Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

1990, when The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien was published the reality of Vietnam was still a much recent memory for most. The fear of being drafted, the heartache that came with losing your friends and family in the war, and not to mention the mental scarring it did to those who came out of Vietnam alive. The Things They Carried highlighted some of these things and even showed a bit of what life was like after coming out of something as emotional and traumatic as a war like that. However, from the point of view of a Vietnamese veteran the book could make it appear as if the Vietnamese were being dehumanized and disgraced, and it can also seem like it tries to make people sympathize with the American soldiers who invaded Vietnam.

For example, Jimmy Cross utilizes Martha as a distraction to escape his responsibilities of leading the troop through the war. “And then suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha” (11). By slipping into frequent daydreams, readers realize how his desire for Martha prevents him from acting like a true war sergeant. For instance, when given orders to destroy the tunnels in Than Khe, Cross was thinking about Martha’s virginity. Furthermore it is implied, that Jimmy Cross feelings for Martha is unrequited love. As a result, he fantasizes of there being a relationship more than one-sided love. “...a poet and a virgin and uninvolved, and because she did not love him and never would” (16). His fantasies about her not only served as a diversion from the war, but it also prevented him from developing his leadership skills. While Martha’s primary role in Cross’s mind was to act as a diversion from the traumatic experiences of war, she is also characterized as a type of emotional baggage that caused the death of others. “ He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war” (16) The thoughts of Martha, was specifical the metaphysical item Cross carried heavily to war to serve as a diversion; however her role hindered him with his duties as a Lieutenant to keep his troop safe and

The motif of Love is represented by Martha, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s first love, through the letters she wrote. During the war, O’Brien explains how Jimmy Cross clings on to Martha’s necklace, photo, and letters. Sadly, the unfortunate reality of Jimmy’s one sided love story is

Lieutenant Cross was in love with a girl back home named Martha. He carried around letters that she wrote to him and pictures that she gave him. His obsession of Martha took his focus away from the war. “He had loved Martha more than his

In Tim O’Brien’s story called “The Things They Carried” he writes about how a group of soldiers, who are in Vietnamese, are caring items that are important to them. Lieutenant Cross carries letters from Martha because he loves her. While he is day dreaming of Martha instead of watching out for his team, Lavender gets shots and dies. Cross feels guilty about Lavenders death because he was thinking about Martha; so he burns everything she gave him and he keeps himself and the rest of the soldiers on point.

“Linda was nine then, as I was, but we were in love...it had all the shadings and complexities of mature adult love and maybe more, because there were not yet words for it, and because it was not yet fixed to comparisons or chronologies or the ways by which adults measure such things...I just loved her. Even then, at nine years old, I wanted to live inside her body. I wanted to melt into her bones -- that kind of love.”

In life, everyone has obligations. People have responsibilities they have to tend to everyday, but sometimes there are passions of love or revenge that makes one stop thinking of what their true responsibilities are. For soldiers fighting in war, their responsibility is to take care of their men and make sure no one gets hurt. They fight for their country and protect the men who have become their family. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross went against his honor to protect his men. He let his responsibly go, which caused one of the men in his group to die. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross confronts the demands of the love for Martha, which conflicts with his responsibility in the war, which affects him and the story.

The men that go off and face war have not changed from back then to modern day today. They not only face different battles because of new technology, yet they all still love and breathe the same way. It needs to be acknowledged that love never changes and all forms of love are constant throughout life. Love always seemed to be the safety net to our leap of faith with partners in a relationship. Having that scenario play out may seem different... love might have the outer shell of being different but overall in the end, going back to the basics.. This scene is in the intro and is Jimmy cross giving an explanation of why he has the photographs. He goes into depth of how his love is consistent with Martha. He talks about how he thinks about her all the time. He can’t get her out of his

While the Vietnam War was a complex political pursuit that lasted only a few years, the impact of the war on millions of soldiers and civilians extended for many years beyond its termination. Soldiers killed or were killed; those who survived suffered from physical wounds or were plagued by PTSD from being wounded, watching their platoon mates die violently or dealing with the moral implications of their own violence on enemy fighters. Inspired by his experiences in the war, Tim O’Brien, a former soldier, wrote The Things They Carried, a collection of fictional and true war stories that embody the

However, Lt. Cross fails to realize his responsibility is not in keeping his photographs and letters safe, but in leading his men safely. Because of his delusional dreams of Martha, he is unable to prevent the death of Ted Lavender. In dealing with such a guilt and regret, Lt Cross is forced to give up the one thing he loved “more than anything, more than his men,” (318) his beloved Martha. He forces himself to burn everything that was Martha, her pictures, the letters, and pebble she sent, “because she belonged to another world, which was not quite real…because he realized she did not love him and never would” (323).

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.

Love is a powerful force, and Lieutenant Cross sometimes gets lost in his musings while thinking of Martha. O’Brien writes: “His mind wandered. He had difficulty keeping his attention on the war. On occasion he 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.” Like any sane person in his situation, Lieutenant Cross wants to escape – to anywhere else but the war. The war brings terrible experiences – fear, death, hunger, and pain beyond imagination. The only way that Lieutenant Cross can endure these things is by escaping to an imaginary life with Martha. Although to her, he is little more than a friend, to Lieutenant Cross, Martha represents innocence, perfection, and a world free from war.

In the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross recalls past stories told by him and from fellow soldiers in his time overseas in Vietnam. Experiences and events soldiers faced in Vietnam can change the way people think, feel, and act.

Women often write letters to the soldiers, but they are inconsiderate of the hardships that the soldiers endure at war. For Lieutenant Cross, Martha writes long letters back and forth with him, but rare do they ever speak of Cross’s life in battle. Merely, the only time war was mentioned was to say, “Jimmy, take care of yourself” (2). Martha writes pages of letters regarding her life at home, but does not put in the effort to ask about Jimmy, who risks his life every day. Simply, she tells Jimmy to “take care,” which is a colloquial phrase without any personal sentiment behind it, one not adequate enough to say that she is truly interested or cares about Cross. As a college student in the states, Martha is wrapped up in her own life, uninformed about the worldwide events, such as the Vietnam War. Because of this lack of knowledge, she

During the war, women are used to reflect society’s abandonment of the soldiers through their insensitivity that ultimately leaves the soldiers to fight alone. For Lieutenant Cross, Martha writes long letters back and forth with him, but rarely do they ever speak of Cross’s life in battle. Merely, the only time war is mentioned is to say, “Jimmy, take care of yourself” (2). Considering the pages and pages of writing that Martha writes regarding her life, she does not put in the effort to ask about Cross, who risks his life every day. Simply, she tells Cross to