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The Things They Carry Symbolism

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The novel “The Things They Carry” (1990) by Tim O’Brien plays a role of symbolism about the wants and needs of each soldier. Each of the individual soldiers carried different items to have reassurance in the Vietnam War. The soldiers’ needs and wants were expressed as well as their courage. The issue of each soldiers exemplifies mental distress such as fear, anger, and love in the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross expresses his love for Martha “up the hills and through the swamps” (O’Brien 102). Lieutenant Cross carried two photos of Martha where she is standing against the brick wall and the volleyball team. Lieutenant Cross wonders, “who had taken the picture.” Because he knew it was not him taking the photos, and “he could see the shadow of the picture-taker spreading out against the brick wall” (O’Brien 102). Even though Martha did not have the same compassion towards Lieutenant Cross, but she sent him a good luck charm that was a pebble, that she found on the shoreline. “Where things came together but also separated” (O’Brien 104). The desire of this dental relationship represents the pebble how things can still be together emotionally not physically. Lieutenant Cross love for Martha is not real it is only a fantasy for him to escape the terrible reality of war. Each of the …show more content…

Lieutenant Cross not only felt terrible for loving Martha more than his men. The tragedy of Ted’s death has become “something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war” (O’Brien 107). Lieutenant Cross blame himself for being distracted and not being focused on the mission he burned Martha’s letters that also included two of her photograph’s (O’Brien 110). He finally realized that the relationship between him and Martha was fictional it was only lust. Lieutenant Cross learns he have to take responsibility as the team

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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.

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265 Words | 2 Pages

In the book “The things they carried” by Tim O’Brien is about a first Lieutenant Jimmy Cross who was in love with a girl named Martha who was attending Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. He carries pictures and letters that she sent. Cross was a distracted soldier O’Brien states “at dusk, he would check the perimeter, then at full dark he would return to his hole” (2). After returning to his hole he would relaxed and daydream about Martha. While he was daydreaming one of his group members got shot in the head, he blames himself for the soldier’s dead.

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585 Words | 3 Pages

Martha does not love him as he loves her, and he will never be able to have her. He quite literally tastes what he cannot have when he keeps the stone in his mouth and day dreams of her. The pebble is very light, but the intangible weight attached to it is enormous and Jimmy will keep this weight with him forever. Later on in the story he will day dream of Martha and it will lead to the loss of Ted Lavender: “He was just a kid a war, in love. He was twenty-two years old.

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798 Words | 4 Pages

One of the Lieutenant’s men, Ted Lavender, gets shot in the head while the rest of the company is distracted and Cross takes the soldier’s death personally and in result feels like a failed leader. As a result, the next morning Cross burns Martha’s letters and photographs, he swears off any further fantasies, and makes a personal vow to become a harder, crasser officer for his men. Cross becomes acutely aware to the fact that these men’s lives are in fact his to shoulder and protect, the event serves as a major reality check and turning point for the

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1263 Words | 6 Pages

His bitter experience, a combination of self-hatred and sorrow at the loss of a comrade hardens him. As a form of atonement, he destroys all the letters and pictures he has of Martha. Lt. Cross re -dedicates himself to his current predicament allowing no distractions to enable the loss of another of his

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1837 Words | 8 Pages

The first mention of love is in “The Things They Carried,” when Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’ strong infatuation with Martha is revealed. His attitude seems innocent enough as he “want[s] Martha to love him as he loved her” (1). The reciprocity of this pure emotion, illustrated by the repetition of “love,” is quickly shot down as the officer is portrayed as obsessed with Martha’s rejection of him rather than simply in love. One of the most striking moments that interweaves the violent nature of war with his memories of the girl is presented in his desire to “carr[y] her up the stairs to her room and t[ie] her to the bed and [touch] that left knee all night long” (4). The run-on structure of the sentence conveys the unhealthy excitement of a man who plays this moment over and over again in his mind.

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1009 Words | 5 Pages

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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543 Words | 3 Pages

The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, illustrates the experiences of a man and his comrades throughout the war in Vietnam. Tim O’Brien actually served in the war, so he had a phenomenal background when it came to telling the true story about the war. In his novel, Tim O’Brien uses imagery to portray every necessary detail about the war and provide the reader with a true depiction of the war in Vietnam. O’Brien starts out the book by describing everything he and his comrades carry around with them during the war. Immediately once the book starts, so does his use of imagery.

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934 Words | 4 Pages

Ambiguity Lingers On Edith Wharton, who is an American author, states “The novelist must rely on what maybe called the illuminating incident to reveal and emphasize the inner meaning of each situation” (Wharton). Tim O’Brien uses illuminating moments to show how war makes guilt ambiguous. By examining three specific moments, the reader discovers how difficult it is to deal with the ambiguities of guilt. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross suffers from the ambiguity of guilt about Ted Lavender’s death.

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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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747 Words | 3 Pages

Cross and his obsession with Martha. Eventually, after a death in the group, LT. Cross was distracted and he decides to burn the letters Martha sent him. “On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First LT. Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters…

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1093 Words | 5 Pages

Imagine being drafted to move thousands of miles away from the life you love to fight a war you hated. This is the unfortunate reality for Tim O’Brien In The Things They Carried. O’Brien explains his experiences of war in Vietnam, what it took to get him there, and his relationships with the other men in his platoon. He portrays guilt and pride through storytelling and intertwines the two by showing how the men often feel guilty for the actions they pursue or decisions they make based on their pride.

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776 Words | 4 Pages

Things They Carried Analysis draft In the short story “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’brien uses the literary element of symbolism to portray how people carry different items to represent certain things, and to represent the harsh realities of war and life. He also uses symbolism to show how people become attached to items, and how they take on deeper meanings in times of stress. The story takes place during the Vietnam war, and O’Brien talks about an army detail, and the different things that they carried. This story is a great example of the use of symbolism to represent many different things at once.

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601 Words | 3 Pages

This passage explains love and emotional significance in the war . Although the small role of women in The things they carried ,it is an importance threw out the book. Females character’s Martha ,Mary Anne and Kathleen have all effects on the men. Different women in the book have different effects on the men and affect them in different ways .For an example “Jimmy cross carried letters from a girl who named , Martha who 's an English major at Mount Sebastian College.

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767 Words | 4 Pages

The theme of friendship is shown in many chapters of “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, in the chapter “Love,” friendship is shown through Jimmy Cross coming to visit Tim in Massachusetts. They drank and smoked for a whole day and caught up with things. “For a full day we drank and smoked cigarettes together and talked about everything we had seen and done so long ago,” (O’Brien, 26). This quote shows how good of friends they had become during the war and after because if not Jimmy wouldn 't go to Massachusetts.

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