The Things They Carried Jimmy Cross Character Analysis

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. He is madly in love with Martha, a girl back at home in New Jersey. However, it is evident she does not love him back to the same extent. On his march through Vietnam, he carries two photographs, a pile of letters, and a pebble,

Shame and self-hatred surface when Lieutenant Cross realizes “…Ted Lavender [is] dead because he [loves] her [Martha] so much and [cannot] stop thinking about her” (326). Furthermore, the pebble that once symbolized his affection for Martha is replaced with a figurative “stone in his stomach” (332), representative of his guilt. In order to begin to remove his distracting infatuation with Martha, Cross takes the following action: “On the morning after Ted Lavender [dies], First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross [crouches] at the bottom of his foxhole and [burns] Martha’s letters. Then he [burns] the two photographs” (336). Cross’ burning of Martha’s letters and photographs is a physical representation of the transformation in his personality and priorities. Lieutenant Cross comes to realize “his obligation was not to be loved but to lead” (337). Meaning can be found in the fact that as Cross no longer carries these gifts Martha sent him, he is beginning to free himself of her distraction and the fantasy-like mindset he has. However, now he must carry the weight of the guilt of Lavender’s death and the responsibility of being a tough