Lieutenant Jimmy Cross The Thing They Carried

In the book “The things they carried” by Tim O’Brien is about a first Lieutenant Jimmy Cross who was in love with a girl named Martha who was attending Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. He carries pictures and letters that she sent. Cross was a distracted soldier O’Brien states “at dusk, he would check the perimeter, then at full dark he would return to his hole” (2). After returning to his hole he would relaxed and daydream about Martha. While he was daydreaming one of his group members got shot in the head, he blames himself for the soldier’s dead.

This flashback serves as a way for the reader to connect with the character Lt. Cross. O’Brien uses the flashback to demonstrate the emotional toll war took on him. Cross focused on that evening with Martha because he did not want to focus on the war itself. Instead of focusing on the blood and gore involved with her he chooses to concentrate on Martha. The sexier image of Martha back home waiting for him was much more comforting than the reality of

His bitter experience, a combination of self-hatred and sorrow at the loss of a comrade hardens him. As a form of atonement, he destroys all the letters and pictures he has of Martha. Lt. Cross re -dedicates himself to his current predicament allowing no distractions to enable the loss of another of his

Lt. Cross can not keep his mind off of the girl that he loves back home, even while on duty. “He would imagine romantic camping trips into the White Mountains in New Hampshire. He would sometimes taste the envelope flaps, knowing her tongue had been there. More than anything, he wanted Martha to

“Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here.” (Sue Monk Kidd). In The Things They Carried, O’Brien is clear in saying that he would agree with this as without stories, people would be very blind about their past and in some cases, what to do in the future. Sherman Alexie and Tim O‘Brien tell stories to help teach people, or show that people are naturally good at heart but they’re ideas can change based on events that they experience or witness in their lives.

The soldiers all carried different things that were either special to them or comforted them. Consequently, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross had the fear of the unknown with the love he carried for Martha, she would send letters and photographs and she would sign them love (368), he knew she didn’t love him in the same way he loved her and he would daydream about her. “She sent a pebble to him from her time at the Jersey shoreline and he would carry this pebble and she said it was a token of her truest feelings for him” (371). He had the fear of the unknown not knowing how she felt for him.

“They carried shameful memories” (O’Brien 109). In their heads were flashbacks of all the men they killed, the friends they lost, and the families they split up, everything they had ever seen while battling was forever implanted in their thoughts. To escape their memories of the war many soldiers committed suicide. Lieutenant Cross on the other hand carried a good memory, about Martha of course. Jimmy was a day dreamer, he fantasized about Martha, and she was all he could think about, she was an interference.

Tim O’Brien is the narrator of “The Things They Carried” recalls his personal experience in the Vietnam War. Tim writes about Jimmy Cross who is the lieutenant goes into battle with several men in his charge. Lieutenant Cross doesn’t show that his is a born leader in the beginning of the story in fact Jimmy appears to be unsure of everything he does. Lieutenant Cross does show that he is brave when he led all his men through the war. Lieutenant Cross also shows that he is a leader and has integrity when he suffer the death of the men that lost their life’s so that the troops didn’t have to bear the brunt, or the guilt, and the confusion.

Cross is in "love" with Martha, and he is constantly wondering if she is a virgin or who she is with now. While he is deep in day dreaming he allows himself to escape the situation and forget completely where he is. He is not focused on his men and not giving them the protection that they need so intern his man Lavender is killed. He feels responsible that one of his men had been killed. When he says he understood the things men do or think they have to do it has to do with understanding why his men kill each other.

This shows that he is mad at himself for thinking about her and making her his number one priority over his men. That’s why he burned those letters to try to forget about her. Jimmy Cross holds himself more accountable for the deaths because he is the lieutenant and thinks it's his job to keep them all safe even though he wants nothing to do with war. Cross believes that he has let his men down when they die because all he can do is think about Martha and how she is from another “world” and how her life seems to be better than his. She is naive or rather uneducated about the things happening in the

The soldiers in Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, were no different than any other soldiers in any other war. They carried rifles, comforters, and pictures of loved ones with them throughout the war. However, most soldiers carried emotional and mental burdens around with them too. Some of these soldiers include Lt. Jimmy Cross, Norman Bowker, and Rat Kiley. Other soldiers in the book also carried around mental and emotional burdens, but these men in particular, stuck out to me.

For the majority of the chapter, Cross carried his mind in thoughts of Martha. He was obsessed with matters such as why she signed her letters “love”, and if she did love him or if that was just formality. Cross is unable to grieve in the ways his soldiers do; he distances himself and decides it’s better to be a leader than to be loved. The weight of the responsibility he carries for his men outweighed his love for Martha. The grieving process out-weighed his fantasies of love.

Jimmy Cross is the first lieutenant who carries pictures and letters from Martha, the woman he loves who—sadly—does not love him back. The pictures and letters from Martha symbolize Jimmy’s longing to be loved and comforted. It is ironic that although he is the first lieutenant who is expected to take charge and lead others, yet he never took charge of his own love life. This is a regret and burden Cross carries to the end of the story. “It was very sad, he thought.

Along with his military gear, O’Brien states, “Lieutenant Jimmy Cross humped his love for Martha up the hills and through the swamps” (p. 115). Cross loves Martha, and “More than anything, he wanted Martha to love him as he loved her” (p. 114), but is unsure of whether she loves him back. Despite his uncertainty,

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross kept a photograph of Martha, a girl who is not his girlfriend, to keep the feeling of love. When Lt. Cross was checking on Lee Strunk, who was searching a tunnel, "suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha. . .