Lieutenant Jimmy Cross In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

The Things They Carried is about Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, the leading officer of a band of soldiers in the Vietnam War. It is written by Tim O’Brien. Jimmy falls in love withe girl named Martha who is back home attending college. He carries a couple of pictures and letters that she has sent. The group comes across a runner and they draw numbers to see who has to go in to check it out. As the unlucky soldier is checking out the tunnel, the rest of the men are relaxed, just standing around. Lieutenant Cross is daydreaming about Martha. One of the men returns from urinating and gets shot in the head. The men regroup, strip the dead soldier of his gear, and call for a chopper to take him out. As they are waiting, Lieutenant Cross digs a hole and cries, blaming himself for the soldier's

After the body is taken away, the lieutenant burns the letters and pictures, vowing to never get distracted again. Rather than writing the story in a linear fashion, the author talks about the things the men carry as a way of telling the story. Descriptions of the things each of the men carry is given, which adds specificity, detail, and personality to each character. More importantly, the author breaks down what each man carries by purpose. Whether it be necessity, field speciality, mission, or superstition, the things they carry are compartmentalized into groups, which the author then uses to reveal more about each character and the central plot. The transformation of Lieutenant Cross from a lovesick young man to a hardened commanding officer is slow, but steady. At first Cross is reading Martha's letters each night and imagines what she is doing. However, Cross begins to doubt Martha's love for him. And it is this distraction that results in the death of the soldier. So it isn't so much that Cross is thinking about Martha. Rather, it is the doubting distraction that results in the death of the soldier. Weight is also discussed in this story, both literally and