Book ReviewIn The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien tells the story not of war, but rather of the effect of war on mentality of each person. Ultimately, this novel is built on the basis of the objects that soldiers carried in the Vietnam War. Whether it's the way Jimmy Cross uses the rock to escape his duties as a soldier or when Norman Bowker realizes that courage comes from within and not from receiving a Silver Star; O'Brien uses baggage as a symbol throughout the book to teach that war actually changes people. These goods were not just materialistic, they constituted the attributes of the soldiers, constituted the personality of the soldiers, and constituted the soldier. As the story begins, we are introduced to Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. Cross is in love with a girl named Martha and carries letters and photos she sent him. He also carries a lucky pebble he received from Martha and dreams of her during their long walks. One day the lieutenant and his men are passing through Than Kale, Cross's daydream distracting him as usual, when Ted Lavender is shot in the head and killed. The men “transported” Lavender to a helicopter. The emotional baggage they all carried was what they most wanted to put down. Jimmy Cross bears responsibility for his men and blames himself for the death of Ted Lavender. O'Brien is the most complex character in the novel, especially since he has three different stages of development. O'Brien the writer/narrator, "O'Brien" the soldier, and Timmy O'Brien the young boy all possess different thoughts and emotional understandings, each in tension with the others. Part of O'Brien's goal as a writer/narrator is to highlight these tensions. For example, each of these characters approaches the concept of death differently. Timmy learned to accept death at a very young age; soldier "O'Brien" attempts to reclaim this lesson to face death in war; The writer O'Brien connects these two approaches, emphasizing the importance of memory in his ultimate understanding of death. This type of connection and understanding of death and loss arises from the conflict he feels as he attempts to reconcile these different phases of his life. The conflict between the three different "O'Briens" manifests itself in pain and guilt, two qualities that paradoxically motivate him..