Jimmy Cross Character Analysis

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Looking at the story “The Things They Carried” the reader is given a picture of a daily routine during the Vietnam War. It takes a deeper look at several people, dealing with war, personal fear, and the weight of the supplies carried to survive. “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity.” (O’Brien 114) With the exception of the required items needed to fight the war, the necessities needed, were determined by the individual, to survive the grind of the war. As in the story, although not in a war, people are given the necessary items to execute daily job functions, but also carry the weight of life’s needs, making decisions every day that send them down the bumpy road of life. In the story the …show more content…

Jimmy Cross used the thoughts of a made up love affair with Martha to keep his mind occupied during the rounds his team traveled through the war. He had a good-luck charm, pictures, and letters that he had received from Martha. Although he knew that she did not love him, he used his imagination to build a fantasy that helped him cope. As the troops traveled through this war Mr. Cross became increasingly involved with his thoughts, and fantasy, that his skills as a leader had diminished, which he felt lead to a solders death. As we look at this soldier’s death, it’s realized just like Mr. Cross, he used personal items as a coping mechanism. Ted lavender, used doses of tranquilizers, to help himself survive the daily rounds. He made a personal decision to drug himself up to cope. The reader comes to a conclusion that each person in this story used various items to …show more content…

Life experiences are what help development. “Where are you going, where have you been” a story of a teen girl coming of age and defying her parents’ wishes, to become her own woman. In the story we find “Everything about her has two sides to it, one for home, and one for anywhere that was not home.” (Oates 200) Like in “The Things They Carried” everyone has two sides, the one side that everyone sees and the side that is real, fearful, or adventurous. The soldiers carried guns with confidence that they could defeat the enemy. Inside they were scared, unsure of what the next step will be, in short afraid to die. One wrong decision could lead to death. Connie, the young teen was ready to live life her own way. She didn’t care about rules or boundaries that her parents had set for her. She lives on the edge and it’s that edge where she found trouble. Too young to understand what she was getting herself into, but old enough to get herself in to the situation. As sated previously life decisions are always going to exist. With the situations, warnings must be understood. Time needs to be taken to understand all the possible outcomes. It’s these decisions that can affect families, friends, teams, society, and even countries. In this case it’s a fifteen year old rebellious girl who crosses over to the adult world by visiting the drive in hamburger joint across from the mall where she is

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