Beginning of Essay
In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” detailed description and realism were used to capture the audience and draw them into the actual events in the story, allowing them to feel the burden of emotional and physical weight on the chara ....

Middle of Essay
.... the heaviest of all the things they carried, “They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die” (paragraph 77). The main characters in the story were First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and Martha, a college student who wrote to him. The story flowed from beginning to end, characterizing the changes in Jimmy Cross as he dealt with his emotions as well as the responsibility to the men in his platoon. In the beginning of the story he was depicted as a boyish leader with dreams of Martha being his escape from the senseless reality of the war. When one of his men was killed he accepted the responsibility and guilt, which changed him ....