Lieutenant Jimmy Cross Character Analysis

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In the story “The Things They Carried”, narrator Tim O'Brien talks about the soldiers, who were fighting in the Vietnam War. The soldiers are carrying physical and emotional burdens on their shoulders. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross the protagonist is in the Vietnam War with his other soldiers. As a leader, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carries maps, compasses, and the responsibilities of his men’s lives; however, he is hardly focusing on his duties. During the war, he is missing his girlfriend Martha, and to feel connected with her. That is why, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carries her letters, two photographs, and one good luck pebble in his mouth. One day during the war a horrifying incident changes his focus towards war from his girlfriend. In the war, one of the soldiers Ted Lavender gets shot on his way to the bathroom which affects heavily Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s mind and causes him to cry in his foxhole. The next morning, he burns all of his girlfriend things, so he can focus on the war. The …show more content…

When he was in a war field he is very obsessed with his girlfriend Martha’s memories. “He would imagine romantic camping trips into the white mountain in New Hampshire. He would sometimes taste the envelope flaps, knowing her tongue had been there. More than anything, he wanted Martha to love him as he loved her” (Brien 10). The narrator Tim O’Brien express the time that Lieutenant Jimmy cross spend with Martha. Romantic camping trip show readers a good relation between Cross and Martha, and tasting the flaps of the letters symbolize to readers a kiss between them. Lieutenant Jimmy cross physically is in Vietnam but mentally he is not. All his old memories take him back home with Martha, and cause a distraction from performing a professional duties. That intangible and emotional burden that Jimmy Cross has is heavier than its physical

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