The Things They Carried Essay
* Thesis: Jimmy Cross has leadership but falls short of it because of his guilt of the deaths in his group so he lives his life in grief since he never forgave himself of the deaths.
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. In the second chapter of the book, you can see the intimate conversation between O’Brien and Cross. In the Vietnam War, Cross never forgave himself over the death of the first victim named Ted Lavender. “…I remember, we paused over a snapshot of Ted Lavender, and after a while Jimmy rubbed his eyes and said he’d never forgiven himself for Lavender’s death. It was something that would never go away, he said quietly...” (O’Brien 26) This shows the feelings Cross has towards the death of Lavender. His resentment never went away even years after the war. Towards the end of the novel, another death occurs of the character, Kiowa. While the rest of the group went looking for his body, Cross, the leader, went in a type of revelation believing that, once again, he should take the blame for other soldier’s death. While getting the body, he thinks that someone or something has to take the blame. “When a man died, there had to be blame. Jimmy Cross understood this. You could blame the war. You could blame the idiots who made the war… You could blame the enemy. You could blame God… In the field
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. In the second chapter of the book, you can see the intimate conversation between O’Brien and Cross. In the Vietnam War, Cross never forgave himself over the death of the first victim named Ted Lavender. “…I remember, we paused over a snapshot of Ted Lavender, and after a while Jimmy rubbed his eyes and said he’d never forgiven himself for Lavender’s death. It was something that would never go away, he said quietly...” (O’Brien 26) This shows the feelings Cross has towards the death of Lavender. His resentment never went away even years after the war. Towards the end of the novel, another death occurs of the character, Kiowa. While the rest of the group went looking for his body, Cross, the leader, went in a type of revelation believing that, once again, he should take the blame for other soldier’s death. While getting the body, he thinks that someone or something has to take the blame. “When a man died, there had to be blame. Jimmy Cross understood this. You could blame the war. You could blame the idiots who made the war… You could blame the enemy. You could blame God… In the field