The Things They Carried Lieutenant Jimmy Cross Character Analysis

The Things They Carried:

In the beginning the story, we are introduced to Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, the one who carried the letters from Martha. The narrator explains that the letters that Jimmy has are not love letters, but dreams that they are love letters. The narrator explains more about Martha and why Jimmy is interested in her. The narrator states that Martha is an English major and a possible virgin. The narrator states other than the letters, Jimmy carries a whole bunch of supplies that he needs for the war. More characters are introduced such as Henry Dobbins, Dave Jensen, Ted Lavender, Norman Bowker, Rat Kiley, Lee Strunk, Mitchell Sanders and Kiowa. The narrator explains the supplies that each man holds actually differentiate one’s

O’Brien sees that Jimmy has a lot of pictures of him and his friends who were soldiers in the war. When looking at the picture that Jimmy has, he sees a picture of Ted Lavender. Jimmy explains to O’Brien that he never forgive himself for Lavender’s death. O’Brien also sees a picture of Martha, the same one that Jimmy Cross had burned during the war. Jimmy explains to O’Brien it is the same picture, but a new one that Martha gave him. O’Brien tries to avoid questions that relates to Martha.

Spin:

O’Brien explains that the war is not all about terror and violence. Sometimes, there are great things that happen. He explains about a boy with a plastic leg asking for chocolate and Azar gave the chocolate to him. O’Brien thought it was nice of Azar to give the boy the chocolate. O’Brien starts to recall more of what his friends have done during the army, such as Bowker and Dobbins playing checkers every night in a foxhole. O’Brien explains that he is 43 years old and that he is a writer after the war has ended. O’Brien recalls how he and the guys enlisted and worked for this Vietnamese man during the war, and everyone started to get along with the man, even though he works for the enemy. O’Brien starts to explain about the waits that the soldiers goes through and explains that it was boring. He feels guilty about writing war stories and his daughter tells him that he is obsessed with the war.

He explains that he had written it over 20 years ago, and he feels the shame of writing it. He called himself a “Secret Hero” and “Lone Ranger” O’Brien introduces his story by explaining that he was drafted to fight in the war after graduating from college. He explains that he finds it weird that the Americans are fighting on Vietnamese soil. He explains that the war has no definition and does not know what they are fighting for. There are many question of what this war really is, such as “Who started it, and when, and why?” (O’Brien 38) O’Brien talked about how he took a stand against war in college. O’Brien was drafted on June 17, 1968 with the letter that he had received. He believed that he is too smart to be in the war. He explains that he had his own future planned. He already planned that he was going to be in Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude and will be the president of the student body. He also explains that he had a full-ride scholarship for grad studies at Harvard. He then explains that he is not ready to be in the army, because he never done anything training on camping and fighting. He is also scared to see blood and death. He starts to talk about in the summer of 1968 when he had worked at his hometown, in which he has to kill pigs. He felt like he cannot decide what to do in life anymore. He goes to see this old guy name Elroy Berdahl, was 81 years old. They both stay six days