The Things They Carried Identity Analysis
Instructor: Dr. Schweizer
WRT 100
18 June 2014
Identity
“One can never truly know oneself because each new experience adds to an individual’s identity, no matter how grand or minute the experience.” Identity is the physical and mental properties of and individual including their culture or traditions. Everyone has their own identity which allows us to be different. It is the value and norms that describes ones-self. In the story, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brian, identity plays a big role in each characters life. As readers, we are introduced to a group of young soldiers that are currently in the war. Each soldier carries several valuable artifacts which symbolizes content within their lives. These artifacts vary from food …show more content…
She writes letters which never mentions the war or her love for him. Cross takes pride in this and allows himself to become distracted by the thoughts of her. An example of this occurs when he “wonder[s] if Martha was a virgin” (2). Cross was distracted by the thought of Martha; he did not seem to realize that the more he thought of her, the less aware he was of his fellow soldiers. Cross is even willing to go to an extreme degree in order to feel close to her with Martha occurs with the envelope. “He would sometimes taste the envelope flaps, knowing her tongue had been there” (1). He’d do anything just to feel close to her, which was much more than love. Cross is allowing himself to be taken over by the thought of a woman and leave his men …show more content…
He gained recognition of his wrongdoings and began to turn his life around. In order to move on Cross had to get rid of anything that involved Martha, which led to burning all the letters. “Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters. Then he burned the two photographs” (23). At one point he treasured these items, once he burned them it symbolized recognition and forgetting about Martha as a whole. Cross reminded himself that his obligation was not to be loved but to lead. “He would not tolerate laxity. He would show strength distancing himself” (5). Cross is now a leader and no longer distracted. He follows the rules and regulations which made up for his mistakes, even though it was a tad bit late. His identity shifts when he realizes his
WRT 100
18 June 2014
Identity
“One can never truly know oneself because each new experience adds to an individual’s identity, no matter how grand or minute the experience.” Identity is the physical and mental properties of and individual including their culture or traditions. Everyone has their own identity which allows us to be different. It is the value and norms that describes ones-self. In the story, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brian, identity plays a big role in each characters life. As readers, we are introduced to a group of young soldiers that are currently in the war. Each soldier carries several valuable artifacts which symbolizes content within their lives. These artifacts vary from food …show more content…
She writes letters which never mentions the war or her love for him. Cross takes pride in this and allows himself to become distracted by the thoughts of her. An example of this occurs when he “wonder[s] if Martha was a virgin” (2). Cross was distracted by the thought of Martha; he did not seem to realize that the more he thought of her, the less aware he was of his fellow soldiers. Cross is even willing to go to an extreme degree in order to feel close to her with Martha occurs with the envelope. “He would sometimes taste the envelope flaps, knowing her tongue had been there” (1). He’d do anything just to feel close to her, which was much more than love. Cross is allowing himself to be taken over by the thought of a woman and leave his men …show more content…
He gained recognition of his wrongdoings and began to turn his life around. In order to move on Cross had to get rid of anything that involved Martha, which led to burning all the letters. “Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters. Then he burned the two photographs” (23). At one point he treasured these items, once he burned them it symbolized recognition and forgetting about Martha as a whole. Cross reminded himself that his obligation was not to be loved but to lead. “He would not tolerate laxity. He would show strength distancing himself” (5). Cross is now a leader and no longer distracted. He follows the rules and regulations which made up for his mistakes, even though it was a tad bit late. His identity shifts when he realizes his