The Vietnam War. A war that many Americans considered unjust and unnecessary. “Why am I sent to fight in a war I know nothing about?” Will I ever come back? Many conscripts have asked themselves these questions in hopes of finding comfort in the answers. But there was little to no hope, and they knew it. They were enlisted and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it, only hope that in the end they would find the enlightened faces of their loved ones, something few Vietnamese soldiers expected to ever see again. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, describes his experience of war alongside his fellow teammates, in their fight for survival against the Vietcong. In The Things They Carried, each character carries a physical or emotional weight, whether it's a memory, a story, or an object, to comfort and guide them in their struggle to find hope during the war. Tim O'Brien, the author, He undoubtedly carries the heaviest weight of any member of the team. He has first-hand experience of the period leading up to the war, as well as the brutalities of war and the difficult lives of soldiers after it ended. He shares his experience, allowing us to see another side of war that we are not usually exposed to through textbooks and media. Thanks to him, we discover the weights carried by the other soldiers and their importance. At the beginning of the story, O'Brien shares with us a time when he almost fled to Canada to avoid being drafted. It carries the memories of a man who was once unsure about war, but who became not only a soldier, but also a friend to the other soldiers who fought alongside him. He is able to keep them alive through his stories and memories, which is a medium for them while they fight the brutal war that was Vietnam. Tim O'Brien, the narrator, carries the most important of all objects, his ability to tell stories and recall his war memories, which he uses not only to teach us about war in the first person, but also to help keep the dead alive. While the weight of other characters such as that of Jimmy Cross and Mitchell Sanders may not be as crucial to the story, they are important in their own way. Cross carries the memories of his love Martha, who works with and against him during the war, while Sanders carries the full weight of the team through his loyalty and entertainment. The Things They Carried tells us not only a story of war, but also a story of men at war. We learn that all soldiers in war carry something crucial to either their survival or the survival of those around them..