Jimmy Cross Character Analysis

“Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water” (2). These are just some of the essential items that the soldiers carried with them throughout the war. Tim O’Brien uses tangible and intangible items in The Things They Carried to symbolize each soldier's feelings and thoughts towards those items. The personal items that the soldiers carried must of worth some value to them, since they brought it to war. Such as Lieutenant Jimmy Cross or JC for short brought many tangible and

That includes many letters from Martha, pictures of Martha, and a pebble that Martha found and give it to him. The reason why Lieutenant Cross keeps his love for Martha is because he wants to maintain a strong link to love and his life at home. He uses her as a distraction from the war because war is rugged and uneasy. “ I love her” (28). He says he loves her but does he mean it. Martha and Cross have no relationship with each other what so ever, but he keeps her in his mind because it keeps him sane and it keeps him from going crazy. He believes that Martha and himself have a long future together, but the only date that they went on was a little rendezvous where he supposedly touched her knee. Ever since that day he has had the biggest crush on her and he won't stop fighting for her love. Cross also carries responsibility for his men and the guilty feelings

One of the things that he carries his girlfriend's pantyhose. Dobbins believes that somehow his girlfriend's pantyhose carries properties of a good-luck charm. He brings it with him wherever he goes, even when he’s sleeping he’ll put the stockings up against his face. After Dobbins saw his girlfriend again they eventually broke up, but he still kept the panties because it helped him. “The magic doesn’t go away” (112). Just because they broke up, it doesn't mean that the stockings stopped working all of a sudden. Another thing that Dobbins carried with him is his sentimentality. He's a sophisticated, kind-hearted, and a genuinely nice person that many people got along with. From the moment he stepped foot into the pagoda all the monks liked his company more than anyone else even though they have never met him before. All the monks respected him and he respected them back because he’s a genuinely nice person. “All you can do is be nice. Treat them decent, you know”