Jimmy Cross Analysis
The short story "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien takes place in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. In this story we are introduced to First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his platoon. They all differ in age and ethnicity, and have different views on the Vietnam War. One thing that they all have in common is that they bear the weight of their country on their back, but they also have different emotions weighing on their hearts at the same time. We see three different sides to Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, the soldier, the love stricken man and the leader that has learned a valuable lesson. Each of his characters carries something different. The soldier in Jimmy Cross is a lieutenant of the Alpha Company, and is responsible for the entire group
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"He was a kid at war, in love. He was twenty-four years old. He couldn't help it" (1255). When O'Brien mentions Jimmy Cross in the story, he also often involves Martha, "First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from Martha" (1249). On top of the carrying letters from Martha he also carried pictures of her in his wallet. And O'Brien shows how important that relationship means to Jimmy when he states, "Lieutenant Cross kept to himself. He pictured Martha's smooth face, thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men" (1252). Jimmy was so in love with Martha that he barely took his responsibilities as a commander of the company. "On occasion he would yell at his men to spread out the column, to keep their eyes open, but then he would slip away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along the Jersey Shore with Martha, carrying nothing" (1254). O'Brien directly points out that Jimmy Cross could not concentrate on war and was not able to handle the circumstances. "After five minutes, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross moved to the tunnel, leaned down, and examined the darkness. Trouble, he thought - a cave-in maybe. And suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha" (1254). The platoon was on a mission and his men was in danger and just moments before one of his men died, he was daydreaming about the girl back home "...and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her" (1251). Jimmy Cross carried more than physical things with him, he carried such love and obsession for Martha that he was losing his soldiers but he was going to try and fix things. "On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha's letters. The be burned the two photographs" (1258). The guilt he feels for Ted's death could turn him into the soldier, he should have been all
"He was a kid at war, in love. He was twenty-four years old. He couldn't help it" (1255). When O'Brien mentions Jimmy Cross in the story, he also often involves Martha, "First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from Martha" (1249). On top of the carrying letters from Martha he also carried pictures of her in his wallet. And O'Brien shows how important that relationship means to Jimmy when he states, "Lieutenant Cross kept to himself. He pictured Martha's smooth face, thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men" (1252). Jimmy was so in love with Martha that he barely took his responsibilities as a commander of the company. "On occasion he would yell at his men to spread out the column, to keep their eyes open, but then he would slip away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along the Jersey Shore with Martha, carrying nothing" (1254). O'Brien directly points out that Jimmy Cross could not concentrate on war and was not able to handle the circumstances. "After five minutes, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross moved to the tunnel, leaned down, and examined the darkness. Trouble, he thought - a cave-in maybe. And suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha" (1254). The platoon was on a mission and his men was in danger and just moments before one of his men died, he was daydreaming about the girl back home "...and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her" (1251). Jimmy Cross carried more than physical things with him, he carried such love and obsession for Martha that he was losing his soldiers but he was going to try and fix things. "On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha's letters. The be burned the two photographs" (1258). The guilt he feels for Ted's death could turn him into the soldier, he should have been all