Honors English Language ArtsTim O'Brien employs the author's elements of symbolism, theme, and style in his book The Things They Carried. In The Things They Carried, symbolism is an element of the book. The whole book revolves around these symbols. The symbols shown in this book are the things that each person carried. At the beginning of the book, the narrator, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, explains to readers what each person carries with them and how each item is important in one way or another. For the narrator, the important objects he carried were letters from Marthe. Martha is his love. He also carries his photos. Lieutenant Cross greatly appreciated these items. He rereads the letters every evening and looks at his photos every evening. The author uses it well, putting the symbols in the title of the book. “First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was carrying letters from a young girl named Martha, a student at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey...he kept them folded in plastic in the bottom of his backpack. At the end of the afternoon, after a day of walking, he dug his burrow, washed his hands under...