Preview

Jimmy Cross Character Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
466 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Jimmy Cross Character Analysis
In the story The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, He really shows the suffering of war and the compassion of love. The Vietnam War came up because it was under a communist government. The United States tried to prevent the spread of communism. What Jimmy Cross, Ted Lavender, and Kiowa carry is decided by their fears, homesickness, or desperate need of distraction from the war. The First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carries many things, but, most importantly, he carries the responsibilities of the other men. “Lieutenant Cross carries two photographs of Martha” (98). Carrying these things makes him fantasize about her all day, causing him to feel like it was his fault for Lavender Dying. “Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Things They Carried Symbolism Analysis
    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Things They Carried Symbolism Analysis

    Ted Lavender was a man who got shot in the war, killing him. The emotional burden that Jimmy Cross held over it shows what relations you gain when youre in there. The author says “On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s Letters.” (O’Brien 7). Whenever Ted Lavender was shot, Jimmy took it out on himself. But not only did he take it out on himself, he took it out on his love for Martha. He could feel as if he put all his focus on loving and day dreaming about them being together, and not as if he was there for his men when they needed him. Jimmy Cross has many emotional burdens with his time he spent in the war. Another part in the story says “He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men.” (O’Brien 4) This meaning, Jimmy was always carrying around a “strobe light”, but symbolizing that he feels the need to be watching them and taking care after them at all times; coming with the emotional and physical burdens he gets with them.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    'The Things They Carried By Tim O' Brien: Analysis
    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages

    'The Things They Carried By Tim O' Brien: Analysis

    War! Seems like every where we turn anymore you hear a story about war. The story of “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien takes place during the Vietnam War. Tim O’Brien narrated the story, and is writing from first hand experiences. This story gives you a good insight of how soldiers think during such difficult times. Throughout this story you’ll see how love can affect a person’s judgment even during a war.…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Summary Of Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    The Things They Carried, a novel by Tim O’Brien, is a collection of war stories told from a fictional Vietnam veteran’s perspective. O’Brien elucidates the physical and emotional barrier war creates between men and women to help demonstrate the frustration soldiers have with women in war.…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    The Things They Carried” is a short story written by Tim O'Brien in 1990. This story is about several young American soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War. The main focus of O'Brien's story was the burdens that the soldiers each carried individually. The soldiers did not just carry tangible burdens like weapons, gear, and other essentials. The greatest burdens the platoon had to carry throughout the war, were the ones that they struggled with internally. Not only were these burdens heavy, but they could ultimately cost the soldiers their lives.…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    Tim O’Brien is a very gifted author, but he is also a veteran of the Vietnam War and fought with the United States in that controversial war. Tim O’Brien was drafted into the Vietnam War in 1968. He served as an infantryman, and obtained the rank of sergeant and won a Purple Heart after being wounded by shrapnel. He was discharged from the Vietnam War in 1970. I believe that O’Brien’s own images and past experiences he encountered in the Vietnam War gave him inspiration to write the story “The Things They Carried.” O’Brien tells the story in third person narrative form about Lt. Jimmy Cross and his platoon of young American men in the Vietnam War. In “The Things They Carried” we can see differences and similarities between the characters…

    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Tim O'Brien
    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Tim O'Brien

    A platoon of seventeen soldiers from America travel in booby-trap swamps and through the hills of Vietnam. “They been ordered to set ambushes, execute night patrols, and search out and destroy the massive tunnel complexes south of Chu Lai constructed by Viet Cong guerrillas” (McCarthy). On their voyage the men carry something with them; the things they carry have a meaning to each soldier which distinguishes them. The men are not completely prepared to deal with the stresses of war emotionally. The story circles around Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and the burden he feels for the death of Lavender, one of his soldiers. “The Things They Carried” reflects on each soldier and their way of trying to escape from the war. American writer Tim O’Brien had many outstanding works including “The Things They Carried”. This work illustrates O’Brien’s use of style,…

    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Jimmy Cross Analysis
    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages

    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.…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Troy And Cory Animosity In The Things They Carried
    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Troy And Cory Animosity In The Things They Carried

    In “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien takes us back to the Vietnam War. He demonstrates to the reader that not only does each United States soldier carry something physical with them, but they also carry an emotional burden as well. What each man carries is a combination of thoughts, emotions, and past experiences.…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Jimmy Cross Character Analysis
    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Jimmy Cross Character Analysis

    He never once describes the men in the war as brave or courageous, he actually talks a lot about their fears and the emotional baggage they carry. The reader soon finds that Jimmy has a girl back home named Martha. He loves her with all his heart but these feelings seem to be unrequited as Martha treats him as a good friend rather than a potential boyfriend or lover. He describes a night when he had taken Martha to a movie and kissing her goodbye that night after taking her home. “Right then, he thought, he should've have done something brave…...He should’ve risked it” (5). This shows how Cross feels that taking risks, even as small as kissing a date goodnight or touching her, are more brave than any mission carried out by the soldiers. Thoughts of their relationship always occupy Cross’s mind and distract him from his duties. His lack of attention costs one man his life, having lasting effects on Cross’s conscience and gives him an eternal sense of guilt over his actions. This showed how emotionally fragile Vietnam soldiers were and the amount of stress and tragedy being put on them on a day to day basis. Another example of this is when Cross’s fellow soldier, Kiowa, dies in an accidental explosion. Cross is found squatting in the muck of a lake, almost in a daze, contemplating the death of all those around him and what it means and who is to blame. He tried to tell himself that “No apologies were necessary, because in fact it was one of those freak things, and the war was full of freaks, and nothing could ever change it anyway. Which was the truth, the exact truth. Lieutenant Cross went deeper into the muck, the dark water at his throat, and tried to [convince] himself it was the truth” (176). This symbolizes the breaking point of Cross and how he really is no longer courageous. He takes tragedies to heart and feels…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Theme Of War In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
    • 1360 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Theme Of War In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    In the very first story The Things They Carried, everyone is changed by they death of Ted Lavender, especially Lieutenant Cross. Lavender was a very nervous and careful soldier. While most of the soldiers carried sentimental items or items specifically for war, Ted carried tranquilizers to keep him sane throughout the war. Because he was so nervous and careful, it was surprising that he was the one to die first in the story. Directly after his death, as Lieutenant Cross was leading his men to Than Khe, he found himself quivering at the thought of his…

    • 1360 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Jimmy Cross In The Things They Carried
    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Jimmy Cross In The Things They Carried

    “The Things They Carried” is about the thoughts and actions of Jimmy Cross, a lieutenant of an Army unit on active combat duty in the Vietnam War. Lt. Cross is worried by thoughts of Martha, a young woman he dated before he joined the Army. He thinks about letters she wrote him, whether or not she is a virgin. And about how much he loves her and wants her to love him. Her letters do not indicate that she feels the same way. The narrator lists things that the soldiers carry with them, both tangible and intangible, such as Lt. Cross's picture of and feelings for Martha.…

    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Field Trip Symbolism
    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Field Trip Symbolism

    The Vietnam War was a long costly armed conflict that wounded the U.S. The communist regime of North Vietnam was a war fought by the Viet Cong against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The war was increasingly unpopular at home it ended with the withdrawal of U.S. forces. More than 3 million people, including 58,000 Americans, were killed in the conflict. Tim O’Brien the author of “The Things They Carried” is book that recounts his own experience in the Vietnam War and allows him to give a vivid description on the war. He enters the war as scared young man. The war leaves a guilt-ridden middle-aged man who tells stories about Vietnam in order to cope with his painful memories. O’Brien uses imagery and symbolism in order to…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Things They Carried Essay
    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Things They Carried Essay

    The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is novel narrated by Tim O’Brien describing events that occurred during his experience in the Vietnam War. This bittersweet novel takes place if various events throughout the book, scattering the events that took place in Tim O’Brien’s thoughts. One of the characters in the book named Jimmy Cross was the lieutenant/leader of Tim O’Brien’s group in the Vietnam War. Throughout the events that took place, deaths occurred leaving Cross feeling responsible for the deaths. Cross’ has leadership but fell short of it because of the guilt of the deaths in his group, so, he lives his life in grief since he never forgave himself of the deaths.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Red Convertible Symbolism
    • 1448 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Red Convertible Symbolism

    The death of Lavender has caused Lieutenant Cross to resent ever dreaming about Martha. For example, O’Brien notes that, “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” (1256). Because of his lack of attentiveness Lieutenant Cross has to carry Lavenders murder with him forever. Cross now realizes how much of a distraction Martha and her letters are, and how he is not a part of her world. He realizes he must rid himself of all distraction to prevent anything like Lavenders death from happening again. To rid himself of Martha, he decides to burn his pictures of her and her letters. O’Brien notes that, “On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha's letters. Then he burned the two photographs…He realized it was only a gesture…Besides, the letters were in his head” (1259). Lieutenant Cross has to rid himself of Martha so that he and his men can survive. Any distractions, even for a single moment in time can be harmful. Lieutenant cross now knows he was using Martha as a scape goat and it is now time for him to live in his reality and take his job…

    • 1448 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Symbolism of Items in “the Things They Carried” by Tim O’ Brien
    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Symbolism of Items in “the Things They Carried” by Tim O’ Brien

    In “The Things They Carried,” a short story by Tim O’Brien, the reader is able to see, in great detail, each of the characters ways of dealing with the atrocities of the Vietnam War by what they choose to carry; how symbolically they use these objects as a means for remembrance of what they have left behind, to escape what they deal with each day, and for some, a false sense of security and/or control over the violence and death that surrounds them.…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics