In “The Things They Carried” each soldier had a few items that were not on the list of required things that they carried along. Each item symbolized something important to them that they decided was worth carrying the extra weight. Jimmy Cross carried some pictures and letters that symbolize his love for a girl. For Ted Lavender he carried tranquilizers and six to seven ounces of premium dope. Kiowa carried a bible given to him by his father and hatred for the white man bestowed upon him by his grandmother. Each of these men had unique items that symbolize something about their character and personality.
Ted Lavenderwas no exception to carrying extra items on the field with him, but in his case the items were slightly different. Lavender carried both medical and illegal drugs, and he also carried extra ammunition. The only mentions of Lavender in the story are talking about how he is either scared, or how he just took a tranquilizer. These extra items that he is carrying help to symbolize his personality. It makes mention of how the drugs were a necessity for Lavender. Most people that use drugs use them because they are trying to escape reality. In Lavender’s case he was trying to escape the fact that he was fighting in a war. Eventually Lavender wonders off to use the restroom, and on his way back gets shot. After Lavender is shot the squad starts to take all of his items off, and sees that he is carrying nine extra grenades for a launcher, and the maximum amount of clips for his gun. Each extra grenade is said to weigh an additional 10 ounces, so between all of the extra ammunition Lavender had a lot of extra weight. The ammo is just another symbol that shows us that he really is very worried about being in Vietnam. All in all, everything extra that Lavender carries along with him shows that he was scared to be in the battlefield.
In “The Things They Carried” each individual in the group carried items that no one else had. Jimmy Cross carried items from...