Is the chronological order important in the telling a story? In the case of Tim O'Brien's "The things they carried", it is not. The story is told in an middle, beggining, end pattern that is interupted from time to time by the storyteller to inform the reader of the random things as well as the manditory things the soldiers had to carry. While the main plot is about the letters and memories that first lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried. While he also tells the reader about what the other men carry the focus of the story keeps bringing the reader back to Cross. Tim O'Brien does an excellent job of showing the reader the pain and confussion that Cross carries. The way that Cross burns the letters at the end of the story to try and end the daydreams and memories of dear sweet Martha shows the reader the dedication Cross has for his men. The fact that O'Brien keeps inturupting the main plot line to inform the readers of the day to day things the troops have to carry or "hump" across the Vietman country side. I find his use of this technique made the story more interesting to read. It also gave a glimps into the characters true personalities by just naming one thing that each of the characters carried as well as the things they had to carry. From Ted Lavenders need to carry Tranquilizers, to Kiowa carring his father hatchet, to the weapons, rations, and toiletries they all carried. Out of the three short stories I found this one the easiest to read.
        "A worn Path", by Eudora Welty takes you back to the turn of the century and puts you into the mind set of an elderly negro lady. While the story stays on a strick timeline that follows the main character for a short time in her day on her trip into the city to retrieve medicine for her ill son, it leaves the reader trying to put themselves into the mind set of the main character. Phoenix is very set in her ways and very needy. The fact that she noticed the nickel hit the ground out in the woods shows the reader that she was poor and that she was not use to seeing much money pass through her hands. In the end of the story when Phoenix states, "I going to the store and buy my child a little windmill they sell," shows her divotion to her child. Giving the reader the insite that even though she is poor her child was more important to herself.