Why did Lieutenant Jimmy Cross accept the blame for Ted Lavender 's death? He was the First Lieutenant and it was his responsibility to keep his unit safe. It also showed that Jimmy Cross was becoming a man. Did Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo? No What did Lieutenant Jimmy Cross 's unit do after Ted Lavender 's body was taken away by the chopper? Do think it was morally right? After Ted Lavender 's body was taken away, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his men burned the village of Than Khe. It wasn 't morally right for the men to burn the village because the people of the village were innocent
After the truth came out, the town changed. The townspeople were in belief that someone could’ve done something like
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” (O’Brien, 369). Cross blames himself for the death of this fellow soldier as he was not fully engaged with his unit’s activities due to obsessive thoughts about Martha. His guilt can be seen as a bit irrational as it was not directly his fault that Lavender got shot, but this is what makes it so devastating. He most likely would have felt guilt regardless if he was paying attention, but because he was daydreaming, it makes it very easy to place the blame upon himself. It is these feelings of guilt and blame that add to having high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder.
And died.” (Doc F) In doing this both men had consequences, some worse than others, and instead of lying and saying the names of people that truly didn’t do anything they refused to in a sense testify. All of these points both relate to McCarthyism and The Crucible. People became selfish and only saw their benefit, neither had evidence to prove anything that they were saying, and people say what effect it was having and started to figure out what was going on so they refused to testify and accepted the consequences.
War and death go together like lightning and thunder. With one comes the other. Each death impacts the soldiers who are left behind. Some of the deaths include Lavender, Kiowa, love, and distractions. Ted Lavender is killed outside of Than Khe, this is one of the first deaths, and it
Rebecca Nurse, John Proctor and Goody Osborne were all sent to jail and executed for being accused of being witches, even though Danforth had no proof of it. John Proctor says before he is taken to jail, “A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my
The bluntness of the introduction of Ted Lavender’s death shows how sudden his death was and how death was an ordinary occurrence in the Vietnam war. Ted Lavender’s death plays a significant role in the novel. He carried tranquilizers and extra ammunition as precaution and a way to calm himself; however, he was still killed. His death is ironic because the items that were meant to protect him ended up weighing him down, which made him fall quicker when he was killed. This shows how no object could prevent the soldiers from dying and how death was a worry constantly on the soldiers
Martha had a big effect on Jimmy cross 's during his adventure in Vietnam. “Jimmy Cross 's had loved Martha more than his man , and as a consequence lavender was dead now and this was something he had to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war and life.” Martha was a young lady that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was obsessed with. It was very possible the distraction of Martha caused lavender to die. Although Martha never loved cross.
In the story, "The Things They Carried" a narrator describes the life of soldiers during the Vietnam War. The narrator lists what some of the soldiers carried during their experience in the war, emotional and tangible. Tim O'Brien presents the character of Ted Lavender, an obviously frightened soldier, in order to be a spokeperson to symbolize obvious stress within soldiers during their journey. He presents the character of Kiowa, a devoted Baptist, in order to represent how some of the soldiers cope with the exorbitant amount of stress. Tim O'Brien characterizes Ted Lavender as stressed and frightened in order to portray fright during the war within soldiers.
Jimmy cross is again the perfect example of a person taking responsibility to lead his partisans through this very important time that is war. " He preferred to view his men not as units but as human beings. and Kiowa had been a splendid human being, the very best, intelligent and gentle and quite-spoken" (164) from the book it’s clearly shown that Jimmy had never intended to these men in the war and only signed up for it for his friend back at college, so he obviously has to take this huge responsibility since they picked him to be the Lieutenant and the leader "there was no way lieutenant cross would allow such a good man to be lost under the slime of a shit field" (164) The soldiers of course also had responsibility to be courageous, to be brave. It doesn’t matter for who or what they were in the war for, but the fact that they were taking a part of it as being soldiers made them responsible for their lives and for the lives of all the soldiers around them.
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is overcome by guilt when Ted Lavender, one of his men died, Lieutenant Cross then finds solace in the
There was an order saying that any civilian caught messing with them would be hung. I was supposed by the ending. I could not believe that he was hung. In fact I thought that he had Peyton had escaped and made it back to his family when in actuality he was hung at the end. The woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” becomes ill after she has her first child, a daughter named Katharine.
He accepted the blame of Ted Lavender’s death because he was more focused on Martha than he was about his troops. Wesley states that while Jimmy Cross accepts the blame he thinks this will make it all better by accepting heroic responsibility. This relieved the stress upon Cross and made him feel as if he was even more of a leader and not a coward. When Ted Lavender died they treated it as if it was nothing but a daily routine.
Jimmy Cross is the first lieutenant who carries pictures and letters from Martha, the woman he loves who—sadly—does not love him back. The pictures and letters from Martha symbolize Jimmy’s longing to be loved and comforted. It is ironic that although he is the first lieutenant who is expected to take charge and lead others, yet he never took charge of his own love life. This is a regret and burden Cross carries to the end of the story. “It was very sad, he thought.
Cross blames himself, knowing “He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead…” (p. 121). First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is distracted by his infatuation for Martha, which ultimately results in Ted Lavender’s death, forcing Cross to realize his fantasies for Martha are wrong and that he is not fulfilling his duties as a lieutenant. Lieutenant Cross is inattentive to the war and his responsibilities because he is unable and unwilling to stop thinking about his adoration for Martha.
Tim O’Brien states, “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” (O’Brien 16). In this quote, Tim O’Brien explains that since Jimmy Cross blames himself about Ted Lavender’s death, he will always be in lieutenant’s head. Thus, the lieutenant will always feel the guilt. With this, Tim O’Brien makes the reader think that Jimmy Cross is the person to blame since he is the head of the group and he has to pay more attention to his plans. Having questions about his love, Martha, in his mind instead of being careful about his men is the reason of him feeling guilty that “the lieutenant’s in some deep hurt” (17).