The Things They Carried

So far in the book The Things They Carried there have been many forms of symbolism and even irony. I believe that Canada represents his perception of a better life. Right now, Tim does not believe in the war and does not want to be fighting in it. He believes that if he were to run away off to Canada he would be able to escape his fears and be able to live the life he wanted. The ironic part is, when O’Brien is given the chance to swim across the river and go to Canada, all he “could do was cry” (O’Brein 57). He feels like a coward and a failure for trying to skip out on his duties. By trying to decide whether or not to go to Canada, he was faced with the decision whether or not to “swim away from [his] hometown and [his] country and [his] life” (O’Brein 57). He is given the chance to escape his fear of going to war and dying for a cause he doesn’t believe in, but he doesn’t take this opportunity because he is afraid of what others back home will think of him. I also think that Martha is another subject that symbolizes each of the soldier’s lives back home. Even though Martha is specific to the Lieutenant’s heart and mind, she is able to represent the lives of each of the soldiers left back home. Even though she wasn’t much apart of his life before the war, “he still loved her” and she has always been apart of his heart and she is always on his mind (O’Brein 28).

O'Brein, Tim. The Things They Carried. United States of America: Broadway Books, 1990. Print