Jimmy Cross: A Vietnam Soldier
“Writing is something you do alone. Its a profession for introverts who want to tell you a story but don 't want to make eye contact while doing it." Jimmy Cross is not a professional writer but he writes his own personal stories about his experience in the Vietnam War. “These stories have never been published, but they are a way to cope with everything I carry”, says over coffee in Sam’s A.M coffee shop.
At the age of 38, Jimmy Cross is a Vietnam veteran and recently a mechanic in his hometown, New Jersey. He graduated from the Mount Sebastian College and during his college experience he joined the Reserve Officer Trainer Corps to earn a few credits, he says. After graduating he enlisted in the troops sent to Vietnam in March 1965. During the war he was First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, in charge of the Alpha Company made up of seventeen men. There he was a leader of the
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He is still in love with her, but she never felt the same way. “I would imagine romantic camping trips into the White Mountains in New Hampshire. I would sometimes taste the envelope flaps, knowing her tongue had been there. More than anything, I wanted Martha to love me as I loved her, but the letters were mostly chatty, elusive on the matter of love”. During those years, he only thought about Martha, not about his men or the war. It all changed when Ted Lavender died in front of him when he was daydreaming about her. Since then, he decided to forget about her for the sake of his duty and for his self-conscience. “… But I reminded himself that my obligation was not to be loved but to lead… and because I realized she did not loved me and never would.” That day he burned everything, all the letters and photographs, but still that feeling never went away. Today he carries another photo of her, a recent one, in his
Things They Carried Condoms
109 Words | 1 PagesIn Tim O’Brien’s, “The Things They Carried ”, the story is set during the Vietnam war, the story’s main focus is on Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his one sided love for a girl named Martha. O’Brien also mentions the other men in Jimmy Cross’ squad. ,even though O’Brien never mentions much more than what the names of the men were and what they carried, you could still tell a lot about the men by just what O’Brien says. For example “Mitchell Sanders, the RTO, carried condoms,” (1002) From this you can tell that sex was important to Sanders because he felt the need to bring condoms to war with
Summary Of Fallen Angels
282 Words | 2 PagesMyers made his bother that died in the Vietnam War the book Fallen Angels. Myers joined the Army at 17 years old. The protagonist of the book, Richie Perry, is also 17 when he joins the Army. He thinks that at 1st that he won’t see any battle because he injured his knee. However, he finds out that the paper works are processed in the Army slowly, & he finds himself in Vietnam.
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Jimmy Cross Symbolism
508 Words | 3 PagesLieutenant Cross' “Jimmy Cross” name is a symbol of sacrifices for others. O'Brien's characters carry both passionate and physical burdens. while they all carry substantial physical burdens, they likewise all carry overwhelming passionate burdens, made out of grief,terror,love, and aching. Every soldier’s physical burden underscores their passionate burden. Henry Dobbins, for example, carries his girlfriend’s pantyhose and, with them, the longing for love and comfort.
The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen Analysis
1079 Words | 5 PagesYoung or old, male or female, the war was told differently by every person who was involved in the battle, no matter how small their role. Despite the cacophony of standpoints vying to tell the definitive tale of what happened in Vietnam, the perspective of
Ted Lavender Quotes From The Things They Carried
613 Words | 3 PagesThe 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
The Song Tra Bong Figurative Language
1756 Words | 8 PagesHow he hated being drafted and how badly he wanted to run away. He tells how he took time to himself to decide whether or not he was going to run away and risk being caught and imprisoned or go join the army and risk dying over in Vietnam. He states at the end, “ I passed through twins with familiar names, through the pine forests and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward.
Jimmy Cross Martha Quotes
601 Words | 3 PagesThis passage explains love and emotional significance in the war . Although the small role of women in The things they carried ,it is an importance threw out the book. Females character’s Martha ,Mary Anne and Kathleen have all effects on the men. Different women in the book have different effects on the men and affect them in different ways .For an example “Jimmy cross carried letters from a girl who named , Martha who 's an English major at Mount Sebastian College.
Summary Of Bloods: Black Veterans Of The Vietnam War
1502 Words | 7 PagesBloods: Black Veterans of the Vietnam War The historical identity of the African American military experience is deeply rooted in the life and legacy of author Wallace Terry. His legacy has been immortalized in the scores of periodicals and columns he authored throughout his career. Well-read and well-traveled, he brought a balanced context to the field of journalism. To date, he is one of Black America’s greatest contributors to African American journalism.
Things They Carried Guilt
1093 Words | 5 PagesHe tells stories about when he fled to the border of Canada due to his pride, feels guilty for letting his family and friends down, and then comes back. This trend of guilt felt due to decisions that were made based on pride is also shown when Jimmy Cross has too much pride to tell his higher ups that the place in the field isn’t safe for the troop to settle down, so he feels guilty when Kiowa is lost in the muck. The situations that O’Brien and his comrades are put in because of their pride can lead them to do things out of character and lead to a deep sense of guilt later. These themes in The Things They Carried give the readers a better idea of how soldiers made tough choices in Vietnam and how it affected them
Symbolism In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien
648 Words | 3 PagesJimmy 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.
All Is Not Fair In Love And War Analysis
1009 Words | 5 PagesCross 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.
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross Character Analysis
1602 Words | 7 PagesThe obstacle that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his platoon encounter is their human mentality (values, burdens, transformations). While the platoon values certain things, Jimmy Cross believes in something completely different than his men. Although
Lieutenant Cross In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried
585 Words | 3 PagesMartha does not love him as he loves her, and he will never be able to have her. He quite literally tastes what he cannot have when he keeps the stone in his mouth and day dreams of her. The pebble is very light, but the intangible weight attached to it is enormous and Jimmy will keep this weight with him forever. Later on in the story he will day dream of Martha and it will lead to the loss of Ted Lavender: “He was just a kid a war, in love. He was twenty-two years old.
Ambiguity In Tim O Brien
934 Words | 4 PagesOn the other hand, by describing the goods that soldiers carry comprehensively, Tim O’Brien indicates that it was very tough for Jimmy Cross to predict that Ted Lavender would get shot in a break after hours of walking through Vietnam with pounds of stuff on his back. This means while Jimmy Cross is trying to
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