Shoebox

O’Brien sets the mood and introduces us to the characters, their backgrounds, and their general psychology by listing the things they carried with them into war. There are, of course, the tools for war; the guns, ammunition, armor, and food rations. However, each man carries with him much more than that. Each man carries, standard issue, a shoebox of lies full of totems that remind him of life back home. Unfortunately, in each case the totem represents the lies the man is telling himself. Each photo, letter, rock, rabbit foot and pair of pantyhose is almost completely detached from the reality of each man’s life. War is hell, and the soldiers in “The Things They Carried” have each idealized life back home. They have built their own false version of heaven, built from the materials in their shoebox of lies:

Was it something I said, or was it something you read
That's making me think that I should never have come here
I can offer you lies, I can tell you good-bye,
I can tell you I'm sorry, But I can't tell you the truth, dear
And what if I could - would it do any good?
You'll still never get to see the contents of My shoe box
Shoe box of lies
Shoe box
Shoe box of lies