"The Things They Carried" - Shannon Walsh (Week 6)

The narrator habitually uses lists throughout the story. “Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes…” (367).  This repetitive nature of the author works to stress to the reader just how much the characters are actually carrying. Rather than simply stating that they are carrying a lot of things, the author specifically names each item in extended lists, so as to emphasize the great bulk and actual weight of things that they bear in their bags.  

Within the lists, the author often names a long list of many tangible objects followed by an intangible idea. After extensively listing the many types of weapons the characters carried, he ends with, “They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried” (371). After naming the personal items each character carries such as photos of loved ones, he ends this list with, “They all carried ghosts” (372). This technique works not only to show the actual things that they carry, but the psychology and emotion that the characters feel associated with these objects. As they carried weapons, they feel a powerful yet scared. As they carried their personal things, they feel homesick and haunted by the thought of perhaps never returning home.