Regardless of whatever the situation may be if a man's will power is strong enough he will definitely prevail. "I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail... the poet's voice need not merely be the record of the man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.” William Faulkner’s speech in 1950 talks about the importance of emotions that man carries all throughout the difficult predicaments in life, all in which they surpass one after another, and Faulkner’s speech also talks about how a poet’s duty is to record all of the memorable moments of the life of man that are sometimes incomprehendable. Writing down all of man’s emotions they will forever be in existence therefore, encouraging future generations to follow their hearts, and never forgetting the generations before them.
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is the platoon leader in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’ infatuation is with a young woman that he met during his school days were still in session, Martha. Cross absolutely loves Martha although he knows that she does not feel the same way about him. Regardless, Cross keeps letters and pictures of her to comfort himself when he needs it. Instead of looking out for his men, Cross was day dreaming about Martha, meanwhile, Ted Lavender is shot, instantly killing him. Although, Cross feels lugubrious he continues to move forward with his life, living not just for himself, but for Ted Lavender too. Cross takes the initiative to burn all of the photographs and letters of Martha, to prevent a similar situation from occurring. “On the morning after Ted lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross... burned Martha’s letters. Then he burned the two photographs.”(23) Li...
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...at them. Many of the characters in the book did not have a fortunate fate, but those that did survive, such as O’Brien can write down the memorable moments that each individual has, and by doing so, they will never be suppress. At the end of the book O’Brien talks about his first childhood love, Linda. Linda was bound to die because of a tumor growing on her head. At the time O’Brien did not comprehend what it meant to die. He was merely a child that did not know the cruel facts about the world. Although, O’Brien did figure out that by keeping the memory of the beloved one they will forever be alive. O’Brien claims for the people that are no longer living to be forever lasting with merely the memory of them. By conveying these people’s feelings they are never forgotten, never unexciting, and for always, as long as the story is alive, so are the people’s emotions.
One of the first women introduced to the reader is Martha. Martha is Lt. Jimmy Cross's love interest, even though she has only ever considered him as a friend and nothing more. O'Brien's uses the story of him and his misguidedness to show how the soldiers were completely separated from the war. After the war is over, the soldiers returned home attempting to get back to their normal lives. But as was shown with Cross and Martha, it didn’t turn out that way. Trying to cope with all the death that he found in Vietnam, Cross does not believe that Martha isn't a virgin and believes that they still could have a life together. This was meant to be a comfort and safety mechanism when he was possibly faced with rejection and death all around him. It got to the point that it was all he thought about up to Ted lavenders death. Trying to rid himself of the guilt he “burned Martha’s letters. The he burned the two photographs… He realized it was only a gesture… you couldn’t burn away the blame” (O’Brien 23) This shows that he knew that his obsessions with Martha is what lead to the death of ted Lavender, and even when he reali...
In the first chapter of The Things They Carried, O'Brien lists all of what each man brings with them to war. It seems very truthful, but there is doubt in your mind as to whether or not Jimmy Cross really carried letters from a girl named Martha or even if a girl named Martha really existed.
Lt. Jimmy Cross is extremely affected by Martha as his one time girlfriend; he is obsessed with even the thought of her.-- So obsessed with her, he even becomes distracted to the point an accident occurs for which he blames himself for the longest time. That Martha was a distracting factor shown through Tim’s observations of Lt. Cross. He loved her so much. On the march, through the hot days of early April, he carried the pebble in his mouth, turning it with his tongue, tasting sea salt and moisture. His mind wandered.
One of the main characters in the short story “The Things They Carried”, written by Tim O’Brien, is a twenty-four year old Lieutenant named Jimmy Cross. Jimmy is the assigned leader of his infantry unit in the Vietnam War, but does not assume his role accordingly. Instead, he’s constantly daydreaming, along with obsessing, over his letters and gifts from Martha. Martha is a student at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey, Jimmy’s home state. He believes that he is in love with Martha, although she shows no signs of loving him. This obsession is a fantasy that he uses to escape from reality, as well as, take his mind off of the war that surrounds him, in Vietnam. The rest of the men in his squad have items that they carry too, as a way of connecting to their homes. The story depicts the soldiers by the baggage that they carry, both mentally and physically. After the death of one of his troops, Ted Lavender, Jimmy finally realizes that his actions have been detrimental to the squad as a whole. He believes that if he would have been a better leader, that Ted Lavender would have never been shot and killed. The physical and emotional baggage that Jimmy totes around with him, in Vietnam, is holding him back from fulfilling his responsibilities as the First Lieutenant of his platoon. Jimmy has apparent character traits that hold him back from being the leader that he needs to be, such as inexperience and his lack of focus; but develops the most important character trait in the end, responsibility.
“They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing- these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight.” (O’Brien 604) “The Things They Carried”, written by Tim O’brien, portrays a platoon of soldiers in The Vietnam War by the baggage that they carry, both mentally and physically. The main character, whom was assigned to be First Lieutenant of the platoon, is twenty-four year old Jimmy Cross. Lt. Cross is a prime example of a leader who is too immature to handle the responsibility of their role. He is constantly daydreaming about Martha, obsessing over the letters and gifts she has sent him, rather than leading his men. Martha is a student at a college back in Lt. Cross’s hometown. Lt. cross and his men all have baggage that weighs them down, but as the assigned leader, Lt. Cross has to free himself of these distractions. In “The Things They Carried” Lt. Cross’s inexperience and lack of focus, combined with his ample emotional and physical baggage, stand in the way of him fulfilling his responsibilities as the First Lieutenant of his platoon.
In the two novels of recent war literature Redeployment, by Phil Klay, and The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, both call attention to the war’s destruction of its soldiers’ identities. With The Things They Carried, we are introduced to the story of a young Lieutenant Jimmy Cross who is currently fighting in the Vietnam War and holds a deep crush for his college-lover Martha. Jimmy carries many letters from Martha with him throughout the war, and he envisions this romantic illusion in which “more than anything, he want[s] Martha to love him as he love[s] her” (1). However, a conflict quickly transpires between his love for Martha and his responsibilities with the war, in which he is ultimately forced to make a decision between the two.
One of the main characters of The Things They Carried ,written by Tim O’Brien ,named Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and he was only 24 years old, yet he carried the responsibility for the lives of his men. Like most men in the war Jimmy Cross did not sign up for it, he was drafted, and often times his mind was elsewhere trying to escape the realities of the war. He was young and often thought about what most do at his age, women. He had a particular girl, and he was often caught daydreaming about this girl back home. Her name was Martha and she was an English major at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey, she played volleyball and was a junior in college. In a way Martha represented a religion to him, and he worshipped her day and night. Although Martha was not interested in Cross, he was still interested in her and loved knowing that the love was not returned. The way that the men escaped their reality differed and for Cross, Martha was his distraction. Cross was indeed a martyr. Much like a martyr he endured great suffering brought on by saying goodbye to all that reminded him of Martha on behalf of a belief or cause such as keeping his men alive during the war.
The presence of death in the novel looms over the characters, making each of them reflect on the
In the first chapter during a tunnel search, Ted Lavender went off to use the restroom. When he was walking back and was close to the other soldiers, he was shot in the head and killed instantly. The book describes how his mouth was open, his teeth were broken, and his eyes swollen black. The book states that Jimmy Cross, “... felt shame. He hated himself. He loved Martha more than his men and as a consequence Lavender was now dead.” This would be something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of his life.” When Ted Lavender was shot in the back of the head, all the soldiers were in shock, but Lieutenant Jimmy Cross blamed himself because he was in charge of his men and was side-tracked by his love for, Martha, an old school friend. Later in the book, Jimmy Cross visits one of the soldiers from the war. They look through the photos and see one of Ted
Through an intimate maternal bond, Michaels mother experiences the consequences of Michaels decisions, weakening her to a debilitating state of grief. “Once he belonged to me”; “He was ours,” the repetition of these inclusive statements indicates her fulfilment from protecting her son and inability to find value in life without him. Through the cyclical narrative structure, it is evident that the loss and grief felt by the mother is continual and indeterminable. Dawson reveals death can bring out weakness and anger in self and with others. The use of words with negative connotations towards the end of the story, “Lonely,” “cold,” “dead,” enforce the mother’s grief and regressing nature. Thus, people who find contentment through others, cannot find fulfilment without the presence of that individual.
Often times people are unable to control what motivates them, as well as our desires. The heart has a mind of its own; sometimes we bypass our ethical responsibilities for these motivations and desires. Consequently, people need adversity to hit so that people can refocus like a phone camera zooming in on pictures. In Tim Obrien’s The Things They Carried, it’s obvious that Jimmy Cross’s one and only desire was a girl named Martha. Tim Obrien uses the power phrase "Lieutenant Jimmy Cross humped his love for Martha up the hills and through the swamps." Tim Obrien explains the importance of the word "in it's intransitive form, to hump meant to walk, or march, but the word implied burdens far beyond. Richardson states "to hump has a sexual meaning, which gives the reader a sense of Cross's sexual frustration."" The story states “they were not love letters,
The novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is based in Vietnam during the Vietnam War in the 1950’s. Though most of the novel is just a flashback to the Vietnam War, there are some events that occur well after the war. Looking back at their place in time during the Vietnam War, Jimmy Cross and some of his old fellow war vets use some of the objects they carried with them in Vietnam to remember those events that caused their lives to drastically change. The most significant event that changed Jimmy Cross’ life was of watching fellow platoon member Ted Lavender die right next to him. Cross does not go a day in his life without blaming himself for Lavender’s death. Throughout the novel Jimmy is torn between the love of his life, Martha, who does not feel as affectionate towards Cross, and by his actions in the War. In the novel, the author/narrator Tim O’Brien is also a protagonist in the story. He is first presented as a nervous, young, soldier who is in the Alpha Platoon. Because of O’Brien being the author of the novel, he can strongly use imagery to his advantage when he writes of stories he confronted in his point of view. The two main topics of current war and PTSD which are illustrated in the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien can be compared and contrasted with three relevant articles: “Al Qaeda tries to recruit Americans in Syria,” “Ukraine orders Crimea troop withdrawal as Russia seizes naval base,’ and “Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder.”
One of the most overlooked aspects in the life of a soldier is the weight of the things they carry. In Tim O'Brien's story, "The Things They Carried," O'Brien details the plight of Vietnam soldiers along with how they shoulder the numerous burdens placed upon them. Literally, the heavy supplies weigh down each soldier -- but the physical load imposed on each soldier symbolizes the psychological baggage a soldier carries during war. Though O'Brien lists the things each soldier carries, the focal point centers around the leader, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, and his roles in the war. Lt. Cross has multiple burdens, but his emotional baggage is the most pressing. Of all the weights burdened upon Lt. Cross, the heaviest baggage is located in his own mind. Specifically, the heaviest things Lt. Cross carries are an emotional obsession over Martha's love, the physical consequences caused by his daydreaming of Martha, and an unrelenting guilt about Ted Lavender's death.
The idea behind this short story is not the fact that everyone dies, but the eventful memories that can make the life worthwhile. The author says, “So much for endings. Beginnings are always more fun! True connoisseurs, however, are known to favor the stretch in between, since it’s the hardest to do anything with. That’s about all that can be said for plots, which anyway are just one thing after another, a what and a what and a what.
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from the woman he loved who was still back at home. “They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack.” These letters Cross carried along with him give in an insight into his past, his present, and his character. Martha, his love, was a long distance from him, but he refused to let his memories of her be erased. It didn’t matter to Cross whether or not the love he had for Martha was mutual, but he would still “spend the last hour of light pretending.” Not only would they remind him of his past, these pictures would also give Cross something to at least hope for and have faith in. It didn’t matter that he would “pretend” that Martha loved him as much as he loved her; the photographs and letters of her that he carried were “suitable” to his personality. These things may have been meaningless to other men, but to Cross they were a sign of hope, his past, and gave him some...