Lieutenant Jimmy Cross burns Martha's letters after Ted Lavender's death, feeling guilty and responsible for Lavender's death due to his negligence. He believes his fixation on Martha distracts him from his duties. The act symbolizes his attempt to rid himself of distractions and focus on his responsibilities. Additionally, Cross's disillusionment with Martha's perceived love and innocence leads him to destroy the letters as an expression of his doubt and cynicism.

In *The Things They Carried*, the soldiers feared appearing weak or vulnerable more than death. They hid their fear and sadness with jokes and a "hard vocabulary," acting tough to avoid showing fear. Additionally, they feared causing the death of someone else and carried emotional baggage from the war, like Jimmy Cross, who felt guilty for Ted Lavender's death and feared losing more men.

Tim considers himself a coward for going to war in The Things They Carried because he is only going to evade the shame of being seen as unpatriotic or unmanly.

In The Things They Carried, Rat Kiley emotionally carries stories about the war, the responsibility for the lives of the men in the platoon, and the burden of witnessing violence and death.

In The Things They Carried, Ted Lavender carried tranquilizers before he was shot because he needed them to calm his fears. Afraid of being killed at any moment, the only way he could handle the trauma of war was by taking drugs.

Tim cannot forget his actions because he carries the burden of memory, particularly the deaths he witnessed, such as those of Kiowa and "The Man I Killed." Storytelling becomes his way to process guilt and share responsibility, turning "I" into "we." This collective catharsis helps him make sense of death and prevents him from dishonoring the dead and himself as a storyteller. Forgetting would undermine this shared experience and understanding.

The constant descriptions of weight in The Things They Carried enhance character development by illustrating the physical and psychological burdens soldiers face. These weights symbolize personal and emotional ties, like Kiowa's New Testament, reflecting each character's connection to home and identity. This duality of literal and metaphorical weight deepens the reader's understanding of the soldiers' experiences, emphasizing the personal significance of their carried items beyond mere military necessity.

The theme of burdens in "The Things They Carried" is illustrated through physical and emotional weights. Henry Dobbins carries the heavy M-16 machine gun and extra rations, symbolizing both physical burden and emotional responsibility for the unit's nourishment. Kiowa's Bible represents the burden of faith and heritage amidst war's chaos. Lieutenant Cross endures the emotional burden of guilt over Ted's death, highlighting how guilt remains a heavy, irrational burden that persists over time.

After killing the young man, the narrator is consumed by guilt and obsessively imagines the life of the dead soldier, envisioning him as a peaceful and educated individual who might have become a teacher. The narrator focuses on the soldier's potential and humanity, contrasting with the callous remarks of fellow soldier Azar. Despite Kiowa's attempts to reassure him, the narrator is overwhelmed by the sense of having taken a promising life.