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The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

655 Words3 Pages

Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” is stories centered around the American soldiers in the Vietnam war. O’Brien explains how the harsh atmosphere of war can mentally and physically traumatize a soldier. In order to escape this atmosphere some men fantasize about the women they love. The men do not think of the women as people with their own thoughts and feelings, instead they think of them as forms of comfort or motivation for survival. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and Mark Fossie profess to hate the women they love because the women do not fulfil the fantasies the men have created. Jimmy loves Martha, but he has a fantasy about her. He develops an obsession with Martha after their first date. During the date he touches Martha’s knee and cannot …show more content…

He looks at the way Martha “[signs] the letters Love, but it wasn’t love” (23). He implies that the love Martha signs off with is not the intimate love he imagines. Somewhere in his mind Jimmy knows that the plausibility of his fantasy becoming a reality is low because Martha does not feel the same way. Jimmy hates as well as loves Martha because he blames her for his failures. His obsession of Martha causes him to neglect his duty as a lieutenant. After the death of his platoon member, Jimmy burns the letters and photographs from Martha, symbolizing his hate for her and showing that he blames her for his failure to protect his men. Mark Fossie loves Mary Ann because she fits the fantasy of the perfect American life. Many Ann exemplifies an ideal American woman during the 1960s. She is described as a beautiful blonde with blue eyes and fair skin. Mark and Mary Ann have been lovers since the sixth grade. Mark fantasizes his entire future with Mary Ann. He imagines “they would be married, and live in a fine gingerbread house near Lake Erie, and have three healthy yellow haired children and grow old together and no doubt die in each other’s arms and be buried in the same walnut caskets” (90). Planning far into the future shows how confident Mark is in realizing his

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670 Words | 3 Pages

The short story “The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien, is about the experience of a team of American soldiers in the Vietnam war (Julia Guance et al. 323). O’Brien fought in the war of Vietnam himself and used writing as a way to express the realities of war (322). His works are realistic, given his personal experience at war. Each soldier in the story “The Things They Carried” carry specific objects that reflect their personality and priorities. Jimmy Cross is a twenty-four-year-old, American First Lieutenant.

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205 Words | 1 Pages

He wonders, uncontrollably, about whether or not Martha is a virgin. He carries her photographs, including one of her playing volleyball, but closer to his heart

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1239 Words | 5 Pages

The female characters in the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien have a huge impact on the men of the war. The women seem to be a burden that the men must carry around even after the war has ended. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s feelings for a girl back home often distracts him from the war. Mary Anne Belle, Mark Fossie’s girlfriend who visits Vietnam to see him, gets addicted to the war, which places a heavy burden on Mark. The high school sweetheart of Norman Bowker, Sally Kramer, is a reminder of the normal life that Norman could have if he did not go to Vietnam.

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188 Words | 1 Pages

but he saw Martha years later at a high school reunion and she gave him a replacement photograph. He had told her that he still loved her and was wondering why she never married but she became a Lutheran missionary. She said she didn’t know why. All night Jimmy told her about how he wanted to touch her knee. Martha said she couldn’t understand why men

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585 Words | 3 Pages

He couldn’t help it (432).” This tells you that he is still just a boy at this point, but he knows that he should not be thinking of Martha he should be worrying about the lives of his men. Even so, Lavender is now dead and Jimmy holds himself responsible: “He would dispose of his good luck pebble. Swallow it, maybe… (437).” Mainly he is trying to get rid of all feelings for Martha, he cared more for her and himself, but he does care also about his

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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

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1140 Words | 5 Pages

Mary Anne loved her Boyfriend Fossie but he was unhappy with the person she was becoming so he left the war and never saw her again; Both Had loved one but at the end their loved one left them alone. Nevertheless both Mary Anne and Jimmy Cross put the war first and the person they love second; we see that when Jimmy Cross burns the letters and when Mary Anne promise that she will stop going on mission to her boyfriend but breaks the promise when he goes to

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1088 Words | 5 Pages

He tried to concentrate on ... the war, all the dangers, but his love was too much for him.” (11) Jimmy Cross’s love later becomes a burden as he blames himself for the death of Ted Lavender “because he loved [Martha] so much and could not stop thinking about her” (6). “No more fantasies, he told himself.” (23) He realized that he and Martha were a world apart.

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683 Words | 3 Pages

Jimmy had lost a friend, and he had to carry the burden and the pain of not only losing him, but the feeling of himself being the reason he is

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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,

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Tabitha Ware Eng-1020-121328 Essay 1 March 9nd, 2015 Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and His One-Sided Love Story In author William Timothy O’Brien’s short story “The Thing They Carried” published in 1990, a one-sided love story is told about a man (the protagonist), a First Lieutenant named Jimmy Cross. Lieutenant Cross feeds off of letters he receives from a young college student back at home, a very static character named Martha. This story proves the effect that love can have on a lonely, tired and scared soldier, and the ways that love can sometimes blind someone from their priorities.

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648 Words | 3 Pages

Jimmy Cross is the first lieutenant who carries pictures and letters from Martha, the woman he loves who—sadly—does not love him back. The pictures and letters from Martha symbolize Jimmy’s longing to be loved and comforted. It is ironic that although he is the first lieutenant who is expected to take charge and lead others, yet he never took charge of his own love life. This is a regret and burden Cross carries to the end of the story. “It was very sad, he thought.

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817 Words | 4 Pages

Martha is Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’ love interest. Martha and Jimmy Cross met in college. Nothing ever happened between them besides one date. Martha stays in contact with Jimmy by sending him letters. One day she sends

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820 Words | 4 Pages

He is trying to do become a real leader and do a truly outstanding accomplishment of his duties to appease the remorse about the death of Ted—without thinking about Martha. After the death of Ted, it shows that he is a real man because he takes responsibility for what he did and how to handle with his mind. Although it is very hard for him to forget Martha, his heart gets will pain and his love for Martha is done, he tries to do it. Jimmy Cross also realized that important

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601 Words | 3 Pages

When she came aware of the obsession Jimmy Cross had for her eventually it turned her off . In The things they Carried Martha and Jimmy Cross situation is a symbol of love that Jimmy cross have

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