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The Things They Carried Intangible Analysis

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The power of intangible things we carry Throughout our lives we hold on to many things close to us whether they are tangible or intangible. Tim O’Brien writes about each soldier and how they all have tangible and intangible things they carry. People carry numerous things mainly personal items for instances letters, pictures, clothing, jewelry, and other affectionate tangible items. Other intangible items that were carried include guilt, shame, and fear. Every soldier was affected by the things they carried. In The Things They Carried Lieutenant Jimmy Cross would daydream about his love Martha, Keeping her letters and reading them repeatedly, and Staring at her picture everyday. He carried his love and passion for Martha with him everyday even thought he was positive that the feelings were not returned Jimmy cross showed true examples of tangible and intangible …show more content…

The two men were Dave Jensen and Lee Struck, from The Things They Carried, they got into a fistfight over a stolen jackknife. After the fight they became friends who later made a pact. The pact was if one of them got injured in a way that life would be a chore they would put them out of misery and shot the one who is injured. Lee Struck ended up stepping on a rigged motor which ended up him losing his leg from the impact. Dave ran to Strucks side after the explosion which ended up having Lee beg Jensen not to kill him. Jensen listened to Struck and did not shot him which caused Dave to have much guilt for not keeping his role in the pact. Struck was taken into a chopper in which he had died later on his own. Dave Jensen had a sense of relief that he did not have to kill struck or struggle with his choice of breaking the pact, but with relief came extreme guilt that rained over him. Jensen had felt shame and guilt for not keeping his pact with Struck and letting him die a painful

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