Jimmy Cross Character Analysis

He had touched these items day by day, wondering who had been beside her while she had retrieved the pebble from the beach, or who placed the shadow in the photo of her. His mind would race day and night, making it difficult for him to provide adequate attention on the war. Cross “would yell at his men to spread out the column, to keep their eyes open, but then he would slip away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along the Jersey shore; with Martha, carrying nothing” (396). Cross would hope for nothing more than to be carrying nothing. These physical objects weighed him down terribly after the death of Ted Lavender. He had loved Martha much more than his men, and due to his overpowering love he had lost one of them. The pebble was not only a symbol of importance to Cross as he dealt with the trauma of war, but as the physical weight he carried due to the death of his man. These physical symbols helped to identify a shift in the story when Cross decides to open up and make a change to the way he is coping with the war after Lavender’s death. This “wouldn’t help Lavender, he knew that, but from this point on he would comport himself as an officer” (403).

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

He begins by explaining that Jimmy Cross has an obsession, and her name is Martha. “First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack” (pg. 1, line 1). Although Jimmy Cross wished they were love letters he would still continue to go crazy about them. ”He would sometimes taste the envelope flaps, knowing her tongue had been there.” (pg.1, line 9) Jimmy Cross could not wait to see Martha as he continued to constantly have her on his mind. While constantly thinking about Martha, Lavender continues to be briefly mentioned then after, Jimmy Cross starts blaming himself for the death of Lavender, but the platoon knows they must move on, as the emotional effect of this story begins to lean towards the physical state of mind on the war, such as the weapons and explosives. This starts to calm down the narrator and his emotional level, however the constant reminder of not seeing Lavender, triggers his emotions and finally continues to bring up more detail about what happened after the death. This brings out the more emotional side of the story and the narrator explains what Lieutenant Cross thinks about the death of Lavender since he could not stop thinking

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is sent to war, but is leaving behind someone he loves. Jimmy is in love with Martha, but the love between them isn’t the same. Jimmy loves her and would wish to marry her, but Martha doesn’t love him in the same way and doesn’t want to be with him. Jimmy carries photographs of Martha with him at all times. Martha is consistently on his mind, which distracts him from his duties in the military. One day, the men are out in combat and as always, Jimmy is thinking about Martha. Ted Lavender is scared of the war and carries 34 rounds of ammo with him. While they were out in combat, Lavender gets shot, collapses, and dies. Lieutenant Cross emerged from daydreaming and felt the pain of Lavenders death. He came to realize he was to blame for the death of Ted

Culture teaches that men must dispense of ridiculous emotions and remain firm, following expected duties. O’Brien develops this theme of the transition from youth to manhood in his short story, “The Things They Carried.” Through the protagonist Jimmy Cross, metaphors of weight, and futile ideas of freedom, O’Brien reveals how society expects young men in transition to adulthood to let go of impractical idealism and dwell instead on the cruel reality of the world.

In the story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, Lt. Cross is a young soldier who like many others was drafted into the war. Though he is the leader of the Alpha Company, he doesn’t show it, he is not emotionally nor patriotically devoted. Lt. Cross was distracted from the war that was going on by his feelings for Martha whose letters and photos were a fantasy to him. “Whenever he looked at the photographs, he thought of new things he should’ve done” (O’Brien 470). As the war goes on Cross becomes a dynamic character. The death of Ted Lavender served as a reality check to Lt. Cross and he began to

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross kept close to him several letters and photos that were given to him by another character outside of the war named Martha. Though his love and unconditional affection that he had for her was significant for him to survive the war, his belongings were the same reasons why he began to ignore the responsibilities that he had toward his soldiers. It completely blinded him from what was actually happening right in front of him which was why he neglected his task and team that he needed to take care of during the time. Although he did carry items that were related to the character Martha, he also brought along with him things that were necessary for him and his soldiers to survive the war. Things included compasses, code books, and maps, etc. "He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men" (O' Brien 5). This quote is significant in showing

Aside from abandoning the letters and pictures, Jimmy Cross also abandons his innocence. He wants to concentrate on the responsibilities of leading his men, for "he was now determined to perform his duties firmly and without negligence." The new lieutenant Cross would dispose of the good luck pebble, issue "new SOP's, and would confiscate the remainder of Lavender's dope. Overall, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross would accept the blame for what had happened to Ted

The men were all fun and jokes, before Ted Lavender died. They didn’t have their heads in the war they were participating in. Moments before Ted’s death Tim O’Brien followed First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross in his distracted state. “…Lieutenant Cross gazed at the tunnel. But he was not there.

The reader is given this information relatively early on but does not know how this person’s death is of great significance to the story. As the chapter develops the reader comes to learn how Cross blames himself for the death of Ted Lavender and how when “Kiowa explained how Lavender died, Lieutenant Cross found himself trembling” (O ’Brien 6) the death had been haunting him ever since. He blames the distraction of Martha and the letters that come from her and how his imagination takes him away with her and keeps his mind from staying focused on his missions. There is such symbolism and imagery with certain features carrying additional meanings, like the pebble from Marth and how he received it right before Lavender died. The imagery is robust when Cross talks about what Martha wrote in the letter about finding the Pebble that led her to think of him “to pick up the pebble and to carry it in her breast pocket for several days, where it seemed weightless” (O ’Brien 4) as he proclaims this information the reader gets the full scene along with how he felt when reading it, with his enthusiastic way of speaking when talking about her. In addition, the men talk as if they have seen death before of course, but something clicked inside of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s mind shortly after the

Jimmy Cross, they met at a college in New Jersey but nothing sparked between them besides a friendship. There isn't any hope of them ever being together but Jimmy Cross still thinks about her constantly everyday. In one particular letter she sends him a good-luck-pebble. "Martha wrote that she had found the pebble on the Jersey shoreline and carried it in her breast pocket for several days" (8). Jimmy Cross reads the letter spends hours wondering who she was at the beach with, if she was with a man, if they were a couple. When the women sent letters home, it really helped keep the morale of the soldier's. Although Martha continues to kind of mislead Jimmy when she signs the letters "love." "Ted Lavender was shot in the head on his way back from peeing. He lay with his mouth open" (12).

Jimmy Cross was infatuated with a woman named Martha, who sadly was the cause of his guilt. One day Lieutenant Cross and his men were at a tunnel outside of Than Khe when Cross got distracted thinking about Martha. “Kneeling, watching the hole, he tried to concentrate on Lee Strunk and the war, all the dangers, but his love was too much for tim, he felt

“He pictured Martha’s smooth young face, thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and couldn’t stop thinking about her”(6-7). Cross then starts to blame himself for the death that has occurred. Joanna McCarthy says “He suffers with guilt because he was thinking of Martha at the moment that Lavender was killed—he has loved her more than his men”. If he had been focused on what he was in Vietnam for, and not daydreaming about spending time with Martha, he could have been a better lookout and noticed that Lavender had left from their

LT Cross, found "his mind wandered, he had difficulty keeping his attention to war" (O'Brien 9). As time passes he would come to the realization that his feelings for her would never be recipiricated. He felt shame, he had loved Martha more than his men, and would blame himself for the death of one of his men , Ted Lavender. The death of Ted Lavender stund the men, following his death the soliders woudl burn the village of Than Khe (O'Brien 7). The would resume thier march, only to listen to a soldier, Kiowa speak of the event as he saw it, "expressing how fast it was, how you had to be there, how the poor guy dropped like so much concrete" (O'Brien 7). This was followed by Rat Kiley, who spoke to the obvious, ""the guy's dead " (O'Brien 6 ). The soldies never showed thier grief, a burden they would carry in private. One of the soldieres, Kiowa reflected on how he admired LT Cross's capacity of grief, and wished he could share in his pain (O'Brien

Jimmy Cross’ recurring thoughts about Ted Lavender throughout the story, created a picture of death and how that mentally effected Jimmy to support the idea of how emotional burdens far outweigh the physical ones. In the story, “the Things They Carried” it list many things that soldiers had to bare in war, a lot of what they had to bare was physical, but more importantly they carried emotions like terror, longing, and guilt. These intangible things made there journey much more difficult then you would ever imagine.