In the story “The Things They Carried”, Tim O'Brien shows through characters the difficulty of being a soldier in times of war. The setting of the story is set during the Vietnam War in the 1970s. O'Brien based the story on the struggles these soldiers faced during that time, both physically and emotionally. While O'Brien mentions all the heavy physical loads soldiers have to carry during war, it's easy to say that the emotional loads were heavier for them to bear; for example, fear, love and loneliness. O'Brien shows that these thoughts of fear and loneliness may be more dangerous than the enemy, in this case the Vietnamese soldiers. Jimmy Cross, a character in the story, is a good example of anything that soldiers carry with them can be called a symbol; for example, all heavy and basic military items such as ammunition, firearms and personal items are symbols of everything a soldier needs to survive in wartime. Furthermore, these men carry emotional objects; for example, one of them wears his girlfriend's underwear around his neck, apparently wearing it for good luck and also to remind him that even if he is isolated somewhere in Vietnam, there is someone waiting for him at home. Another always carries a Bible with him, which shows that he is a religious man; the Bible also reminds him of his family as it was a gift from his father. Jimmy Cross carries with him photos, letters and a pebble that Martha sent him; which symbolizes how much he loves her and misses her, even though she has no feelings for him. O'Brien shows through symbolism how different each of them is from each other, but at the same time shows that no matter how different they are, they all need to carry something important or valuable in order to live.