Character Analysis: Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried

In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”, O’Brien created several allusions that each character endured during the Vietnam War. Throughout the story were vast representations of the things the soldiers carried both mentally and physically. The things they carried symbolized their individual roles internally and externally. In addition to the symbolism, imagination was a focal theme that stood out amongst the characters. This particular theme played a role as the silent killer amongst Lt. Cross and the platoon both individually and collectively as a group. The theme of imagination created an in depth look of how the war was perceived through each character which helped emphasize their thoughts from an emotional standpoint of being young men out at war.

Jimmy Cross being the immature lieutenant is affected being responsible of his men, and carries much of the war’s burden. Every time one of Cross’s men dies, he experiences deep regrettable feelings that he should have been a better

In the first chapter in the book, titled The Things They Carried, Jimmy Cross is one of the many examples throughout the novel in where a soldier has a way to escape from the realities of war. Cross, who is a lieutenant in his company, carries two photographs of a girl named Martha whom he truly loves and wishes nothing else but to be with her in the end. Along with the photographs, he carries letters from Martha herself as well as her good-luck pebble in his mouth. Martha’s letters has a huge impact on Cross’s escape on reality because those letters do not mention war at all but for him to stay safe. All of these items comforts Cross and eventually reminisce about the times when he was back home with Martha away from any war. He relives a moment when he was with Martha at the movies, and then remembers that he touched her knee but Martha did not approve and pushed his hands away. Now while he’s in Vietnam, he does nothing but fantasizes taking her to her bed, tying her up, and touching that one knee knee all night long.

Jimmy's transformation begins when he decides to burn the pictures and letters of his girlfriend, Martha. To be a leader in war was meaningless to Jimmy Cross compared to the love he had for Martha. Cross' subsequent burning of Martha's letters suggests that he's determined to put such romantic ideas behind him. He repeatedly convinces himself that there will be no more fantasies about Martha. The burning of Martha’s things is symbolically used by O’Brien to signify a turning point in Cross’ development. Cross realizes that Martha's feelings for him were not those of love, for she is an English major, a girl who lives in the world of words. Cross was rationalizing his un-requiting love for Martha to create a “home world” inside his mind so that he could mentally escape from the war when he needed to.

5.Some people change after a relationship and the same goes for Jimmy except his was an obsession instead. Jimmy obsessed about Martha but Ted Lavender’s death taught Jimmy to change himself. Jimmy no longer wishes to fantasize about Martha and will always blame himself for Ted’s death. Jimmy will assume a more guardian position in order to not repeat another Ted situation. Ted’s death opened Jimmy’s eyes that he will never be with Martha despite still loving her. Jimmy lost the hope and will to fight for Martha but now will fight for his men as Jimmy hope is that his men will live and return to those that love

Jimmy Cross; the protagonist of Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”, remembers his dates and correspondences with Martha, and escapes the harsh realities of the Vietnam War. These memories contain strong imagery, including speculations surrounding Martha’s virginity (233).These memories serve as a protection at first, but they hinder his performance as the leader of his platoon, causing the death of Ted Lavender (236). The images related to Martha become more indifferent and realistic after the death. Jimmy Cross’ experiences in Vietnam have much to do with why he thinks of Martha, and the tone of his thoughts.

“The Things They Carried”by Tim O’ Brien is a short story that is part of a novel by the same name, that contains interlinked short stories that make up a semi-autobiographical recant of Tim O’ Brien’s time as a soldier in the Vietnam War. “The Things They Carried” focuses on the things that all the men of Alpha Company carry with them, whether it be a literal tangible item or an impalpable feeling. One of the soldiers, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carries trinkets, letters and a good luck pebble from his love Martha. Martha is an important character, even though she is physically not with the characters during their time fighting in the Vietnam War .

In the story "The things they carried" By Tim O'Brien, It consisted of several soldiers who carried there basic necessities, necessary equipment, and some of their most prized possessions while marching through the muddy grasslands during the Vietnam War. The soldiers were led by their first lieutenant a young twenty-two year old named Jimmy Cross. During their tour of duty in Vietnam a soldier by the name of Ted Lavender was killed while walking away from his fellow soldiers to use the restroom. I think as the first lieutenant Jimmy Cross is partially responsible for Tim Lavenders death. Because, He was never focused on the task at hand. Jimmy Cross was focusing more on young lady at Mount Sebastian college named Martha. "He pictured Martha's

In Tim O’Brien’s, “The Things They Carried” is centered around a group of U.S. soldiers and their experiences in the jungles of Vietnam. The main character Jimmy Cross leads his platoon through the jungle but is constantly distracted by the women he perceives to be his lover (Martha). Many of the soldier’s fear death, so they keep superstitious items such as rabbit’s feet or severed thumbs of the enemy soldiers. After the death of one of his squad mates Ted Lavender, Cross begins to take things more serious and begins to push his thought of Martha away.

In the story “The Things They Carried” we learn all about character development from their experience during the Vietnam War. The first character we meet is Tim O’Brien. Tim is the narrator of the story and is also the protagonist. The next character we meet is Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. Jimmy is 22 years old and the leader of his group of soldiers. Jimmy appears to be “just a kid at war.” While at war he has a one sided crush with a girl named Martha where he likes her but its not a mutual feeling. He is distracted by her and they write lots of letters back and forth to each other. Throughout the story Jimmy changes a lot. From the beginning with his obsession with Martha, he later realizes he is just wasting his time and he needs to move on

"Then at full dark he would return to his hole and watch the night and wonder is Martha was a virgin." He recognizes the ideas that she may not be a virgin, and even acknowledges that there are other men in her life. Jimmy knows that Martha has many boyfriends, and when he receives a picture from her in the mail, wonders who the photographer was. He treasures the picture and takes it everywhere with him, and yet the small shadow in the picture of the man taking it seems to be his focal point. He wants to focus purely on his unrequited love for Martha, but he can't. He seems to force himself to understand that she does not actually love him. She will never be his, and he knows that somewhere inside him, but continues to imagine that the love that she signs at the end of her letters is really a romantic love.

Jimmy Cross was trying to become romantically involved with a college girl, Martha, that he loved so well. Unfortunately, she gave no indication of the same feelings towards him. His experiences at war were affected by this distraction. The primary items that Jimmy carried, in addition to letters from Martha, were objects that a platoon leader would need such as: maps, compass, and binoculars (Clugston, 2014, Ch. 5 p. 15). However, he valued a pebble that Martha had given him much more. He even blamed the death of Ted Lavender on himself as he should have been more focused on doing his job. The setting and point of view contributed to understanding Jimmy’s situation as he had ample amount of time to reflect while resting from the battles of war, and even indicating what his mind focused on while on the battlefield. Although this short story was not presented in the first person of Jimmy, the writer offered his thought process

we are introduced to some terrible stories about the vietnam war from the view of Tim O’Brien. Each day you go on not knowing if you are going to live or die, walking through fields full of bouncing betties and other terrible weapons. You watch the people you grow close with getting shot in the head. Each day the soldiers would load up ammunition, grenades, or other things that they chose or needed to carry. All that weight in the blazing sun can only be described as torture. Your life can flash before you in such situations. Tim O’Brien talks about this girl named Martha in which we are lead to believe that he cares about her a lot. He had her picture along with visions of her during the war. She doesn't appear to feel the same way about him

The story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’ Brien, follows the protagonist, Jimmy Cross, through the battles of Vietnam war portraying the Vietnam experience. It begins by portraying a scene where O’ Brien is reading letters from his college sweet heart Marsha. The story continually names things that his fellow soldiers in the Alpha Company brought with them on their missions. Some things carried by the soldiers can be used to show the soldier’s personality. From intangible objects such as guilt and fear, to the physical objects like M&M’s and M-79s, the items all tell the uniqueness of every solider and his importance to the Alpha Company.

Jimmy is attracted to Martha, but not because of her intelligence or her interests or her sense of humor. He is pining after Martha because “[h]er legs, he thought, were almost certainly the legs of a virgin, dry and without hair…” (O’Brien 4). Youthful appearances are just as coveted as the illusion of innocence. Jimmy treasures the picture of Martha while he is off at war and when they are fully grown adults and she gives him the picture again, he keeps it.