TTTC

So far, I have enjoyed reading The Things They Carried. I have seen some reoccurring themes. I'm not completely sure how I will angle my essay or what theme and purpose I will go with to support my ideas, but I think if the themes I am beginning to see continue as I keep reading and exploring the book, I could possibly base my essay off of them.

Here they are:

1) The first and most obvious one is that all the soldiers are carrying extreme amounts of emotional baggage. Not only are the soldiers in each section carrying a bunch of stuff like different weapons, ponchos, jackets, sleeping stuff and what not but they are also carrying excess emotional baggage too. Each soldier has some kind of hidden secret. It could be love, grief, fear, or just the feeling of giving up. One soldier carries his girlfriends pantyhose with him, which is just a symbol of his love that he is carrying with him everyday. I'm sure more examples will come up in the novel as I continue reading.

2) Another possible theme idea could be how soldiers were forced to go to war when they did not want to be there. The narrator talks about how if he just shot off his toe he coul be transported in a helicopter back to the "real world". Instea of being in the action an anger all the time, he could just get it over with by hurting himself. However, no soldier would carry out this plan becasuse they would not want that reputation. They are looked at as brave men who are fighint for their country. If they went home on purpose, they would look like cowards to their fellow soldiers. This topic could be interesting because you could talk about differences between the raft and the freedom to choose to go to war.

3) One last idea I have is it really seems like the author makes it seem like war causes unwanted anger to all soldiers so they are constantly trying to find ways to release it. Almost like the author overreacts.

Well, those are a couple of topic ideas that I see happening in the book. If you have any more or anything to add please feel free.