What Are Physical Burdens In The Things They Carried

Through the exchange of letters between Lt. Jimmy Cross and the center of his infatuation Martha in “The Things They Carried”, he allowed himself to become more obsessed with the thought of her. The letters simply state the events Martha encounter in her daily life, lines

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

He feels that it's his fault that Lavender died; he should've have been thinking about his soldiers instead of thinking about Martha. This is very unlike the speaker in the poem, as he is glad to be carrying the heart of the one he loves. He says, "i fear no fate" and "i want no world" because he has their heart with him. Cross no longer wants to carry Martha's heart. This is why he burns her letters and the pictures he has of her; he wants to forget her so that he can become more focused on the war. This isn't possible, however, because he's already carrying her in his mind, not just physically. Where the speaker of the poem rejoices in carrying his love's heart, saying that it is "the wonder that's keeping the stars apart", Jimmy Cross isn't happy to not be able to forget Martha. He still sees her in the rain looking at him, understanding that he won't stop loving her, no matter how much he wants to. He still decides to let go everything he has of her, planning to swallow the pebble, or drop it on the trail, or use it with Lee Strunk's slingshot. He promises to himself that he will no longer be distracted, that he will be stricter and distance himself. Even if he no longer carries her physically or in his thoughts, he still carries her in his own heart. No matter how hard he might try not to, he will always carry Martha’s heart with him;

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a platoon leader in Tim O’Brien’s short story “The Things They Carried.” In the story, Lt. Cross is distracted with thoughts of a college student back in the States and has to deal with the guilt that he feels when one of his men is killed while he is daydreaming about the student. War is a traumatic experience for soldiers and the story draws attention to what goes on inside the mind of soldiers in combat who put their lives on the line for their country.

Obviously, in the story, Cross hides his fantasy ‘’Martha’’ and does not talk about his girl with any fellow soldiers. However, he spends much time to determine whether Martha is virgin or not. Furthermore, he tries to make it clear about whether Martha loves him or not. Because of this kind of uncertainty, ‘’his mind wanders’’ and ‘’he had difficulty keeping his attention on the war’’ (473). However, at that moment, he still does not show his uncertainty to his fellow soldiers. He thinks about ‘’Martha’’ and his uncertain love so many times that ‘’he does not care about his men’’ (477). As a consequence, his platoon moves as ‘’mules’’ (477) and easily gets exhausted. He does not think about the nervous war situation and talk about his plans of war to his fellow soldiers. Due to lack of communication, Cross does not organize the platoon regularly and frequently and make a specific plan of war. His leadership is gradually worse during the war. Lastly, his fellow soldier Lavender dies early and

In "The Things They Carried," O'Brien made reference to the Vietnam war that was closely associated with the physical, psychological, and emotional weight the soldiers beared.  The overall method of presentation of this story incorporated many different outlooks on the things the soldiers carried, dealt with, and were forced to adapt to.  In addition to this, O'Brien showed us the many reasons why and how the soldiers posessed these things individually and collectively and how they were associated directly and indirectly.  The strong historical content in "The Things They Carried" helped emphasize the focus of the story and establish a clearer understanding of details in the

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.

Initially, O’Brien highlights Cross’s thoughts of love and emotional feelings as he describes the experience of war. Cross constantly thinks about Martha and how much he loves her, and though he senses her uninvolvement, he

In “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, Lt. Jimmy Cross is mentally lost in the war by his love for Martha until death and guilt pull him back to reality. He becomes increasingly infatuated with Martha’s letters as they become his sole connection to home and happiness. Lt. Jimmy Cross’s thoughts about Martha and what she is doing while he is away in another world, start to overpower his duties at war. He feels guilt and shame after the death of one of his men and decides to burn the letters to stay focused. Lt. Cross’s only escape is through Martha’s letters, someone he loves but does not love him back, after he experiences death he feels guilt and fear which forces him to throw away his love for Martha.

“One is very crazy when in love,” (Freud) this concept of love is the sole driving force in Jimmy’s life. He is so blindly in love with Martha, a “virginal innocent … and symbol of beauty” that his sense of reality within his superego is altered. Cross’s ego is aware of the dangers of war, but the ID known for pleasures and desires has taken over and repressed Cross’s most basic and personal drives. “His mind wandered, he had difficulty keeping his attention on the war” (O’Brien 8). This quote helps to show how psychotically, Cross is unstable and is a danger to himself and his

Lieutenant Cross, and O'brien have to learn how to deal with all the effects that come with dealing with a woman, then the men are out at war. Women can really affect how well men will ponder on something really heavy and how they will affect to that situation. This passage illustrates the conflict between love and war, and the dangers that come in between. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a girl who he was in love with.

War and love is a constant battle and in this story it is also the main theme. At the beginning of the story the character Lieutenant Jim Cross believes that he is in love with a girl from college named Martha. This is revealed to the audience

The text, ‘The Things They Carried', is an excellent example which reveals how individuals are changed for the worse through their first hand experience of war. Following the lives of the men both during and after the war in a series of short stories, the impact of the war is accurately portrayed, and provides a rare insight into the guilt stricken minds of soldiers. ‘The Things They Carried' shows the impact of the war in its many forms: the suicide of an ex-soldier upon his return home; the lessening sanity of a medic as the constant death surrounds him; the trauma and guilt of all the soldiers after seeing their friends die, and feeling as if they could have saved them; and the deaths of the soldiers, the most negative impact a war

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross had a woman that he was in-love with, Martha. Martha had been a motivator of Cross, he had always thought about her and what he’d like to do with her. ”He would imagine romantic camping tips into the White Mountains in New Hampshire.” (Page 1). But as the war went on the thought of her had took over his mind. Not fully paying attention to the men during the war. While watching one of the men checking out a hole, he had spaced out of thinking about Matha. One of his men Lavender had been shot during a restroom break. Her name became a reminder of his death. “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war.” (Page 16)

During the war, women are used to reflect society’s abandonment of the soldiers through their insensitivity that ultimately leaves the soldiers to fight alone. For Lieutenant Cross, Martha writes long letters back and forth with him, but rarely do they ever speak of Cross’s life in battle. Merely, the only time war is mentioned is to say, “Jimmy, take care of yourself” (2). Considering the pages and pages of writing that Martha writes regarding her life, she does not put in the effort to ask about Cross, who risks his life every day. Simply, she tells Cross to