The Dilemma of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”
The Dilemma of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a 24 year old young man in love with a girl named Martha, who is thrust into the jungles of Vietnam. Carrying “the responsibility for the lives of his men” but distracted by his fantasies of Martha, tragedy strikes his platoon and Ted Lavender is shot and killed. (p. 97). Lieutenant Cross grieves for Lavender, for Martha, for himself, as he curtails his daydreams “determined to perform his duties firmly and without negligence.” (p. 106).
PARAGRAPH
The war was gruesome, relentless, monotonous, and purposeless. The men of Lieutenant Cross’s platoon carried everything they needed (and some things they did not) on their persons as they “humped” it through the jungles of Vietnam (p. 98). They carried food, clothing, bedding, weapons, photos, diseases, parasites, wounded and dead comrades, memories, reputations, dreams, and “the common secret of cowardice barely restrained” (p. 105). They carried things for many different reasons: choice, necessity, entertainment, superstition, or as a function of rank or field specialty.
PARAGRAPH
Among his things, Lieutenant Cross carried memories, letters, pictures, and a good luck charm from a young college student named Martha. Although they dated before the war, they only kissed briefly, and her letters carried news of a “separate-but-together quality” they shared (p. 99). He knew that just because she signed her letters love Martha did not mean she was in love with him, but he was hopeful. He often lost himself in fantasies of her, wondering about her virginity and what “her truest feelings were” (p. 99). He moved slowly and distractedly finding it difficult to keep his mind on war and his men’s security. His mind continuously wandered to thoughts of “Martha’s smooth young face, thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted
PARAGRAPH
The war was gruesome, relentless, monotonous, and purposeless. The men of Lieutenant Cross’s platoon carried everything they needed (and some things they did not) on their persons as they “humped” it through the jungles of Vietnam (p. 98). They carried food, clothing, bedding, weapons, photos, diseases, parasites, wounded and dead comrades, memories, reputations, dreams, and “the common secret of cowardice barely restrained” (p. 105). They carried things for many different reasons: choice, necessity, entertainment, superstition, or as a function of rank or field specialty.
PARAGRAPH
Among his things, Lieutenant Cross carried memories, letters, pictures, and a good luck charm from a young college student named Martha. Although they dated before the war, they only kissed briefly, and her letters carried news of a “separate-but-together quality” they shared (p. 99). He knew that just because she signed her letters love Martha did not mean she was in love with him, but he was hopeful. He often lost himself in fantasies of her, wondering about her virginity and what “her truest feelings were” (p. 99). He moved slowly and distractedly finding it difficult to keep his mind on war and his men’s security. His mind continuously wandered to thoughts of “Martha’s smooth young face, thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted