Martha's Presence, and Absence: A Critical Analysis of the Role of Women in The Things They Carried Anonymous College

Although female characters play a small role in The Things They Carried, it is a significant one. Women such as Martha affect the men of the Alpha Company by providing them with emotional ties that anchor these soldiers to reality as they make their ways through the hellish state of war. The soldiers all idealize these women and use their presence (in letters, photographs, and even their imagination) as a comfort and source of solace that grounds them to humanity as a reminder that a world does exist outside the atrocities of Vietnam.Within the book The Things They Carried, the stories of the male soldiers and their dealings with the Vietnam War often delve into the stories of the women and how they affected the soldiers during the war such as with Lieutenant Cross and Martha. While the men dealt with the horrors of Vietnam, the women were right at their side in a spiritual sense or literal sense. These soldiers did not think of these women as people with thoughts, fears, and needs but instead view them as motivation to survive the war. The novel begins with with the things Lieutenant Cross carries with him during the war, the most important item(s) being letters from Martha. Martha’s introduction on the very first page of the...