internal battle to fight, Jimmy had it worse. “He felt shame. He heated himself. He had loved Martha more then his men, and as a consequence Lavender was dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone for the rest of the war."