Transformation Of Lt Cross In The Things They Carried

In the short story by Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried” the main character undergoes a huge transformation. Lieutenant Cross is a U.S. soldier in the Vietnam War who carries a lot of baggage, both mental and physical. He is in love with a girl named Martha back home, who doesn’t love him back, and that causes him to act differently, he doesn’t act like a soldier. Cross doesn’t act or behave like a soldier, he acts like a boy in love. “The Things They Carried” is a bildungsroman because Lt. Cross changes and matures throughout the story. Lt. Cross can not keep his mind off of the girl that he loves back home, even while on duty. “He would imagine romantic camping trips into the White Mountains in New Hampshire. He would sometimes taste the envelope flaps, knowing her tongue had been there. More than anything, he wanted Martha to

“On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha's letters. Then he burned the two photographs.”(O’Brien 459). This marks the point where Cross transitions from a child to a man. He lets go of the past and matures to become a better person, a dedicated soldier. (O’Brien 460). Martha was holding him back, making him daydream and forget his responsibilities. She doesn’t love him, and he knows that all he can do is now focus on the war and his men.
Cross then realizes that he and his men would need to do a better job at being soldiers. Cross doesn’t want another one of his men to die because of carelessness.“He would not tolerate laxity. He would show strength, distancing himself.”(O’Brien 461). He knows that his men won’t like it but he is doing it for them. He hopes that he can prevent more deaths. Cross blames himself for the death of Ted Lavender, but now he knows that he will have to focus. He leaves behind that lover boy persona for a dedicated