Josephine Surer. The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, is a story that emphasizes just how young and unexperienced the soldiers were for the war. The point of view shifts between a third person view of Jimmy Cross's personal view and the troupe's view as a whole. Jimmy Cross' love for a girl comes off as sweet and romantic for the reader, but when Rat Kiley dies because of Cross' inadvertence, the tone shifts to a more dry and serious one. The reader then realizes, just like the lieutenant, the cost of a life and how easily it can be lost. There, The Things They Carried underlines the value of life and the constant fear of death soldiers felt during the war. "They had no sense of strategy or mission.[...] They carried their own lives. The pressures were enormous." (376-377)