Sparknotes tells about Jimmy Cross;
The lieutenant of the Alpha Company, who is responsible for the entire group of men. Cross is well intentioned but unsure of how to lead his men. He is wracked with guilt because he believes that his preoccupation with his unrequited love for a girl named Martha and his tendency to follow orders despite his better judgment caused the deaths of Ted Lavender and Kiowa, two members of Alpha Company. (Sparknotes)
Jimmy Cross is defined as a man who wracked with guilt. He is the one who actually makes the entire story as well.
O’Brien tells the story in chronological disorder. He shows the readers the flashback after Lavender died, and he goes back to the time before Lavender died. He also mentions about Jimmy Cross at every single events that relates to Lavender’s death. In the story, O’Brien mentions that “in mid-April, Lieutenant Cross felt the pain. He blamed himself” (O’Brien 101). At this point, O’Brien shows Jimmy Cross’s feeling and that proves how important Jimmy Cross is in the story. When O’Brien starts to tell about past times, he also starts with Jimmy Cross. O’Brien mentions that, “In the first week of April, before Lavender died, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross received a good-luck charm from Martha” (O’Brien 102). He starts with a sentence about Jimmy Cross and goes through a whole paragraph about him and Martha. Basically, the entire story follows Jimmy Cross. O’Brien really involved Jimmy Cross’s feelings and thoughts throughout the whole story.
When O’Brien mentions about Jimmy Cross, he also often involves Martha. And he shows how important their relationship is. After Lavender died, O’Brien wrote that “Because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her” (O’Brien 101). He also said “He couldn’t help himself. He loved her so much” (O’Brien 102). The reason Jimmy Cross could not care for his men is Martha and it caused Lavender’s death. In the story, “In mid-April, Lieutenant Cross felt the pain. He blamed himself” (O’Brien 101). O’Brien directly shows that in the story at many times.
Before Lavender died, Jimmy Cross did not feel guilty about thinking of Martha at all. He thought about her all the time instead of taking care of his men. He carried the pebble as others carried something they wanted. The problem was Jimmy Cross fell for Martha too much. He barely took his responsibilities as a commander of company. In the story, “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 working bare foot along the Jersey shore, with Martha, carrying nothing” (O’Brien 102). O’Brien actually shows the readers that scene where Jimmy Cross thinks about Martha many times. Especially at this time, O’Brien directly points out the reason that Jimmy Cross could not concentrate on war and was not able to handle that circumstance.
After O’Brien mentioned Jimmy Cross and Martha several times, the main event happened, which is Lavender’s death. This is the main event of this story and it is also caused by Jimmy Cross and Martha. Even though Jimmy Cross was not physically involved in Lavender’s death, he has a huge responsibility for it. Right before Lavender died, the company moved to the tunnel and examined the darkness. Even when they were executing the mission, Jimmy Cross thought about Martha. He totally got out of that circumstance to be with Martha in his imaginary place. He imagined the whole situation that might happen if he stayed with Martha. He was too easily losing his concentration in the mission even though he had a huge responsibility to lead his company. His actions resulted in Lavender’s death.
As long as he was one of member of the company, Jimmy Cross must have felt horrible about Lavender’s death. O’Brien directly shows Jimmy Cross’s thought that, “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” (O’Brien 106). Jimmy Cross felt shame and pain by himself. He definitely knew what caused that to happen. At this point, Jimmy Cross finally found the reason why he must not think about Martha. The reason was that she belonged to another world, did not love him and never would. Besides that, Jimmy Cross physically felt how important the responsibility he had in the company was. He also realized that if he does not take that responsibility seriously, he would lose his men again.
After O’Brien tells about Lavender’s death, he goes back to the time after Lavender died.
In the story, “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” (O’Brien 109). O’Brien shows Jimmy Cross’s action and that represents the fact that Jimmy Cross will be different. After he burned Martha’s letters and photographs, he was changed. O’Brien said that, “He was now determined to perform his duties firmly and without negligence” (O’Brien 110). Jimmy Cross finally comported himself as a soldier.
At the end of the story, O’Brien tells about Jimmy Cross again. He shows Jimmy Cross’s actions that follow his decision made after Lavender’s death. He convinced himself that he will never think about Martha again and told himself “No more fantasies” (O’Brien 110). O’Brien actually shows that Jimmy Cross now became a real soldier. At the same time, O’Brien shows us the cruelty of war and how the war affects the people.
O’Brien also shows us about the process of Jimmy Cross becoming a real soldier. Before Lavender died, he was a kid in the war who thought about Martha all the time. He was confused in self-consciousness between being commander of the company and the kid who fell in love with Martha. Then O’Brien creates the events of Lavender’s death which caused Jimmy Cross’s decision. Afterward, O’Brien shows the variation that Jimmy Cross got from Lavender’s death. Jimmy Cross eventually became a real commander of the company at the end of the story. He also perceived that difference between reality and the ideal, which for him was Martha.
In this story there are the real soldiers who carry weapons and go on the missions. O’Brien does not really include the story of family or someone waiting for the soldiers to come home from the war. This represents that the soldiers in this story do not fight for the country or family. They fight for themselves. They just want to be alive and get out of this war. All they want is to throw out the things they have carried, which are fear and shame from the war, and want to be free of the war.
They carried physical things and mental things together. The physical things could be refills of supplies and they can easily throw away. However, they could not easily throw out the mental “things”. These might remain in their mind forever. Jimmy Cross was able to burn Martha’s letters and photographs. However, he could not burn Lavender’s death from his mind. O’Brien shows the significance of mental “things” people get from war by the example of Jimmy Cross.
Google book search defines this story; “They battle the enemy (or maybe more the idea of the enemy), and occasionally each other. In their relationships we see their isolation and loneliness, their rage and fear” (Google). O’Brien tells pretty much about the human’s feelings, actions and relationships in the war. He also shows the readers about the things they carried such as comic book, condom, diary and grandfather’s old hatchet. These represent their personality as well.
O’Brien uses Jimmy Cross to make this story effective. O’Brien begins the story with Jimmy Cross and tells about him throughout the whole story. He goes in to details about Jimmy Cross as well. O’Brien shows Jimmy Cross’s feelings about Lavender’s death at the beginning of the story, and tells about the actual story of Lavender’s death, which represents that the whole story is about Jimmy Cross. He is the one who actually makes the story. Jimmy Cross thought about Martha all the time before Lavender’s death even in the dangerous circumstance. It was too late when he realized that he must not think about Martha. He already lost his man and got a huge thing in his back which Lavender’s death. He carried himself with poise and dignity but he mostly carried was a guilty of conscience about Lavender’s death and responsibilities as a commander of the company.
Works Cited
The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien Character list. Sparknotes 09 May. 2009.
Tim O’Brien. “The Things They Carried” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 8th ed. (101).
Tim O’Brien. “The Things They Carried” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 8th ed. (102).
Tim O’Brien. “The Things They Carried” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 8th ed. (106).
Tim O’Brien. “The Things They Carried” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 8th ed. (109).
Tim O’Brien. “The Things They Carried” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 8th ed. (110).
Google Book search The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien. Google Book search. 09 May. 2009.
The things they carried.
I wrote about Jimmy Cross in the story. What he did and how is that related in whole story.
I have some points;
· O’Brien begins the story with Jimmy Cross.
· When O’Brien tells about Jimmy Cross he also involves Martha.
· The relationship between Jimmy Cross and Lavender’s death
· How Jimmy Cross changed at the end
· Little about war that how war affects people.
It is pretty much about Jimmy Cross in the story.
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