Lieutenant Jimmy Cross In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

But he was not there. He was buried with Martha under the white sand at the Jersey Shore. They were pressed together… yet he could not bring himself to worry about matters of security.”(Things they Carried Novel) Lieutenant Cross should have been focusing on his duties and this quote shows that while he was looking into the tunnel he thinks about Martha and him being buried. This demonstrates and shows that he shouldn’t be focusing on Martha while Ted lavender was previously shot, Cross has to be more mindful of where he currently was and he clearly has to understand that if Cross kept daydreaming about Martha then little could we find out that instead of Ted Lavender possibly dieing Cross could’ve possibly died with Ted at that time. In reality many people can be relatable to how Cross was clearly lost in his thoughts. In the Bloom’s guide of pg.22 a quote shows an example of how Jimmy cross was just lost in processes of thinking. “The episode goes on to detail the optimistic detachments of the letter and how, to Jimmy, they become unintentional love letters. Some nights, sitting in his foxhole, holding he pictures in his fingers, he imagines a complete life with Martha, a life antithetical to the experience he was undergoing”

Martha is the first women we meet in the book. She is pretty much the typical stay at home war girl. She writes letters to Lt. Jimmy Cross, they met at a college in New Jersey but nothing sparked between them besides a friendship. There isn't any hope of them ever being together but Jimmy Cross still thinks about her constantly everyday. In one particular letter she sends him a good-luck-pebble. "Martha wrote that she had found the pebble on the Jersey shoreline and carried it in her breast pocket for several days" (8). Jimmy Cross reads the letter spends hours wondering who she was at the beach with, if she was with a man, if they were a couple. When the women sent letters home, it really helped keep the morale of the soldier's. Although Martha continues to kind of mislead Jimmy when she signs the letters "love." "Ted Lavender was shot in the head on his way back from peeing. He lay with his mouth open" (12).

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was a character with many layers that he never actually showed. He had emotions that he kept inside him, and he was never truly focused on the war. He rarely talked to the other soldiers about how he felt about the war. Cross was burdened with responsibility and guilt. He blamed himself for the death of his soldiers, and he blamed himself for Martha not loving him the way he loved her. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a important character that is seriously affected by the war, and has conflicted

One of the most overlooked aspects in the life of a soldier is the weight of the things they carry. In Tim O'Brien's story, "The Things They Carried," O'Brien details the plight of Vietnam soldiers along with how they shoulder the numerous burdens placed upon them. Literally, the heavy supplies weigh down each soldier -- but the physical load imposed on each soldier symbolizes the psychological baggage a soldier carries during war. Though O'Brien lists the things each soldier carries, the focal point centers around the leader, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, and his roles in the war. Lt. Cross has multiple burdens, but his emotional baggage is

Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” is an interesting story that takes place during the Vietnam War. O’Brien writes in third person omniscient and is only in the head of the main character; First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. In the story O’Brien describes not only the physical baggage each soldier carries, but hints at the emotional baggage as well. With this, readers get to see exactly what goes on in the soldier’s minds, but also Cross’s mind and what kind of character he is. Throughout the story Cross confesses profusely about loving Martha, who in return doesn’t see him as a lover but a friend. Martha is Cross’s friend and crush who constantly writes to him. Because Cross is so infatuated with Martha, she clouds his mind almost 24/7. In the beginning of the story all Cross could think of is Martha, however because of this he

When the author is talking about “Lavender”, he is referring to a soldier that had passed away in battle with Lt. Cross. As the writer is stating that Cross cares more about Martha, he is showing how Cross let his thoughts get in his way of protecting his men. Cross will have to live with the account of Lavender dying, but soon will have to move on. As the war goes on, the true meaning of war has no moral, so they are concluding that they are fighting for no reason. The author writes, “A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, not suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done” (O’Brien 65). During the war, men are forced to shoot enemies, but some are not ready for that emotionally. Cross is faced with killing an enemy each day due to his position. This is an adversity because he is killing someone and removing them from the earth and also committing a crime, but for one’s country. Bravery plays a role when it comes to fighting and having to risk your life in certain conditions. O’Brien writes, “He wished he could have explained some of this. How he had been braver than he ever thought

In the story The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien shows the reader a sense of depressing love. O’Brien uses the physical weight carried by the soldiers as a motif for the emotional burdens they must endure while fighting in Vietnam. A love of which is portrayed in the story with a soldier loving a woman more than his fellow soldiers. But this woman does not love him in the same way. O’Brien uses many literary devices throughout the story, and shall be covered in this text. The tone in the text is very prevalent, and O’Brien gives the reader easy access to find and understand them.

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is sent to war, but is leaving behind someone he loves. Jimmy is in love with Martha, but the love between them isn’t the same. Jimmy loves her and would wish to marry her, but Martha doesn’t love him in the same way and doesn’t want to be with him. Jimmy carries photographs of Martha with him at all times. Martha is consistently on his mind, which distracts him from his duties in the military. One day, the men are out in combat and as always, Jimmy is thinking about Martha. Ted Lavender is scared of the war and carries 34 rounds of ammo with him. While they were out in combat, Lavender gets shot, collapses, and dies. Lieutenant Cross emerged from daydreaming and felt the pain of Lavenders death. He came to realize he was to blame for the death of Ted

He begins by explaining that Jimmy Cross has an obsession, and her name is Martha. “First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack” (pg. 1, line 1). Although Jimmy Cross wished they were love letters he would still continue to go crazy about them. ”He would sometimes taste the envelope flaps, knowing her tongue had been there.” (pg.1, line 9) Jimmy Cross could not wait to see Martha as he continued to constantly have her on his mind. While constantly thinking about Martha, Lavender continues to be briefly mentioned then after, Jimmy Cross starts blaming himself for the death of Lavender, but the platoon knows they must move on, as the emotional effect of this story begins to lean towards the physical state of mind on the war, such as the weapons and explosives. This starts to calm down the narrator and his emotional level, however the constant reminder of not seeing Lavender, triggers his emotions and finally continues to bring up more detail about what happened after the death. This brings out the more emotional side of the story and the narrator explains what Lieutenant Cross thinks about the death of Lavender since he could not stop thinking

Jimmy was the platoon leader, which meant he was responsible for his men. Often Jimmy was distracted by his fantasy love life, this resulted in sloppy behavior – they didn’t check for mines, enemy traps, etc. While Jimmy was busy thinking about his fantasies Ted went out of their “camp” to use the restroom. As he was walking back he was shot in the back of the head causing an instant death. Although this was not directly Jimmy’s fault, he blames himself for it and will forever carry an emotional burden.

In the first chapter in the book, titled The Things They Carried, Jimmy Cross is one of the many examples throughout the novel in where a soldier has a way to escape from the realities of war. Cross, who is a lieutenant in his company, carries two photographs of a girl named Martha whom he truly loves and wishes nothing else but to be with her in the end. Along with the photographs, he carries letters from Martha herself as well as her good-luck pebble in his mouth. Martha’s letters has a huge impact on Cross’s escape on reality because those letters do not mention war at all but for him to stay safe. All of these items comforts Cross and eventually reminisce about the times when he was back home with Martha away from any war. He relives a moment when he was with Martha at the movies, and then remembers that he touched her knee but Martha did not approve and pushed his hands away. Now while he’s in Vietnam, he does nothing but fantasizes taking her to her bed, tying her up, and touching that one knee knee all night long.

Jimmy's transformation begins when he decides to burn the pictures and letters of his girlfriend, Martha. To be a leader in war was meaningless to Jimmy Cross compared to the love he had for Martha. Cross' subsequent burning of Martha's letters suggests that he's determined to put such romantic ideas behind him. He repeatedly convinces himself that there will be no more fantasies about Martha. The burning of Martha’s things is symbolically used by O’Brien to signify a turning point in Cross’ development. Cross realizes that Martha's feelings for him were not those of love, for she is an English major, a girl who lives in the world of words. Cross was rationalizing his un-requiting love for Martha to create a “home world” inside his mind so that he could mentally escape from the war when he needed to.

One of the main characters in the short story “The Things They Carried”, written by Tim O’Brien, is a twenty-four year old Lieutenant named Jimmy Cross. Jimmy is the assigned leader of his infantry unit in the Vietnam War, but does not assume his role accordingly. Instead, he’s constantly daydreaming, along with obsessing, over his letters and gifts from Martha. Martha is a student at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey, Jimmy’s home state. He believes that he is in love with Martha, although she shows no signs of loving him. This obsession is a fantasy that he uses to escape from reality, as well as, take his mind off of the war that surrounds him, in Vietnam. The rest of the men in his squad have items that they carry too, as a way

Jimmy Cross, they met at a college in New Jersey but nothing sparked between them besides a friendship. There isn't any hope of them ever being together but Jimmy Cross still thinks about her constantly everyday. In one particular letter she sends him a good-luck-pebble. "Martha wrote that she had found the pebble on the Jersey shoreline and carried it in her breast pocket for several days" (8). Jimmy Cross reads the letter spends hours wondering who she was at the beach with, if she was with a man, if they were a couple. When the women sent letters home, it really helped keep the morale of the soldier's. Although Martha continues to kind of mislead Jimmy when she signs the letters "love." "Ted Lavender was shot in the head on his way back from peeing. He lay with his mouth open" (12).

This guilt and suffering often stayed with them for the rest of their lives. Tim O’Brien used writing to ease his grief but Norman Bowker suffered severely from PTSD and ended up killing himself. After the war, Jimmy Cross confessed to Tim O’Brien that even then he feels the pain and guilt of having Tim Lavender die on his watch. Even though Tim Lavender’s death was not entirely Jimmy Cross’s fault, he accepts all of the blame for it. By being distracted with thoughts about Martha and his life back home, Jimmy Cross did not concern himself as much with the welfare of his men than his daydreams. However, after Jimmy Cross burns Martha’s things, he becomes much more mature, and bears the grief for all of the men every time a platoon member dies. Him carrying the weight of responsibility allows the rest of the troops to continue on without being crippled by both grief and guilt. Although Jimmy Cross does feel the pain and guilt for the death of every platoon member, he tries to keep his emotion to himself and not reveal his emotions to the men. Jimmy Cross shows how guilt is caused during the Vietnam War through the deaths of his platoon