“The Things They Carried” Headline: What O’Brien and his team carried both physically and mentally will shock you Newspaper Section: This article would fit the world section of the newspaper. Single-Sentence Summary: Tim O’Brien the protagonist and the narrator of the story is describing lieutenant Jimmy Cross, who is active in Vietnam however Cross is preoccupied thinking about a girl called Martha whom he dated prior to the war. Explanation: This quotation from “The Things They Carried” provides an opinion on why men go to war. O’Brien claims that men who go to war are cowards, not as heroes. They go because they are forced to go and because they didn’t have the bravery to refuse to go.
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, of the Alpha Company, carries various reminders of his love for Martha, a girl from his college in New Jersey who has given no indication of returning his love. Cross carries her letters in his backpack and her good-luck pebble in his mouth. After a long day’s march, he unwraps her letters and imagines the prospect of her returning his love someday. Martha is an English major who writes letters that quote lines of poetry and never mention the war. Though the letters are signed “Love, Martha” Cross understands that this gesture should not give him false hope.
The chapter depicts love as an emotion that is carried as it talks about soldiers who carry physical things needed like a poncho, bug repellent, rations, and how "They all carried ghosts". Lieutenant Jimmy Cross likes to carry letters. Cross carried the letters as reminders of his love for Martha, a girl from his college. He also has no indication of her returning his love, but Cross still
Tim O’Brien is the narrator of “The Things They Carried” recalls his personal experience in the Vietnam War. Tim writes about Jimmy Cross who is the lieutenant goes into battle with several men in his charge. Lieutenant Cross doesn’t show that his is a born leader in the beginning of the story in fact Jimmy appears to be unsure of everything he does. Lieutenant Cross does show that he is brave when he led all his men through the war. Lieutenant Cross also shows that he is a leader and has integrity when he suffer the death of the men that lost their life’s so that the troops didn’t have to bear the brunt, or the guilt, and the confusion.
The character, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, holds onto the hope of being with his love back home, Martha. Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey, sends him love letters, except they are not actually love letters. The book states, “They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack,” (p. 1). The lieutenant would imagine Martha and him together, and the thought of her touching those letters would run through his mind.
Tim Obrien’s 1990 story “The Things They Carried” describes the experience of a group of soldiers in the Vietnam War. The soldiers are under the responsibility of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. With Jimmy, he carries his love for Martha, and it distracts him from his duty. In the end, he tries to forget Martha because he thinks the death of Ted Lavender is his fault because he was distracted. Respectively, each soldier carries assets that are material and mental.
Jimmy Cross carried letters and some photograph of a girl named Martha, he loved Martha so much. He kept the letters safe by putting them in his rucksack, and when he rewrite her letters he would imagine them together, “imagine romantic camping trips into the White Mountains” (O’Brien 3). He would imagine being with Martha and daydream and he would sometimes daydream about her and how he wants to tie her up in bed and touch her leg all day and how he wants to be the one who gets to make her no longer a virgin. Moreover when Ted Lavender got shot in the head, Cross felt responsible for his death because he was the lieutenant and all he has been doing is daydreaming about a girl that doesn’t love him back. After the death of Ted Lavender, Cross started to change his colors by letting go if Martha and focusing more on the war.
In the first chapter, the author lists things some of the men in Lt. Cross’ corps carry. Some items were necessities and some gave the reader ideas of what kind of person one was based on their possessions. Lt. Cross carried photographs, such as a girl named Martha, playing volleyball or in front of a brick wall. Letters signed love at the end of them, and a lucky pebble from a girl he was infatuated with. From these personal items, we can clearly see that he loves this girl and keeps her close to his heart.
Jimmy. In the first story of The Things They Carried, Jimmy Cross is the first character that is introduced as the Lieutenant that received letters from his girlfriend back home, Martha. Martha is a big distraction to Lt. Cross as she is always in his mind: “[He] gazed at the tunnel. But he was not there. He was buried with Martha…he could not bring himself to worry about matters of security…
Along with his military gear, O’Brien states, “Lieutenant Jimmy Cross humped his love for Martha up the hills and through the swamps” (p. 115). Cross loves Martha, and “More than anything, he wanted Martha to love him as he loved her” (p. 114), but is unsure of whether she loves him back. Despite his uncertainty,
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross kept a photograph of Martha, a girl who is not his girlfriend, to keep the feeling of love. When Lt. Cross was checking on Lee Strunk, who was searching a tunnel, "suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha. . .
The things men carried inside.” (par. 6) In conclusion, the characters in “The Things They Carried” can be better understood through a closer look at the objects they brought with them. “They carried all they could bear, and then some, . . . “ (par 2).
The power of intangible things we carry Throughout our lives we hold on to many things close to us whether they are tangible or intangible. Tim O’Brien writes about each soldier and how they all have tangible and intangible things they carry. People carry numerous things mainly personal items for instances letters, pictures, clothing, jewelry, and other affectionate tangible items. Other intangible items that were carried include guilt, shame, and fear. Every soldier was affected by the things they carried.
“The Things they carried”, an autobiographical story that is written by Tom O’Brien describing his memories of the Vietnam war. Although the stories talk mainly about his memories of the war, they also include female figures that played a significant role in the stories plot. Martha, one of the main female characters in the story, symbolized different emotions in the story. The relationship between the men of Alpha company and the girls they loved aren't always as they hope. Although, the things that Jimmy carried were mostly used to describe the war experience, the pictures, letters, and imaginations-of Martha- came as motivations for Jimmy to survive the war.
Walt Disney was born on December 5,1901. His birth name was Walter Elias Disney and he was born in Hermosa, Illinois. Walt was an American motion-picture and television producer. Him and his brother Roy co-founded Walt Disney Productions. Walt was a professional animator and he created the cartoon character Mickey Mouse.
