The Things They Carried: Writing Assignment

Assignment: In a brief narrative, write about the kinds of things you carry. Think and write about what these things say about you. You can use physical and non-physical things… but you have to be specific.

My Response:

            Everyone carries things with them through their day to day live. While some are common like cellphones, keys and wallets, others are more “out of the box” like the pair of pantyhose that Henry Dobbins carried in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. There are also the burdens that people carry on their shoulders that you can’t actually see. For example, people may carry the death of a love one or their fears. The things that people carry are unique to that specific person. Which begs the question: What is it that I carry?

            One thing that I almost always have on me is a novel of some sort. At almost any given time, I have at least one, but normally two or three, books on my person. The genre doesn’t make a difference to me. I’ll happily devour anything from The Book Thief to the Harry Potter series to The Art of Racing in the Rain. I enjoy having a portable getaway into a different reality at my fingertips and books certainly fulfill that.

            Another thing I carry with me are my goals for the future and my determination to reach (and possibly exceed) them. For about four years now, I’ve had the outline of a plan for myself. I hope to graduate my high-school with as many accomplishments that I can possibly get my hands on and hope to land myself a ranking in the top ten of my class. This along with numerous other paddings to my college application (including being the statistics manager for three sports, holding a summer job working with children and my involvement in a number of clubs and societies) will hopefully get me accepted to a good university. I’m not looking to go Ivy League, of course, because that isn’t a practicality. However, I want to attend a nice, respectable college. From there, it’s my dream to study abroad in England, a place I’ve always had an urge to live in, even if it’s just for a semester. After I graduate with a major in English and possibly a minor in business, my dream career would be as a literary agent or editor. These goals and my determination to fulfill them are something I carry with me daily to motivate me.

             One more thing that I normally have on me is my opinions. While I can easily come off as quiet at first, that’s just a ruse. When I find something that I think is worth speaking up about, I quickly find my voice. However, I’ll always listen to other people and their differing opinions, but it’s normally just so I can inform them that they’re wrong afterwards. I can be quite stubborn with my opinions and a bit argumentative, but, in my defense, I’m normally right in the end. However, on the rare occasion that I’m wrong, I accept defeat gallantly.

            Finally, I always have jewelry on me in the form of my ring and my bracelets. The ring is something I’ve had for five or six years now. My mother and I have matching ones after an incident where I lost mine, bought a new one and then someone returned the original one. Since I wasn’t going to wear two identical rings, I gave one to my mum (which she paid me back for) and I wear the original one and haven’t taken it off since getting it back. It’s a beautiful silver ring with a blue stone. It’s important to me because I earned it with my own money from baby-sitting, it reminds me of my mother and I like what the color blue symbolizes (like trust, honesty, sincerity and many other things. I’m also almost always wearing an array of bracelets (and if I’m not wearing them then you can assume I woke up late). This includes a few Harry Potter ones and a Doctor Who one. I also have two Alex and Ani bracelets, one from my aunt and one from my boyfriend that he gave me for Valentine’s Day. Finally, I have a thick leather bracelet which is a part of a pair. My boyfriend has the other one. These are important to me because they symbolize many things that I value like my family, boyfriend and my longtime love for books and certain television shows.

            I don’t carry much, but the things I do carry are very precious and meaningful to me. I think it’s also safe to say that they’re unique to me and I won’t find someone else carrying the same load. In conclusion, the things that are always with me are books, my jewelry, my goals, determination and opinions.