The Things We Carry There is a great novel about Vietnam written by Tim O’Brien. It’s called “The Things They Carried,” and one of the main themes is the superstitious ways soldiers dealt with the war. In his essay, “Thoughts on The Things They Carried,” Jason Voegele writes, "The things that the soldiers carry with them are both tangible and intangible items and what these things are depends upon the individual soldier. They carry the basic "necessities" for survival (if one can consider suc...